Efforts to achieve common goals. Setting goals and achieving them

Almost all people want progress. Almost everyone is afraid of falling behind their own and other people's expectations. Almost everyone struggles to make their aspirations and dreams come true, but the struggle is against their own fears, lack of motivation or simple misunderstanding how to realize these dreams.

At least one of these obstacles can be passed. Knowing your goals to help you move forward can make fear or lack of motivation non-existent in the face of hope for success. Progress, goal achievement and success are ambiguous terms, but each of us knows how to get or improve specific things. To do this you need to do certain steps to change, to be committed to the process that will lead to great joy and success.

Edwin Locke: Theory of Setting Goals in Life

Ambiguous goals or goals that are too easy to achieve will not achieve good results. Psychologist Edwin Locke has been working on a project testing the effects of goal setting on task performance for 25 years. Locke's results show that setting high goals leads to increased individual performance.

The relationship between performance and goals is associated with more high goals, leading to greater effort, and goals aimed at attracting attention and effort to goal-directed actions through unanticipated actions. For example, to write a novel in a month, you need to write every day, without spending time practicing perfect typing techniques and doing basic, more effective actions to get the job done.

However there are others important factors in achieving the goal. You can't just set a task and hope that the very act of setting it will inspire you to want to complete it. Completing the goal also requires:

Commitment to the goal, effectiveness and awareness of the importance of the goal;

The complexity of the task in which it is difficult to acquire knowledge;

Situational Constraints: The means required to complete a task cannot be too large or greater than what is required to complete the task.

Locke's theory applies not only to own goals and tasks. If your boss gives you an assignment, you can also consider it from the point of view of Locke's theory. Moreover, modern research only added evidence of its effectiveness, although calling it scientific is not entirely correct.

Either way, setting your goals should not only help you reach the finish line of your goals, but also give you specific practical skills that will help you learn how to achieve your goals.

To complete any task, chasing a goal will be counterproductive, although thoughtful deadline setting can, on the contrary, increase efficiency. If the rush and hustle starts, you risk focusing on failure rather than success and viewing your goal more as a threat. This change will lead to a decrease in productivity and, as a result, you will not be able to complete your task.

These warnings add to the list of things to consider when setting your goals:

Complete small tasks on the way to your big goal, grow as you go towards something;

Don't fool yourself with ideas or fears of failure. The more energy and worry you put into it, the less energy you can devote to your goal, which will hurt your chances of achieving it and improving yourself.

Let's get inspired: 50 examples of goals

Everyone has something they would like to change or improve. Sometimes, however, it is more difficult to make changes in the right direction when the way to get there is not clear. Making progress can come down to achieving a clear goal and corresponding steps and actions. If you set goals that seem achievable to you but are still very challenging, you are more likely to succeed than if you choose goals that are very easy to achieve.

Your goals should intrigue and motivate you by speaking to your passions and desires. Specific examples of personal goals in the areas of study, work, creativity, health, finances and relationships could be:

