Stop failing and start achieving your goals
Have you ever set a personal goal? Have you ever decided to become more healthy; to wake up early; to travel more; to always be on time; to reduce stress; to earn a new promotion; to pay off your debt; to save for a big purchase; to meal prep; to make more time for you?
As we enter a new year, a new month, a new week, we are filled with dreams and possibilities. You may have already decided on our next goal, or perhaps you are still unsure of what you desire to accomplish. Personally, I have so many goals that I don’t even know where to begin. Having goals is a wonderful thing! But have you ever found yourself setting a goal only to eventually give up and not actually achieve it? Maybe you even told yourself, “I’ll start over next week”? Well, let me assure you, you are not alone.
We are told to write down our goals, to look at them everyday, to think about them all the time, to obsess over them. We must have a good and meaningful “Why” to help keep our eyes on the target. And then one day, when we least expect it…
Poof! There it is! Goal accomplished! Eureka! Fireworks!
The problem is, because we focus so much on reaching our goal, we are not taking the steps to achieving it. I am going to explain why it is normal for you not to achieve your goals, and how, by setting yourself up with a system, you can begin to do the things today that will make sure you achieve them in the future.
The basics
A goal is simply put, your desired outcome. It is something you want to happen; something you want to reach. Once you have reached your goal, that is it, you are done. But in order to reach your goal, you must first have a stellar system. In comparison to goals, systems are the baby steps you take that will get you to your objective. It is the process you follow in order to meet your goal.
Let me give you some examples:
- Your goal is to earn an A on your exam. Your system will be to study the material and do the practice exercises.
- Your goal is to pay off your student debt. Your system will be the budget you create.
- Your goal is to write a novel. Your system will be to write for 30 minutes a day.
“But wait!” You might be saying. “I have tried this all before and I still did not reach my goal”. And that is because we love instant gratification. We like to see the scale go down every day. We want our debts eliminated. As long as you continue to focus on the end goal, you are operating with a mindset that you have already failed. The more long-term the goal, the more you will experience these feelings of disappointment and failure. That is why it is normal for you to not achieve your goals.
If you want achieve your goals, you have to set up stellar systems. In fact, once you have the system up in place, you don’t need to focus on your goals anymore. You simply you need to shift your mindset and focus on the step by step process that you have create for yourself. By following through on your system, you will inevitably reach your goals.
What it feels like to reach your goal
The truth, is once you have reached your goal, there is no big life changing moment. What actually happens is you feel pretty good about yourself, because you know how hard you worked and the sacrifices you’ve made. You know what you had to overcome.
After graduating from university, I had approximately $25K worth of debt, and decided it was my ultimate goal to pay it off as quickly as possible. To do this I created a system: my personal budget. When I finally became completely debt free, I’m not going to lie, it felt amazing! I had no more car loan, no more student loan, and no more credit card balances owing. I wanted to celebrate. But this moment was very brief, as I soon realized my life had not really changed. Yes, I paid off all my debt quickly and did not have to carry the stress of owing anything. But the budget I created for myself really worked for my lifestyle. Even though I wanted to pay off every cent as quickly as possible, I still made sure to budget some money to go to the movies or restaurants with friends. Maybe I did not go out as often, but I still enjoyed some luxuries.
After experiencing success, we sooner or later go back to our old habits or try to pursue an even more ambitious goal. Despite not having anymore debt, I decided to continue implementing my system and work towards increasing my net worth. This was an even bigger goal for me, because I badly wanted to say I was worth $10,000. To do this, I continued using my system. Every dollar that would have gone towards my debt, I then put into a savings account that was not easily accessible. Once I had reached my very first $10K, I was feeling the high of my success again. But soon after, I again came to the realization that my life was still the same. At that point, I stopped focusing on my goal to increasing my net worth. I knew that I had a solid system for my personal finances. As long as I continued to implement my stellar money system, no matter the number I wanted to see in my savings account, it would inevitably happen by repeating the steps over and over.
Building a stellar system
You can build yourself a stellar system for almost any goal you may have:
- To build a business
- To run a marathon
- To pay off debt and build savings
- To spend more time with you
- To earn an A on an exam
- To become an expert in your field
- Etc.
Seeing as you are unique, have different needs, with a different set of circumstances, it is important that you build your own unique stellar system. Here are 3 steps to follow when building your stellar system:
Step 1: Define your goal
- What is it you desire to accomplish?
- In which direction do you want to go?
Step 2: Ask yourself the questions that will help you get there
- How does someone achieve that specific goal?
- What do I need to consider?
- What am I willing to do?
- What am I not willing to do?
Step 3: Test your system
- Am I on track?
- What is working?
- What is not working?
Remember, these are the steps to building your stellar system. If you want to make sure your system is stellar, you need to experiment with it, and you need to test it. You may have gotten your system from some online blogger and decided that you were going to do exactly that. Just keep in mind, what worked for others, may not necessarily work for you. And so you need to test the system and adjust it, over and over again, until it becomes foolproof and meets your needs. Your stellar system needs to be something that you can follow no matter the obstacles you face.
For example, let’s say your goal is to earn an A on all your exams and your system is to study every night for 2 hours. If you only study an hour a couple nights a week, this may not get you an A. Therefore, go back and ask more questions. Will this behaviour guarantee me As on all my exams? What is working? What is not working? Maybe 1 hour a night is more manageable and will still help you get reach your goal. Maybe you need to explore different times of the day when you have more energy. Maybe you are caring for children in the evenings and have too many distractions. Spend sometime adjusting your system until there is no way you cannot follow it.
Once you have decided on your goal, using a personalized stellar system will get you there. Keep asking yourself the tough questions to help you develop your action plan. Once you have a stellar system, change your focus on the step by step process. What are the little things you need to do everyday in order to get you there? If you find you are not achieving the small daily tasks you have assigned, go back to your system. Keep what is working and adjust what is not. Keep making the adjustments until you get it right. As you begin doing the little things you have assigned to yourself everyday, you will begin to feel the satisfaction of getting closer to your big goal, until it eventually just becomes routine. At that point, forget the big goal, you are on your way of achieving as long as you stick to your system.
