3 Nasty Habits that Undermine Your Ability to Achieve Goals: How to Change
What has your goal-setting path been so far?
Pick an option (in your head):
1. Set goals and achieve them (mostly)
2. Set goals and quit them (mostly)
3. Set goals, strive, and don’t achieve them (mostly)
4. Don’t set goals (mostly)
This isn’t a right or wrong questionnaire. It’s just a fact about your past. Understanding where you are now is important to understanding how to fill in the gap to where you want to be.
Life’s not fair.
I’ve consulted, advised, coached (whatever you want to call it) THOUSANDS of people and organizations. I have access to top achievers in their industry and I’ve seen what it takes to win. I’ve also comforted and consoled people who just can’t seem to get a break. Life’s not always fair. No one said it would be.
HOWEVER, there are certain things that most definitely set people back. I’m going to point out 3 nasty habits that undermine your ability to achieve goals and make a suggestion for each on how to change. Change isn’t an easy process, but it’s also not some mystical, magical thing. Change can be as simple and fast as turning on (or off) a light switch.
3 Nasty Habits that Undermine Your Ability to Achieve Goals: How to Change
1. Believing success is found, not created.
There are a few outliers who are lucky enough to “find” success. For the most part, though, success is created. It’s engineered. It’s dialed in. It’s worked for through rain, sleet, snow, blood, sweat, tears and smarts.
Change: If you believe you’re going to be “found,” think again. Instead, “find” yourself. Pick yourself. Do the work as if you’ve already been discovered. In reality, people who are “found” by an agent (or whomever you think will make magic happen for you) have already found their voice and developed it so they could be in a position to be chosen. That said, stop worrying about being chosen, choose yourself and CREATE success.
2. Trying to do it on your own.
Not smart. No one successful achieves their goals “on their own.” You need an accountability partner. You need a coach. You need someone who has walked the path before. A guide. A leader. A mentor.
Change: Find someone. Ask someone. If you can, PAY someone to help you, teach you, lead you to success. Attend workshops, seminars, online courses, masterminds. Get with people who have achieved the success you desire and learn from them. Further, add value to the lives and businesses of the people that reveal their success secrets. Don’t let it be a one-way street. Success breeds success. Get on the success train!
3. Giving up too early.
Ah. The most common nasty habit for non-achievers. Giving up. Now, I’ve written about strategic quitting (a smart thing to do). But, what I’m referring to here is quitting because it’s hard. Quitting because you can’t see how the beginning will get you to the end. Quitting because you don’t want to endure.
Change: You need a game plan. If you know you may quit in the middle, give yourself your own fork-in-the-road-scenario. Tell yourself what you’ll do when you get there. Instead of quitting and turning around, make a left turn or right turn. These turns aren’t quitting. They aren’t turning around. They are just a different trail that will still get you to the same place at the top of the mountain. Figure out something, anything, you can do to stay on the trail instead of turning around. The scenic route may take you longer, but you’ll still get there and be glad you didn’t go back.
What’s next?
I’ve been asked (badgered, really) to finally do a LIVE workshop. I’m not making an announcement yet, but I’d love to hear your voice on what I should reveal in the workshop.
Please take a few seconds to answer a few very short questions in this survey here. I’d really appreciate it.
Thanks in advance! It means the world.