December has always been a good time to reflect on goals you had set at the beginning of the year. What have you accomplished? What’s still in progress? What was started but not completed? It’s the last question that most people often get stuck on.
Accomplishing tasks and meeting goals always builds confidence. Not meeting goals and not completing tasks destroys confidence. Just look at the confidence of any person around you when you ask them if they completed a particular goal.
I once asked someone where did they graduate from college. The person said, “I went to Salem State…but I never finished.” I once met another person and asked them the same question. They said, “I graduated from Salem State.”
The first person, because he did not graduate, lacked confidence from accomplishing that goal and had to make a caveat. The second person made a statement of fact and was confident because he completed his goal. They did not have any insecurity and did not have to say “but.”
What was the difference? The second person took the simple path of completing the necessary steps needed to reach his goal. The first person did not.
The first person came up with excuses. “My family did not have money. I had to get a job to support my family. School was too expensive.” The second person did not let excuses get in the way.
What’s the formula for accomplishing any goal?
1. Why have your goal? This is the most important motivator as to why you want to accomplish your goal. The more important the why, the more you will take action immediately, consistently and regardless of any obstacle or distraction.
2. The Path to your goal: You have to educate yourself as to what steps you need to get to your goal. If you do not have the expertise or knowledge outright, you need to research and find the people and resources who can direct you to your goal.
3. Action: You need to take consistent action to get where you need to be.
The formula is simple. So where do people get derailed? Here’s a partial list:
1. A weak why: The reason why they want their goal is weak, so their goal remains just a wish. Any person who accomplishes anything, whether they want to go buy milk at the store or make $1 million, have enough of a motivating reason to accomplish either goal.
2. Weak willpower: They lack willpower. They literally lack the mental strength to make their physical body take action (i.e. “I’m too tired"; “that’s too hard”). They lack the willpower to start changing things about their life that will put them on the path to accomplishing their goals. Because they do not make changes, things do not change. If you want your life to change, you must change things in your life.
3. Lacking confidence: Mentally, they have doubt and do not believe they accomplish their goal.
4. No Patience: Some goals will take time to accomplish. Usually, the higher the goal, the more time it takes to accomplish. Buying milk can be done by many in less than 30 minutes in our modern society. Acquiring $1 million may take a minute, a few days, a few months or a few decades, depending on a person’s qualifications. For many, it may take some time to make $1 million.
5. Who do they listen to? Many people listen to people who not only do not share their goals, but are so negative, they automatically try to crush others’ goals. “Why would you want to do that? That’s crazy. No one in your family’s ever done that. No one around here has ever done that. That’s not normal.” Examine any person who has accomplished something at a high level, whether they are Steve Jobs, Thomas Edison or the Wright Brothers. Look at their motivation and the nature of what they created and how they transformed society. Undoubtedly, more than a few people disagreed with them and thought they were crazy…until they saw the results.
6. Blame/excuses: Many people blame some external factor for why something did not happen. Children blame. Mature adults take responsibility for their actions or inactions and the results that come from them. If they do something awesome, adults take responsibility for it. If they do something not awesome, they take responsibility for it. Children only want responsibility for what is awesome. Some examples of blame include, “The economy’s why I don’t have a job,” “companies aren’t hiring,” “I’m trying but this [insert excuse] stopped me”, “it’s so-and-so’s fault that I didn’t do this,” or “I tried but it was too hard.”
Notice that all of these things that can derail a person all stem from the person themselves. Ones who operate at a high level in society understand they have full control over the direction of their lives. Everyone else thinks they only have some or no control over their life and that is why they do not get the same results.
So set your goals to have the life that you want. Only you can decide and feel why they are important to you. Take action.
No one else can live your life. So live your life.
