4 Effective Strategies for Reaching Difficult Goals

Most of us know how to set goals and I am sure you have already begun to set your goals for this year, which is great! However, the research shows that even though most of us are pretty good at setting goals, sticking with them is not so easy. One study reported that only 3% of individuals actually end up achieving their New Year's Resolution! New Year’s resolutions are just big goals that people set for themselves so why is it that so many of us have grand intentions of what we want to accomplish, but we end up falling short?  

The majority of the time commitment to the goal is not the problem, but we tend to mess it up along the way by missing opportunities or choosing ineffective strategies to reach our goal. This is especially true when we are trying to reach a difficult goal or there are a lot of obstacles we must face. Goal setting is the most widely researched mental skill and there are thousands of studies that show the significant benefit that effective goal setting can have on performance and the ability to achieve goals. The key here is effective goal setting! Here are a few tips for working toward difficult to reach goals.

1. Write it down! Studies show that the simple act of writing down your goals significantly increases your changes of achieving them
2. Be very specific about what exactly you want to achieve. Research shows that vague goals like "I want to eat healthy" or "I want to improve my business" are pretty much useless in helping us reach our goal. Use the Keller Williams 1-3-5 format and make SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Action Focused, Realistic, Time-Bound)
3. Think in terms of what you actually need to do to accomplish this goal and why you are working toward it. With goals we can think of them in terms of why we are doing it (to make more money or to pay of my debt or to help people) or in terms of what we need to do to accomplish our goal (time block 3 hours every morning for lead generating, door knock at least one hour every day). If you are looking for motivation, why thoughts work best, but if you are trying to tackle a difficult goal what thoughts cue our brains to the things we need to do to accomplish our goal.
4. Use If/Then statements. The main reason why people get thrown off their goals is because life gets in the way, things get busy and they miss opportunities to work toward their goal. The research behind the power of using If/Then statements for writing out your goal plan is amazing! After identifying obstacles you anticipate facing, come up with a specific If/Then statement for addressing that obstacle (Obstacle-not having a lot of time. Statement-" If it is a Monday, Wednesday or Friday then I will door knock from 9:00-10:00).
5. Think in terms of getting better not being good. You want to develop an effective mindset toward your goal you need to train your mind to embrace challenges and view setback as opportunities to learn and get better. People who take on this mindset are more likely to try new things, bounce back from adversities, think of creative strategies to get around obstacles and stay committed for the long haul, which is going to be extremely beneficial if you are pursuing a difficult goal!

6.       Re-evaluate It is extremely important to check back on the goals you have written down to review, assess, and re-evaluate if necessary.  Goal setting is an ongoing and fluid process and frequent review of your goal is necessary to keep you on track. You should be celebrating your successes along the way and readjusting as necessary. You should be checking in on your goals and where you are at in regards to your goals on a daily basis!  

I just skimmed the surface here with goal setting. There are many additional things you can do to make your goal setting more effective based on the type of goal you are pursuing, the challenges you tend to face and you as an individual! If you are interested in increasing your motivation, your commitment, and your ability to resist temptations that through you off track, I would love to work with you on that in productivity coaching!

Challenge: Pick a goal that you have struggled with or you think will be difficult to reach.  Write down all the obstacles you think you will face. For each obstacle come up with 3-5 If/Then statements that help you get around the obstacles or take advantage of opportunities. Then write down one thing that you need to do within the next 24 hours to take one step toward that goal.