Accomplishing your goals is one of the most important things to do if you want to become successful. Numerous things can hold people back and prevent them from ever reaching their dreams or the lifestyle they want.
Some of these things will even affect people for a lifetime without them even realizing it. This will result in countless failed goals throughout a person’s life.
However, there is good news! The news is that anyone can prevent these things from happening in their lives if they can identify and neutralize them.
Your Goals Are Unrealistic
Yes, it is possible to set unrealistic goals that’ll backfire on your productivity.
These types of goals are nearly impossible to complete and will only result in discouragement when you fail to reach them. Some include…
- “I want to lose 50 pounds in two weeks”
- “My goal is to become a millionaire in a day with this new program I found on the internet”
- “I am going to build a massive business in a month”
Sure, it might be possible to become a millionaire in a day with a lottery win, build a substantial business in a month with some viral product, or lose weight extremely fast (if you are on a vigorous weight loss program). However, if you expect a miracle and don’t get it, then your discouragement can result in you giving up early for not seeing the results you expected.
Don’t get me wrong. It is fine to set goals that are a little unrealistic. Sometimes we’ll even accomplish things we never thought possible. Just don’t go overboard.
Your Priorities Are Bad
If you want to achieve success, you will have to learn how to prioritize various goals. For example, let’s say there’s a website owner who’s trying to get noticed on the web. All he focuses on is finding a cool design for his site.
Rather than create content (which is the only way to construct a fanbase), he spends hours looking for that perfect theme and never feels satisfied.
Having the best site design in the world would not help this guy compete with Amazon, Wikipedia, or even the less-popular sites out there. It would probably not get traffic in the first place. This is because the theme is not something that’s paramount for site-building.
Some of the ugliest pages on the net get the most traffic with their content. This is because audiences care about what they are reading more than they care about a site’s design. They do not worry about every little detail that went into creating a website.
If the website owner would have only focused on creating content, then his site would be succeeding, but he only wasted time shifting through 100s of themes.
So when building a business or trying to accomplish a big task, don’t focus on the little things that don’t matter. Focus on the most important goals first and then finish the least important goals later. Quality over quantity is the best way to go.
You Are not Motivating Yourself
Motivation is one of the main things that helps us take action. It is difficult to find at times, especially when we are in the middle of completing a goal and start wondering if it will benefit us in the long-run.
To fix this, you can do a few things such as…
- Reading success stories
- Going outside to get a breath of fresh air
- Eating right
- Visualizing yourself reaching your goals
Find that one thing that motivates yourself to keep moving forward. It may take a little soul-searching and testing to find out what works for you, but no one said this would be easy.
You Are Afraid of Failure
One of the reasons people fail to tackle their goals is the fear of failure.
Will people judge me if I fail? Why waste my time on something I’ll never accomplish? What if I am not good enough?
This is one of the most popular things that’s holding people back from tackling their goals.
You can overcome this fear by realizing that perfection is rarely attainable in anything we do. There’s almost always something we can improve upon. Even the most successful people in the world make mistakes. Embrace your mistakes and learn from them.
You may fear the guilt you’ll encounter if you fail, but you need to understand that there are a lot of uncontrollable factors at play in our lives. Maybe a painter failed to complete his goal because the paint shop was closed, the marketer did not reach a monetary goal because the market crashed, or the local business owner had to close because a massive chain store moved in.
One last thing is to not hold any regrets. What you fear trying today could be something you regret not trying tomorrow. Don’t let your life be overcome by fear. Go out there and do what you want (within reason) and chase your dreams!
You Are Afraid of Success
The fear of success is a real thing. People commonly fear it because they do not feel that their success is deserving. Some may also fear the lifestyle change that will result. Another reason is that while they may reach success, they believe they’ll eventually fall back down again, so what’s the point of even trying?
A few more reasons include high expectations and standing out from the crowd. Do I want this attention? What if everyone hates me for being more successful than them? Will their expectations increase, and what if I cannot reach those expectations?
You can tackle the fear by fixing the root things that are affecting you. If you fear the new lifestyle, then figure out how to embrace it. Getting out of your “comfort zone” is a good thing, but it may take a little getting used to.
If you fear the “haters,” then realize that they are doing nothing more than trying to bring you back down to their level. Do you think Bill Gates cared about what people thought of him when changing the world with the personal computer? What about Galileo when he revolutionized science? You have to learn how to ignore the bad influences in your life and not give them the time of day.
You Do not Have a Plan of Action
Setting worthwhile goals is vital if you want to accomplish anything in life. Having your plan of action will make things easier.
You Are Making Excuses
It seems like some of us have an unlimited amount of excuses in our arsenal. They include…
- “I’ll start tomorrow because I am too tired today”
- “I just don’t feel like it right now”
- “I am comfortable where I am”
- “I don’t have the skills”
- “I’m too busy”
- “This is too difficult”
If you are prone to making unproductive excuses, then start writing all of them down when they come to mind. This will help keep you accountable and realize everything that’s holding you back.
You Do not Have a Deadline
Setting a deadline can create a sense of urgency and help you accomplish things faster than without one. You can do this by setting an alarm, marking a date on the calendar, or making it your goal to finish something before nighttime.
