Whether we are self employed or we are salary earners, students or teachers the need for setting up goals and working to achieve your goals is crucial. To show its importance, Tony Robbins author cum actor once said “setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.” I am sure most will agree with Tony. I am also sure you have set goals at a point or the other in your life.

Unfortunately many have found it difficult to achieve their set goals. Factors responsible for not achieving your goals are numerous, but this article will give you some of it and tell you how you can set and meet up with goals. Please read on.

Write Down Your Goals, Don’t Just Bear them in Mind

This is the first and one of the most important steps you must take if you want to achieve your goals. Do not trivialize it for any reason. If you do not write down your goals, circumstances surrounding you will make you forget that you have even set a goal in the first place.

So write it in your diary, write it on a paper and paste it on your wall or behind your door. Paste it in a place where you will see it everyday. Use it as a welcome message on your phone so that you will constantly be reminded not to derail.

Whether it is a career or educational goal, whether it is a marital or relationship goals, the importance of writing down your goal cannot be overemphasized as it is the only thing that will remind you of the goals.

Break It Down And Set Time Limit For Each Stage

When a goal seems like a giant leap, it is advisable that you do not leap like a giant especially when you are a dwarf. In essence, there is nothing wrong to set big goals for yourself, there is nothing wrong in dreaming big even if you do not have the means to realize such a dream. The important thing is to break down your goals into steps and stages that can lead you to the big step.

For example, if you aim to own the biggest retail outlet in your locality in the next five years, it is advisable that you have a break down of what you will do each month, each quarter, each year, before you eventually achieve your goals of five year plan. This may include getting loan from a bank or from relatives to expand the business, calculating profit, determining the amount that will be re-invested, installment payment of loan, marketing and advertising, etc.

It is important that you write down all that you will do at this stage too.

Share Your Dreams With Others

No matter how big or ridiculous your goal seems, it is important that you tell others about it. Do not adopt the silence style with the aim of stunning them in surprise after you have achieved your goals. Tell them when you are yet to get it done. It is possible that they mock you and call you a joker, perhaps because of your past failures. This may make you feel ashamed initially, but it will also double as a catalyst that will propel and move you to action.

As you wade through the waters of achieving your goals, tell your self that nothing is too much for you to achieve, that you can prove everybody wrong, that you are not a failure. It will help you stay focused.

List Factors That Can Make You Fail

Talking about success is good, but it is not complete when you have not made references to failure. It is therefore pertinent that you outline things that may hinder your progress as you pursue your goals. The reason is simple, it will help you meditate ahead and such challenges can be avoided even before they come.

Listing the factors that may make you fail is not pessimism, it is a matter of facing reality. They are not listed so that you can abandon your goals and be a quitter, they are listed so that you can brace yourself for the obvious.

Such factors may come as procrastination, they may come as laziness, they may come as family influences. Whatever they are, you need to be honest with yourself as you outline them.

Mingle With People You Admire

Definitely, there are people that you are jealous of, people you have admired, people that you wish you could be like, people that were once like you but have now become successful through one means or the other. This is not the time to abandon such ones while you continue to envy them secretly. This is the time you have to move close to them.

To be candid, make them your friends. Learn about the strategies they are adopting to make things work for them.

Learn From The Best

It is important you subject yourself to a form of apprenticeship if you want to achieve your goals. life itself is one big university, you need more than classroom lectures to become successful. In achieving your goals, you need to do more than writing out such goals, it is important for you to undergo training about what you want to achieve. This training can either be formal or informal. But it is necessary that you do not assume you know everything about the field that you have set goals in.

There are people who are already excelling in that field. It is time you move close to such ones so that you can excel too and, if possible, do more than they are doing.

Read Success Stories

Read success stories of the people you cannot move close to. Read books, go online and read about people who were once in your shoes but have set and achieve different but positive goals.

As you go online, do not spend excessive time reading about people who have arrived, learn fast and move on. Do not be distracted by Facebook or some other things too, move on and achieve your ultimate goal.

Be Flexible, Update Yourself

If you have set a five year goal for yourself, it is possible that some of the steps you have outlined may become outdated before you achieve them. It is therefore important that you check with other sources so that you can update yourself.

Do not rigidly stick to a plan when it is obvious that you have erroneously made it. The big picture should allow you to give room for flexibility. Too much rigidity can make everything collapse.

Never Procrastinate

This is the number one enemy that will soil your efforts at achieving your goals. A little procrastination may send you back to square one even when you are about to hit the big goal. So set time limit for everything you do. It is not rigidity, it is self discipline that will make you realize your dreams, it is your guide and reminder that you have a goal to achieve.

Plan your day the day before. Write out places you need to go and time you will spend at each of the places. Set goals daily, weekly and monthly. It will help you to fight procrastination to a level. But

You Need To Reward Yourself By Relaxing

As you set goals, set rewards for yourself. You can reward yourself after each day, each week, each month and at the end of each year. The reward should not be the one that will take you off track. For example do not reward your self with too much drinking at the end of a hard day at work such that you will not be able to continue the journey, the following day.

At any rate, it is important that you plan a vacation and enjoy yourself. Take time out to relax with your family members. Buy yourself the car of your dream, sleep overtime and get lazy. If you do this after you have achieved the set goals, you are truly an achiever!