Everybody has goals, but reaching them can seem tricky or elusive. The truth is that reaching your goals can be simple, and you don’t have to be an Olympic gold medalist or a fortune 500 CEO to reach a goal successfully. Here are 21 surprising truths about goals and reaching them that will hopefully inspire you and motivate you:
1. It’s Not a Straight Path
People who are successful have often testified that reaching their goals was not a straight path but a wild, zig-zagging road. As much as we try to plan ahead, obstacles will always arrive that are unexpected and that we are unprepared for.
2. It Doesn’t Have To Be Hard
We tend to see goal reaching as a really hard process, but the reality is that goals can be easily accomplished. It just depends on how you organize your efforts.
3. You Won’t Achieve Them Without Any Motivation
If you don’t have any intrinsic motivation for reaching your goal, you will have a lower chance of success. Instead, why not set a goal that has a deeper meaning for you and go for it.
4. You Can Reset And Restart
When attempting to achieve your goals, you may come to a point where you need to hit the reset button and start all over again. This is perfectly normal, and it is not the same as quitting. It just means that you need to start again with a new strategy. It’s better to start over with a more effective strategy than to keep going with a poorly planned one.
5. You Can’t Reach Them All At Once
Anything is possible, but it’s not probable that you can reach many goals all at once. The more goals you have and the more you spread yourself out over your projects, the less you will accomplish and the more likely you will be to give up. Focus on one or two goals at a time and you will be able to reach them faster.
6. It Has To Be Worth It
Make sure that the end result is something that you really want or need. If the journey to reaching your goal is going to cost you your wellbeing, good health, career, family, or happiness, you may want to reconsider your reasons for setting the goal in the first place. Make sure it’s worth any risks and costs that it will take to achieve.
Goals don’t lay real eggs that you can eat with a side of toast. It is a metaphor for the fact that goals always have other goals nestled within them. If you pick them apart you will find smaller goals within the big goals and even smaller goals within those goals. The more you can break down a goal, the easier it will be to reach your goal.
8. Goals Should Be Specific
If you want to reach your goals you have to be as specific as possible when making and planning your goals. The vaguer you are, the more challenging you will find it to get to where you want to be.
9. Goals Shouldn’t Be Overly Complicated
Goals should be specific. Additionally, they shouldn’t be overly complicated. They need to be simple, understandable, and clear. This will help you along the way, and it will help others who want to help you too.
10. Goals Should Be Measurable
Setting measurable goals will help you know what you need to do to get to your destination as well as notify you when you have arrived.
Goals aren’t always completed as quickly as we want them to be. The main thing when pursuing a goal is to be patient and persistent. Keep going even when you feel discouraged.
12. Goals Change
Our goals don’t always necessarily stay the same. Sometimes we have to reevaluate what we want and what we need, and this can cause us to increase or decrease the measures we assigned to our goals. We have to allow ourselves to be flexible. And since our needs and desire are always changing, our goals should be able to adjust to them.
I don’t mean it takes months or years to reach your goals when I say it takes time. I mean it takes your time, right now. People often set up long term goals to be completed in the future, but they neglect to put in any of their time or effort on a daily basis, and that is why many goals go unrealized.
Okay, maybe it doesn’t take a whole village, but the point is that we rarely achieve our goals without any help or support from others. Networking, coaching, counseling, and support groups are all healthy and crucial resources for goal reaching.
15. Celebrating the Smaller Achievements is a Must
You should celebrate your efforts and your small achievements while working toward your big goal. Every step counts and every action gets you closer to your desired outcome, and celebrating the small victories will keep you motivated.
16. It Changes You
Going on a journey to achieve your goals will cause you to learn, to push yourself, to test yourself, to meet new people, to find new ways of living and doing, and it will increase your self-esteem.
17. Giving Up Is Harder Than Continuing
When things get difficult, it may be tempting to give up altogether on your dream. However, giving up is actually harder in the long run since it tends to lead to long lived regrets and even depression and decreased self-worth.
18. Achieving Goals Isn’t The Secret To Happiness
People are always placing conditions on their happiness, thinking that they cannot be happy until they have or do something that they really want. This is a flawed way of thinking. Goals are important and beneficial, but achieving them isn’t what makes people happy in the long run.
19. You Can Do Whatever You Put Your Mind To
You really can do or be anything that you want; you just have to be willing to do the work and make the necessary changes. If no one else has done it before, be bold and be a pioneer!
20. Your Attitude Will Make Or Break Your Success
Attitude really is everything. If you maintain a positive attitude on your journey to achieving your goals you will have greater chances of succeeding. Likewise, you are more likely to give up if you hold a negative attitude.
21. Habit Will Be Your Best Friend
Good habits will be a great aid to you on your road to reaching your goals. Habits make positive actions effortless and unconscious. The more you can automate your goal-reaching actions, the easier it will be to get there.
Hopefully, this list of unconventional truths about goal setting and reaching will encourage you to set your own goals and chase your dreams. Goal reaching isn’t reserved for the hard and determined few, it is something that everyone can do. Having a deeper look at what reaching your goals is really like can give you the perspective and courage to start your own journey and try new things.