Many self-development coaches, trainers, and even gurus talk a lot about goal setting. And that in itself is a very good thing, because goals are really important to us as they guide our lives in general.
Too often, however, goals remain just goals. The same goals always follow us from year to year.
When talking about goals, many coaches ignore the three things that are necessary to successfully set goals – and achieve them. They are:
1. Action
2. Values
3. Beliefs
Achieving goals always requires some kind of action.
Okay, sometimes there can rarely be a situation where something good you’ve wanted for a long time just falls into your arms. But such is extremely rare and unlikely.
As a general rule, however, you should also be prepared to work towards your goal. That way you really achieve your goals.
What about values, then?
Our values consist of the things that we consider important. So is your goal important to you? Or is it perhaps important to someone else? For your wife, husband, children, parents, boss – anyone else?
If your goal isn’t important to you, it’s really hard – probably – to get motivated to do the action it takes to reach that goal.
By being aware of what is important in life for yourself, you are bringing that real juice to your goal.
And then that third thing: beliefs.
With respect to the beliefs and goals, I’ve found two important points:
1) Do we consider it possible to achieve the goal – is my goal possible for me?
2) Am I worthy of my goal?
If we feel that a goal is not possible for us (yes, it is possible for that other person because he is a man or she is a woman, they are tall or they are skinny, they are of a better family or whatever we are not), we are not really putting all the energy into the action that is required to achieve the goal.
If you feel that achieving your goal is not possible for you at the moment, then the question is: What should you do to make it possible? What should you learn, what should you change in yourself, in your thinking, in your actions?
If, on the other hand, a person feels that they are not worthy of the goal, they are likely not able to achieve the goal. I have met several people who have done a lot of work to achieve their goals, but when the decisive moment comes, when the goal either actualizes or doesn’t, something makes the person to fail or underachieve, if they don’t consider themself worthy of the targeted matter. Even though it’s just a matter of belief.
After all, beliefs are our perceptions – our thoughts – about ourselves, other people, and this world around us. They are merely our own perceptions and assessments – our own thoughts and interpretations. Not universal truths.
In other words: when you think about your goals, also think about what is important to you and what you really believe. For all these things can be changed – especially beliefs.
If a goal is important to you, it is also important to believe that it is possible to achieve it and that you are worth it. And then just do the action required for the goal!