Read one book a month for a year
- Read 15 pages a day of course materials
- Read three books a year that are considered classics of literature
- Write in your diary every evening for a month
- Do something creative once a week
- Limit your food intake to once a week for a year
- Eat up to 1800 calories per day
- Sleep 7 hours 6 days a week
- Go out of the house twice a month for an overnight event
- Save 5% of your salary every month for a year
- Postpone a certain amount money for entertainment every month (cinema, theaters, etc.)
- Spend an hour outside five days a week
- Make it a rule to complete assignments in courses or studies immediately, and not put it off until the last minute
- Complete three more tasks than assigned
- Take two courses within a year to improve your professional skills
- Learn to do something new every month
- Learn a new song on a chosen musical instrument once a month
- Allocate only 30 minutes a day to the Internet to check news and messages
- Complete work tasks at least one day before the deadline for a month
- Yes for dining table five days a week
- Limit your food intake while driving or running to at least twice a week
- Do something calm and perhaps boring once a week
- Check past plans and write down new ones once a month
- Lose 2 kilograms in a month
- Stop eating unhealthy candies
- Limit carbonated drinks to once a week
- Limit alcohol consumption to one drink per day special case
- Volunteer at a local charity every week for a month
- Give a bag of food to a homeless person once a week
- Collect plastic at home and send it for recycling throughout the year
- Limit TV viewing time to an hour a day
- Watch an episode of your favorite TV series only after completing all the tasks
- Donate food or money to animal shelters once a month for a year
- Take a break from the Internet one day a week
- Get up two hours before going to work
- Eat a healthy breakfast five days a week
- Make an anonymous donation or help once a week
- Limit the time spent in social networks up to half an hour a day
- Do cardio exercise at least 30 minutes a day for a year
- Call your grandmother at least once a week
- Participate in activities of interest (charity, creativity) once a month
- Watch a new comedian perform once a month
- Eat vegetables with every meal
- Fill out your Pinterest board once a week
- Paint an oil painting once a month for a year
- Study the writers, dates of birth and biographical facts of each book read
- Study the geography of one country every month
- Meet with your boss once a week to improve your work
- Get to know the teacher and meet with him once a week

10 Reasons to Set Future Goals

It's clear that some goals don't require settings, but anyone who thinks that way probably doesn't realize how often they accomplish their goals by accident. If you've ever thought, "Just do it today and there will be a soft bed” or “Tomorrow I will do this, no matter what,” you set yourself specific short-term goals that could increase your endurance and dedication.

Setting future goals according to Lockean theory is similar if one looks a little more advanced and further into the future. However, the rewards for setting such goals will be much more noticeable in your profession or personal life. Here are some reasons why you should start setting yourself specific goals:

1. Setting goals helps us meditate on things that need to be changed or improved.

2. Goals challenge us to do better, faster, and more efficiently.

3. When we achieve our goals, we expand our knowledge base and improve our skills over a given period of time.

4. Goals help us visualize end results that might otherwise be ambiguous.

5. Setting goals gives us the opportunity to learn to build new habits.

6. Goals force us to take steps to achieve them instead of thinking “one day I will” or “one day I will.”

7. Completing goals increases feelings of satisfaction and well-being.

8. Goals help us strive for something, breaking us out of outdated programs.

9. Setting goals can make big, seemingly impossible challenges seem more manageable by breaking them down into small steps.

10. Future goals give us a reason to positive outlook for the future. We know that we can change our lives for the better.

Therefore, it is very important to set some specific goals for yourself and highlight certain time to achieve them. This way you can make your dreams come true without having to rely on someone else to do something to make your wish come true.

Ekaterina Romanova

Every person has a goal. For some, it’s small, like buying a new phone or going on vacation. For others it is larger: for example, creating a business with a turnover of a million rubles a month or building a house for a family. Still others focus on the global and practically unattainable: becoming president, solving the problem of poverty in the country, establishing peace throughout the world.

What is a “goal”, how to achieve the goal?

Very often people confuse the concepts of “goal” and “dream”. Although they are similar to each other, they are very different in meaning.

A dream is a hypothetical object or phenomenon, upon achieving which a person will, as he believes, feel happiness.

A goal is an ideal or real object of a person’s aspiration towards which he is aimed. thought process and human actions.

The difference between these concepts is that the “goal” is measurable and creates a direction - a vector, the achievement of a goal. It has a direction of movement, and the dream simply exists. A dream pleases the mind with its presence, but the goal has a very real framework, and most importantly, to achieve it you can make step by step plan. As they say: “A goal is a dream with a specific deadline”.

We are more fully exploring the principles of setting and achieving goals in the “” project. Connect and achieve your goals easier and faster!

Most people make goal setting too easy. We thought about her, and that’s enough. But setting a goal and achieving a goal are inextricably linked. The more precisely it is set, the easier it is to achieve.

