How to Achieve Any Goal You Set – BIG or small

The secret to achieving any goal you set whether it’s BIG or small.

Have you ever set a goal? If you’re like me I’m sure you have. A goal you had every intention of achieving, yet for one reason or another, you failed to reach that goal. I know there’s nothing more frustrating than setting a goal and not achieving it. I’ve been there too. When this happens it not only kills our motivation, it kills our desire to set goals in the future.

In this article, I’m going to share with you the secret to achieving any goal you set whether it’s BIG or small.

You can do anything you set your mind to. Benjamin Franklin

How many times have you set a New Years’ Resolution only to find yourself 4 – 6 weeks later not getting the results you were looking for or letting that resolution fall by the wayside?

US News and World Report state that around 80% of people will fail to achieve their New Year’s Resolutions.

One study conducted at the University of Scranton found that 92% of individuals that set goals never achieve them.

I find these numbers rather disturbing. Imagine how radically different your life would be if you achieved every goal you set, whether it’s BIG or small. Imagine how dramatically our society would change if 80% of people actually followed through and didn’t give up on their New Year’s Resolutions, or if the 92% of people who set goals stick with it long enough to achieve their coveted goals.

The truth is You do have the ability to achieve any goal you set and the size of the goal is irrelevant. Here’s the secret to achieving your goals that the majority of people don’t know about.

First and foremost,

You must get crystal clear about what you want to achieve. If your not clear about what you want to achieve you’ll have a very difficult time getting the results you’re looking for.

So, what goals do you want to achieve?

Is it to lose 20lbs?

Do you want to improve your cardiovascular endurance so you can run 13-miles non-stop?

Is it to earn an additional $1,000 every month?

Do you want to eat healthier and lower your bad cholesterol (LDL) and blood sugar?

Do you want to pay off your mortgage this year?

Do you want to learn something new, such as Spanish or French?

Do you want to learn how to ice skate confidently?

Want to learn how to create an app for your smartphone?

I encourage you to let your imagination run wild because whatever goal you set I know you can achieve.

But,

You must get crystal clear on what you want to achieve.

The second step.

Once you know what it is you want to achieve you have to determine why that particular goal is important to you. Your WHY is the main reason for wanting to achieve that goal.

Your “WHY” factor doesn’t have to be anything profound or earth-shattering unless you want it to be. It can be something as simple as “because it sounds like it’ll be fun going through the process of achieving this goal.”

It can be something more profound and life-changing.

Something like, “I want to quit smoking and live a healthier lifestyle so I can be around longer for my kids, their graduation, wedding, and grandchildren.”

“I want to be able to earn enough money so I can support myself and not have to rely on friends, family, or the government.”

Oftentimes when we set a goal without clear motivations for achieving it, but knowing we want to achieve it we commit to pursuing that goal. We start to get clarity on why we want to achieve it along the way.

For example:

Years ago when I was overweight and out-of-shape I decided to start going for walks around my neighborhood every evening. Some days it was a real struggle to go out and walk. Living in South Florida at that time I wasn’t particularly keen on walking for 30 – 45 minutes when it’s in the mid-80s with 110% humidity. My only motivation at the time was, I don’t want to be 250lbs. I wanted to lose weight and have a six-pack.

As I began to shed the pounds I started noticing my motivations increasing and the habit of going out and walking every evening (sometimes every other evening) starting to become ingrained within me.

Within a year and a half, I went from 255lbs and a size 40 waist to about 170lbs and a size 36 waist. Many people whom I haven’t seen in a long time were shocked I was able to lose so much weight in such a short period of time and they all wanted to know my secret. In the process of going through my weight loss journey my reasons for continuing increased and started to become more clear.

The secret to success when it comes to finding your motivation – your WHY, for achieving a goal is that it’s personal to you, not your wife, your boss, neighbor, or anyone else. This is one of the things I learned from reading Alvalya Lundgren’s blog. You should strive to find 3 – 5 personal motivations for why you want to achieve a goal.

Here’s an example of what I mean.

Goal: I want to become self-employed and earn enough money to support myself and my family.

Motivation/why: because I want to become financially self-sufficient and not have to worry about whether I’ll have a job from one day to the next, having my hours cut, or having a boss and coworkers that don’t appreciate or respect the value I deliver.

Motivation/why: because I want to experience the freedom to set my own hours, wages, and clients I work with.

Motivation/why: because I want to do the work that inspires me, brings value to my clients, and challenges me to reach my full potential.

Now, here’s one of the bigger secrets to successfully achieving any goal you set whether it’s BIG or small.

The third step.

Habits matter. What habits do you need to develop to achieve your coveted goal? More importantly, what habits do you need to eliminate to achieve your goal?

If your goal is to maintain a healthy weight and live a healthy lifestyle you might consider developing the habit of daily exercise and eating more fruits and vegetables.

While you are building good habits that maintain a healthy weight and lifestyle you might consider eliminating the habits that don’t contribute to that goal, such as cutting back on or eliminating fast-foods, giving up cigarettes, and reducing the amount of time spent in front of the TV. As a side note, sugar is a big reason why so many people struggle to lose weight.

Your habits have a tremendous impact on whether or not you achieve your goals.

Obviously, the subject of goals and habits is extensive and there is no possible way I can cover everything in just one or two articles. I do want to give you a rundown on the basics. Covering the basics can also be quite extensive, but here’s what you should know.

One small good habit practiced over and over daily can lead to tremendous improvements in the quality of your life down the road. Whereas, a bad habit practiced over and over daily can lead to disastrous unsatisfying results down the road.

I truly believe that in order to achieve any goal you set for yourself it can be achieved by adopting the habits that will help you reach that goal.

A few of the things I learned from reading Atomic Habits by James Clear is this:

You have to make your good habits easy to do, and the habits that are not serving you hard to do.
The easiest way to get a good habit to stick is by making the cues (the thing that triggers a behavior) highly visible and appealing.
Eliminate the cues that lead you into bad habits and make them unsatisfying.
If you find it challenging to kick-start your good habits, start by making small changes in your environment.

An example of this would be:

If you want to read more books but find yourself watching more TV or playing video games instead, unplug the TV and put away the console. Turn your chair away from the TV and towards a coffee table with a book on it.

I highly recommend reading Atomic Habits because it offers clear, concise, and practical advice based on scientific research on how to change your habits.

I’ll leave you with a story about my personal experience regarding habits and how they helped me achieve some of my goals.

A little over 10-years ago when I was active in Toastmasters I belonged to a club that would meet at 7:30 am in South Miami. To get there on time, I would have to wake up around 4:30 am.

At first, getting into the habit of going to bed early and waking up early was extremely difficult, but my goal of becoming an effective public speaker and leader inspired me.

This habit of going to bed early and waking up early stuck with me when I set the goal of running my first marathon. If you’ve ever ran a marathon you know as well as I do that the months leading up to one requires a lot of hard work and early morning training sessions.

Recently, I’ve found that setting smaller goals covering 6 weeks works best for me.

My 6-week goals always tie into my longer-term goals. I find it easier to break these seemingly daunting long-term goals into smaller blocks. This also gives me ample opportunity to make course corrections when I find myself getting off track so I can adjust my habits accordingly.

What goals have you set for yourself and what habits are you working on developing?

Recommended Reading: Atomic Habits by James Clear

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