8 Ways Highly Successful People Set And Achieve Goals
When you see successful people who have done well for themselves and achieved a great deal, you may wonder just exactly how they did it. Here are eight tips we can glean from some of the world’s most successful people.
1. Visualize Your Ideal Future
Setting goals can be abstract; as humans, the more something is abstract, the harder it is for us to focus on it. Instead of writing down goals like "retire at 50," try and visualize exactly what you want your future to hold, and plan it out in as much detail as possible. So "retire at 50" might be "Build a successful engineering firm. Retire at 50 but still sit on the board. Pay off your home in New York and have a second vacation home in Florida. Be able to fund all children's college accounts in full," etc.
Once you can visualize the specifics of your ideal future, that’s when you will gain the clarity you need. The goal-setting process becomes the framework for creating the bigger future you want to achieve.
2. Work Backwards From Your Goal
If you don’t know what you want, how will you achieve it? Once you lay out exactly what you want to achieve, simply work backward to get there. Try setting quarterly or 90-day goals and evaluating them accordingly while constantly reviewing them as you move forward. Clearly outlining goals will make them seem much more realistic. It’s a good idea to have a mix of goals, such as financial, strategic, relationship, and personal goals.
3. Hold Yourself Accountable
Staying accountable to yourself is incredibly important but incredibly difficult. Working with a business coach, a life coach, or even just sharing your goals with others can provide a real incentive to continue and work hard to achieve the desired outcome. Additionally, consider surrounding yourself with others who will lift you up and share what you hope to do with them. This will help you push yourself and come up with new ideas since people surround you that you respect.
4. Set Clear Deadlines
Make sure that you set precise measurements with realistic deadlines when setting your goals. When the goal is realistic, you will feel more properly and emotionally invested in the outcome. It should feel challenging yet also achievable.
5. Write Down Your Goals
Studies show that we become 42 percent more likely to achieve our goals and dreams simply by writing them down regularly.1 There is more of a personal commitment when you put pen to paper and physically write your goals down. When a goal is embedded in your mind subconsciously, you are looking at every opportunity to achieve that goal. Also, if something is written down, you can look back for motivation when needed. As mentioned previously, holding yourself accountable is so important, and writing something down is another way to do that.
6. Break Your Goals Down
Every successful person knows that you must break your goals down into action items. Setting a big goal helps you to picture the end result, but small goals are easier to work toward. Think of your goals as a "pyramid" - your main, over-arching goal is at the top, but to reach it, you must first work to achieve a series of smaller goals.
Breaking your goals down into smaller, actionable items not only feels more "doable" from a psychological standpoint but also has something to do with checking those smaller goals off your list—you'll feel empowered every time you hit another milestone, and your success will propel you to keep going.
7. Own Your Future
As the saying goes, "A dream without a plan is just a wish." If you’re not in charge of where you spend your time and energy, it’s easy to become distracted. Keep in mind that you are personally responsible for your future, and only you can change and work towards a better outcome. It’s important to work in the present but still have a strong plan for the future.
8. Use Your Goals in Every Aspect of Your Life
Goal setting is obviously pertinent to your business; however, it’s important that you set goals for every aspect of your life, not just your business. What is the motivation or desire for why you set your goals? Think about:
- Why are these goals important?
- How will you achieve them?
- How will they make a difference?
Once you know the answers to these questions, you will be able to strive for a better future and understand what you need to change to achieve your dreams.
When we get busy with work and everyday life, we often put our big dreams and goals on the back burner. Usually, that free time doesn’t come, so finding the time to work towards and achieve your dreams is important. These eight steps can help you visualize and work towards achieving what you really want, as they have helped highly successful people for many years.
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