There are several methods for staging it, they are all similar to each other like brothers. But the most common is the S.M.A.R.T. system. When setting a goal, it is necessary to take into account 5 main components that allow you to specify it as much as possible, making the steps to achieve it clear and consistent.

S.M.A.R.T. goal setting system:

• Specific– specificity. Determining the need for a goal is too vague a perception. You need to get to the bottom of the real reasons why you want to achieve this particular goal. Maybe you want to gain respect in the eyes of others or assert yourself. There can be many reasons. But only after you understand real reasons your desires, it will be possible to build a real plan for achieving it.
• Measurable– measurability. A clear criterion is needed by which it will be possible to determine that the goal has been achieved. For example: “Earn $100,000 in 12 months” or “Create an online store with 500 visitors and sales of 5 units per day.”
• Agreed– consistency. Your goal should not directly intersect or affect the interests of other people. This can make achieving your goal much more difficult. If it is impossible to avoid the intersection of interests, it is necessary to improve the original plan taking into account these nuances. For example, before opening your own store, you need to check whether there are competitors in the area, and if so, how you can get around them.
• Realistic- realism. Great ambition is one of the important traits and many call it “”, but it is important to understand that they (ambitions) must be balanced. Naturally, the goal of “earning a million dollars in a week from scratch” is impossible to achieve, no matter how much effort and enthusiasm you have. “Earn $10,000 from scratch in a month” is quite difficult, but possible. But “In 2 years, create a business that brings in $10,000 in monthly profit” is quite realistic and achievable.
• Timed– limited in time. Deadline is very important method achieving the goal. It is the limited time that will allow.

Only after it has been fully worked out according to these five criteria can and should be created a plan for its implementation and broken down into specific tasks.

Now a few important points. Do not confuse “goal” and “task”. A task is a specific action, the implementation of which brings us closer to achieving the goal. For example, “Create a business plan for an online store” is a task. And “Provide a stable monthly income of $10,000 for your family” is the goal.

It’s also worth clearly defining what you really need. Buying a car within a certain period of time is a goal. The desire to ensure comfortable movement in the city is more like a task or a wish.

IMPORTANT!

Determine what you really want. Many goals can be imposed by society, so it’s worth understanding your desires. You need to think carefully, and if you really want to achieve it, then go ahead! If it matches yours deep values and desires automatically.

Anyone who achieved the goals they set for themselves, whatever they were, inevitably went through three stages on the way to the desired result. These steps are universal:

• Accurate goal setting.
• Developing a plan.
• Activities to achieve the goal.

No less significant are the main components of achieving the goal:

1. Having a goal. Before you begin making changes, clearly state your goal, which includes a description of the end result you are striving for. The goal must be formulated positive, present tense and first person. Ask yourself the question: “What will I get when the goal is achieved?” The answer to this question will help you assess the significance of this goal for you. The more benefits you can name, the more important it is to you.
2. Flexibility of behavior. To achieve a goal, it is not necessary to follow a strictly defined route. It is better to move along a shorter and more convenient path. You can change your actions as long as you move towards your cherished goal. Corresponding to this principle is the following golden rule: “If what you do doesn’t work, do something else.” Why break through a wall if there is a door somewhere nearby? And if the door does not open in one direction, try opening it in the other. To avoid making the same mistakes, it is important to be able to change your behavior. The person who is most in control of the situation is the one who has greater behavioral flexibility.
3. Touch Sensitivity. You should learn to see, feel, hear this world, the signs on your way, and not think about what could have happened “if...”. It is important to learn to see obstacles and go around them.
4. Personal power. You need to have confidence that you will achieve what you want.

Stages of achieving the goal

First step. Analyze your goals. If the goal is formulated in general view, vague and inaccurate (“I want to be happy”, etc.), ask yourself: what will change in my life when I achieve it (become happy)? How exactly can this manifest itself? Certainly, common goals are also good, since they give meaning to our lives and our affairs. However, in order for them to become really effective, they need to be transferred to a more specific level. The difference between the effectiveness of general and specific goals is approximately the same as between understanding the meaning of electricity and replacing a burnt-out light bulb when it is necessary to make it light.

