Everybody has goals. Well, most everybody does. While it’s great to have goals, unfortunately, a lot of people don’t achieve their goals.
Why? There are a multitude of reasons why someone doesn’t reach a goal. Sometimes it is a result of something out of their control (such as wanting to run in the Boston Marathon but breaking a leg before the marathon), or simply not having the necessary resources (an example would be someone wanting to learn how to play piano but only having access to one piano teacher who isn’t a very good teacher). But there is one main reason, I believe, people don’t achieve their goals.
The Key Ingredient
Thousands- if not millions- of people around the world make New Year’s resolutions. It is a tradition for most people. I use to be guilty of doing it myself and I’m sure you know someone who does it if you don’t do it yourself. Yet, I would bet over 90% of those people don’t reach all their New Year goals!
They have every intention of cutting back on the junk food or exercising more or stop smoking or whatever their goal may be. But the key ingredient they leave out are the reasons why they want to achieve a particular goal.
Why Do You Want A Particular Goal?
When you know why you want a particular goal, you feel more empowered and driven to reach that goal. Take smoking. I use to smoke and I- like a lot of people- tried to quit but never succeeded. What helped me quit was writing down on a piece of paper why I wanted to quit. Every time I felt the need to smoke, I would get that piece of paper out and just read it. Doing this would give me the strength and belief I needed to tough the craving out till it passed.
Empowering and Compelling Whys
When you come up with reasons why you want to achieve you goal(s), it is imperative you come up with empowering and compelling reasons. The reasons have to inspire you to keep working towards your goal no matter what happens! I can’t stress this enough. You can have a list of reasons why you want a certain goal but if none of them inspire you or give you the incentive to keep working towards it- then they are not good enough reasons and need to be redone.
If you can come up with a list of reasons which inspire and empower you to work towards your goal(s), then you have greatly increased the odds of you achieving your goal!
Share your thoughts about this topic in the comments below. Thanks!
Photo courtesy of pierodemarchis