You Give up Too Easily
It’s not uncommon for people to make a goal, give up, and switch to another goal. They think to themselves, “surely I’ll accomplish it this time.”
The ironic thing is that the goal always changes when things get a little difficult. One of the best ways to smash through this obstacle is to realize that continuously changing goals will result in a continuous circle of failure.
You Do not Learn from Your Mistakes
Mistakes are a part of life. When you first learned to walk, did you quit the first time you fell. Of course not! You are only walking today because you learned from your past mistakes.
If you never could learn from your mistakes, then you would continue to make the same mistakes and not learn how to fix them.
It is like building a business. Even if a business owner fails to bring in any customers with a new advertisement, the advertisement still isn’t a complete failure. The owner would now have data of things that don’t work. Eventually, after rigorous testing, this person will finally find the ad that converts.
Virtually every success story follows the pattern of my example above. Everyone who has reached success has failed big at least once in his or her lifetime. Failure is nothing to worry about; it is just another thing to use for helping accomplish your goals.
You Are Not Accomplishing your Goals Because You Are Lazy
For some of us, admitting that we are lazy can be challenging and a harm to our ego. That is fine; I understand. However, if you are lazy and never admit this to yourself, how do you expect to change?
Acknowledging a problem is a step you must take before fixing that problem. Once you realize that you are lazy, grab a sheet of paper and write down all the unproductive things you do. This could be a big eye-opener to help you figure out what’s holding you back.
Once you are finished writing those things down, make it your goal to either limit or eliminate them completely.
You Consume more Content than You Create
We’re all guilty of this. The media world is built for consumption, and we are taking the bait. Instead of consuming large amounts of other people’s content, focus on creating more content than you consume. This tip is particularly useful for blog owners who need to create content in order to bring visitors to their websites.
You Spend too Much Time Consuming Media
We now consume over 8 hours of media each day. This is half of our lives being wasted on what could have been accomplishing our goals and getting things done.
Make it your goal this year to reduce your time spent consuming media and pursue your goals. It is not that hard if you are willing to make a few changes in your life.
These changes can include blocking your internet access or blocking various sites, canceling your cable, decreasing your time watching movies, and logging into social media less often.
Do whatever it takes to reduce your distractions and media consumption.
You Procrastinate too Often
Procrastination often gets the best of us. Why focus on a boring task such as writing an article when we could be out partying or playing video games? Overcoming procrastination is not that difficult with a plan of action. You can fix procrastination by setting up goals and changing your habits.
You Focus on the Wrong Things
Instead of focusing on things like entertainment, drinking, partying, and TV, switch your focus to the things you really want to accomplish in life. You may have to cut some things you enjoy, but success is not without some hardships. By doing this, you’ll likely find that you are more productive than you thought you were.
You Are not Committed
You have a few goals here and there, but perhaps you haven’t decided to commit yourself to any of them. Make it your goal, today, to finally make the decision to pursue them! Ways you can go about doing this include…
- Finding an accountability partner
- Announcing it on your blog or social media account
- Writing it on a piece of paper and putting it on the wall
- Letting your friends and family know about your new goal (s)
- Taking action today
You Are not Using the Right Tools
There are a slew of tools available to aid us in achieving our goals. They can make the process of goal-setting easier. They include notepads, timers, calendars, and reminder notification apps. Make the use of these tools, they are here for a purpose.
You Are Rushing and not Taking Your Time
A lot of people want things now, right this very minute. They forget to realize that accomplishing anything substantial takes a lot of time and hard work.
Part of this is because they have been conditioned to get things right when we they want them.
Want food right now? Go to a fast-food restaurant. Tired of your old computer? Order a new one from Amazon with one-day shipping. Interested in a new game? Download it online instantly.
Have you ever planted a garden? Did you notice the time and nurturing it took before anything started to grow?
You need to treat your goals just like a garden. Don’t be discouraged when success does not come your way tomorrow, next month, or even next year.
This is a long-term process, and as soon as you realize that, the waiting process will not seem so detrimental. Also, remember that, before you know it, that next year will be here anyway. It is better to focus on your long-term plan right now rather than regret it when that year comes rolling around
You Have not Created a “Big Picture” of What You Want in Life
You need a reason to want to fulfill your goals. This can be a huge motivational booster. Don’t have a “big picture?” That is fine. If you are struggling to find it, then you can set an allotted time and brainstorm for things that you would like to accomplish in life.
You Are Overwhelming Yourself with too Many Goals
Sometimes I’ll hear of people starting three blogs or making it their goal to learn several things all at one time. This “shotgun” strategy has one major flaw; that is, you’ll never have the time to put a strong focus on any individual goal.
So instead of having three mediocre goals, concentrate on that one big goal and make it the best it can be. It is better to have one excellent goal rather than three mediocre goals you can barely work on.
You Do not Have the Right Training
This one applies to people who want to make money online. There’s a lot of information out there, but searching through the scams, finding that information, and figuring out what to do is not an easy task. You can fix this by joining a cooperative community for helping accomplish your goals.