Second step. Rate yours internal potential And external conditions . Assess and write down where you are now in relation to achieving your goal, that is, evaluate your inner potential: what you already know, know how to do, what you can do. You probably already have the basic skills, otherwise you simply wouldn’t want it. Assess external conditions: particularly favorable circumstances, assistance specific people in achieving results, how you yourself can change in order to receive this help. The list should be as large as possible. Now you should have a better understanding of what skills you need to develop to achieve your goal.

Third step. Create a bright and clear image of yourself in the future. An additional test of your goal will be to attract sensory experience by creating a vivid and clear image of yourself in the future and what you want to have. Answer the questions:

• How will I know if I have achieved the desired result?
• What will I see, hear, feel when I achieve my goal?
• What will my behavior, thoughts and feelings be like when I achieve my desired state?

The more specific, brighter and more sensual your image is, the faster your unconscious will begin to work to achieve what you want.

Fourth step. Determine the time and place of fulfillment of your intention. Your goal should have a specific context: when and where you will achieve the goal. This is necessary for your intention to come true right time and in the right place. For example, a person long time rented an apartment from more likely After some time, he will buy a home for himself if he formulates such a goal for himself, rather than want to own real estate someday.

Fifth step. Check your goal for sustainability. The end result must be accompanied by positive effects, that is, it must not be harmful. You need to determine how the desired result will affect your life and the lives of other people. Make sure your desire is in harmony with you and the world around you. When we achieve a goal, we pay for it. Are you willing to pay a certain price? Ask yourself the question: “What might be required of me to achieve my goal, what am I willing to sacrifice?” This could be a waste of time, abandonment of other aspirations, monetary expenses, etc. You must have an awareness of the positive and negative aspects achieving your goal. Determine for yourself what you gain and what you lose. To make your future different from your present, you need to take some action. The answer to the question “Do I agree with possible consequences? helps you take responsibility for fulfilling your intention and ultimately for your life.

Sixth step. Define necessary resources to achieve the goal. Determine which resources ( necessary qualities character, people) you need to achieve the desired result. Remember a situation when you had these qualities and transfer this state into the future. Remember: every person has the necessary resources to achieve their goal. The power is always contained within us, and the fulcrum is in the present moment.

Seventh step. Identify barriers to achieving results. When executing own decision Often one has to face difficulties that are expressed in inertia of behavior, when habitual forms of behavior are carried out almost automatically. Consequently, in order to behave differently, this automatism must be overcome. And this is quite difficult, especially considering that the usual action is carried out faster. Therefore, you should always take into account inertial resistance and think about ways to overcome it. It's important to determine what the barriers to achieving your goal are before you start taking action. concrete steps. This will allow you to warn them in a timely manner.

Ask yourself questions:

• What can stop me from achieving my goal?
• What difficulties and obstacles may arise on my way?
• Could something unfavorable happen to me if my wish comes true?

Having discovered negative beliefs and attitudes, replace them with new, positive ones that will bring you closer to your goal. Changing ideas and beliefs makes adjustments to our original goals and plans, which is often accompanied by the awareness of new possibilities that previously might have seemed a pipe dream. The main condition for achieving the final result is to constantly keep your goal in sight. Think about what you want, and not about what prevents you from having it. By focusing on the difficulties that arise, you will inevitably slip into acting “because.” Therefore, determine which thoughts need to be changed and new ones created in order to get closer to the goal.

For example, you want to buy something, but at the moment you don't have the money for it. Frame the thought like this: “How can I afford this?” Your unconscious mind will begin to select different options to achieve your goal.

Eighth step. Determine the first steps and start acting. After setting a goal, proceed to planning specific steps to achieve it. If the goal is too big and it may be difficult to achieve it right away, break it down into smaller, easily achievable ones. Ask yourself what is preventing you from immediately achieving what you want. The listed answer points will most likely turn out to be separate goals. This process can be continued until you get goals that will not be difficult for you to make a plan to achieve. This will give you a list of specific actions you can take. Your actions should be like internal(getting rid of aggressive emotions, work with negative thoughts and beliefs), and external(specific physical efforts, meeting with necessary people etc.).

So, decide what you need to do, what you plan to do to achieve your goal. Write a list simple actions(steps). The first step is to launch a basic program of action. It is advisable that your actions are subject to verification and control on your part.

Ninth step. Specify each action and the entire goal in terms of timing. It is always useful to set a time frame: the period within which you need to receive end result. Specify each of the actions and the entire goal, correlating with the amount of time required and the maximum allowable time for its completion. If the period is too short, then, feeling its unreality, you may not take action at all. On the other hand, too long a period of time does not motivate immediate action: it will seem that there is enough time, and you will constantly put off specific actions until later. In addition, if in the end you cannot meet the set deadlines for some reason, instead of abandoning your goal, it will be enough to reconsider them and still achieve your goal.

Tenth step. Carrying out what you set out to do. It happens that a person starts to do something, everything goes well for a while, until he fails, breaks down, or finds himself at a dead end. Nothing is getting worse, but nothing is getting better either. Then the main task becomes to find the strength not to give up on achieving your goal.

You need to understand: this happens to everyone, this is a mandatory stage, which indicates that the plan needs to be adjusted in some way. That is why you should not treat the drawn up plan as something immutable: change and forward it. Consider and accept others, alternative solutions that can lead to the desired goal. It happens that over time plans to achieve it change. Often new opportunities appear or, on the contrary, unexpected obstacles arise. Analyze what caused the failure, what is the reason, where is the error that can be identified and corrected.

The same goal can usually be achieved in different ways. There is only one important condition: changes must lead to the goal, that is, be actions, and not thoughts about why it will not be possible to achieve it. Choose different options and act. It is important to understand: mistakes are inevitable along the way. The problem is not not to make them, but to have the right attitude towards them, in which mistakes are analyzed and used to move towards the goal.

When we quit doing something after failure or refuse to take action out of fear of making a mistake, we accumulate experience of failure. And when we actively act, try, make mistakes, correct them, we gain important experience - the experience of action. This experience is more important than the experience of achievement. Napoleon said: “There are more surrenderers than losers.”

To keep your goals in mind, you can use the following technique: write yourself notes and place them so that they often catch your eye. You should write in them the goal you are striving for and the simple action that you will take today for the sake of this desired goal.

Write down your goals. Re-read them. Speak them out. Browse them. And you will see that they are realized in your life.

Source - Elitarium

Many people have already learned that in order to achieve a goal, especially a long-term one, it is not enough to simply make a promise to yourself and decide to work with your teeth gritted. In the process, laziness and a lot of excuses will certainly appear, and old thoughts and beliefs will return. As a result, the case will remain idle for weeks. What to do? You need to change radically and adhere to a step-by-step system for achieving goals, which we will talk about today.

Of course, there are people who know how to achieve everything they want. And they are very surprised that others cannot do this. They even write books about how simple it is. But most of these authors forget that a person is a very complex matter, that he is influenced by hundreds of different factors. You need to work very seriously with your psyche and thinking; just the desire to achieve a goal is not enough. At least because it can disappear the very next day.

Therefore, we will not just present a step-by-step plan for achieving goals, but we will also try to approach the issue comprehensively, understanding that a person is always very passionate about returning to a past state. Change is very difficult. Therefore, you need to study yourself carefully and adhere to some rules.

Let's start with excuses that almost all of us have achieved perfection in.

What excuses do we make for ourselves?

Goals, especially long-term goals, make us feel very bad. By various reasons: we haven’t felt progress for a long time, the path seems endless, and much more.

Therefore, we very often come up with excuses. It's our way of explaining to ourselves why we don't grab every chance to succeed in life. Here are the most popular ones.

• I'm not educated enough.
• I don't have enough money.
• I don't have time.
• I'm not confident enough in myself.
• I just don't have enough experience.
• I'm not ready yet.
• I don't know where to start.
• It's too complicated.
• I'm afraid of making mistakes.
• I'm afraid.
• It's too risky.

All these excuses keep us in one place for a long time. Therefore, before you learn to set goals, you must work with yourself and clearly decide that you will no longer accept apologies.

Every time you catch yourself thinking such thoughts, immediately mark them as excuses. You can sit down right away and write about it in your diary. Awareness is extremely important in our business.

Excuses are also generated by laziness, so we will consider it separately.

How to deal with laziness?

Anyone who indulges in laziness loses huge amounts of money, time, prospects and opportunities. Perhaps this is the key difference between successful person and a loser. Great people are not afraid to work, and they do it smartly, while average people look for excuses and stop thinking as soon as they leave the office.

To get rid of laziness, you need to take four important steps:

Determine why laziness occurs

Think about everyone possible reasons why you fall into the trap of laziness and ask yourself:

• Why do I indulge my laziness?
• Am I bored, tired, lacking inspiration?
• Am I afraid of achieving something so I use laziness as an avoidance mechanism?
• What exactly am I afraid of and trying to avoid?

Study long-term effects

We often indulge our laziness because we don’t cause ourselves enough pain. It turns out that it is better not to achieve a goal than to achieve it.

Therefore, you must convince yourself that if you are lazy, it will lead to great pain in the future. Make a list of all long-term consequences.

Challenge yourself

When you challenge yourself, you feel alive. Ask yourself the question: “Am I really weak?”

Remind yourself every day that only by setting a serious goal can you build character and become a truly strong person.

Take action immediately

It is dangerous to engage in self-reflection without action for a long time. There is a risk of staying in oneself for a long time, becoming isolated: then the study of personality will only cause harm.

Study and, but in the process of achieving goals. Take small steps, develop your individuality and learn along the way.

Step-by-step system for achieving goals

The process of achieving goals must be divided into several successive steps, that is, create a system.

Step One: Create Your System

To do this, go through five mandatory steps.

Be clear about what you want

The goal you set is limited solely by your imagination. Therefore, you need to allocate enough time for this stage, without getting off with the banal: “I already know what I want, what’s next?”

Goals can be different: career, family, financial, as well as in the field of health, self-development, and public service.

In this case, the goal itself, in fact, does not matter. She is only a product of yours true desires. Answer three questions:

• What exactly do I want?
• Why do I want this?
• When do I want it?

These questions will help you not to concentrate on the goal, but to look, first of all, inside yourself. It may turn out that many desires were unreal and did not reflect the real state of things in your soul.

People don't achieve their goals because they don't answer these questions. And they are very important because they allow you to gain motivation for every day. For example, today you desperately wanted to learn how to play chess. This desire is sincere. But in a few days it will disappear and time will be lost. Better ask yourself why this is needed.

And of course, set deadlines. Without this, you won't create a sense of urgency within. Without a deadline, you will not push yourself, you will become lazy and eventually give up on your goal.

Decide if the goal matches your personality

To understand what kind of person you are, you need to understand what it consists of: values, standards, beliefs, lifestyle and priorities.

We know that this sounds quite depressing. But don't skip to the next section, because this one is also incredibly important. Many people simply do not pay attention to what kind of individuals they are. They set themselves wonderful goals and even begin to go to them, but in the end they abandon them. These goals were simply not met key features their individuality.

In psychology there is a concept of congruence. This is the consistency of speech, ideas and beliefs with each other. IN in a broad sense- integrity, self-consistency of the individual.

You've probably had times when you did everything right and still felt miserable. Have you ever wondered why? The psyche senses the discrepancy between actions and personality parameters, therefore it transmits this information using bad mood and the feeling that you are “out of place.”

Knowing yourself is a long process. But you can start with simple, but the right questions:

• Is this goal consistent with my core values?
• Do I truly believe that I will achieve this goal?
• Does this goal fit my lifestyle?
• Could it happen here?
• Perhaps I need to adjust my priorities to make room for this goal?
• Does this goal conflict with my other goals?
• How can this contradiction be resolved?
• Once I achieve my goal, will I become the person I am trying to become?

The reality is that if your core values, beliefs and priorities are not in harmony with your goal, then there is little hope for results. But if you take a little time and put the right goal, then everything will go like clockwork: you yourself will feel that you are doing everything right.

Consider external consequences

When we set a goal, we think about how it will affect our life, personality and amount of time. But we rarely analyze what will happen to the environment and other people. And this can lead to big problems and conflicts.

Every goal you set has a number of consequences, both good and bad. Ask yourself the following questions:

• Who could potentially be affected?
• How exactly?

Don't get overconfident and think that you can easily handle conflict in the future or that it's not something worth paying attention to. Such ignorance can be costly. It's best to take steps to minimize the damage. After all, if you decide to go to the gym every day, you will spend less time with your loved ones. It will inevitably affect your life in one way or another. So consider a variety of different scenarios.

Ask yourself the following questions:

• What's good about my current situation?
• Having achieved this goal, will I be able to preserve all the good things that I have now?

Now you have a lot of time to spend with your children. But if you start working more, it will not be enough. How will this affect the family? You don't have to give up on your dreams, but it is important to understand that there will inevitably be consequences.

Ask yourself:

• What sacrifices will I need to make to achieve this goal?
• Can I really make these sacrifices?

This is the price of success. To accept the right decision, think about the following:

• What are the consequences of giving up on this goal?
• What's at stake?
• What could I miss or lose?
• How will I feel?

Now you can see that even though you will spend less time with your family, it will only lead to better things in the end. You can earn more money, provide children good education. As a result of the analysis described, you may also understand that you should choose a completely different goal.

There will be many questions:

• What will I get if I achieve this goal?
• What will my loved ones get if I achieve this goal?
• How will this change me as a person?
• How will I feel?

You were probably counting on some simple system of five steps that can be written down on a piece of paper or studied in 10 minutes. But we suggest that you first learn a lot about yourself, and also learn to predict consequences. With this approach, the chances of achieving your goal will increase significantly.

Sketch your plan

It's time to make a plan to achieve your goals. It will help you understand what obstacles you may encounter. It is also useful to think about the resources that may be needed.

First, let's think about the obstacles. They can accept different shapes in the form of people, events, circumstances, fears, limited beliefs, lack of experience or knowledge. You can't prepare for everything, but remember that you always choose your reaction. Ask yourself:

• What potential obstacles might stand in my way?
• How can they hinder my progress?
• What should I do to successfully deal with them?

Resources can come in the form of tools, skills, knowledge, connections, and more. It may take a little time to get the information you need.

Every obstacle you encounter is nothing more than a problem that can be overcome with help. necessary resources and resourcefulness.

To learn how to plan for the future, ask yourself:

• What resources do I have?
• What resources might I need?
• How can I get them?

Remember also that you do not have to have all the skills and knowledge. Other people may come in handy for this. This means you must learn to find useful connections.

Take a piece of paper and start creating rough plan. Consider all your previous answers.

Make an action plan

Many experts debate whether the action plan should be too detailed. The answer is this: try both options.

It’s best to create two plans at once. The first is detailed, and the second is in general outline, which only points in the right direction. In a month you will be able to understand which is better. Or perhaps you will realize that both are good and in harmony with each other.

The action plan is step by step instructions about how you are going to achieve your goal. A simple example: you want to join a gym. Moreover, they already made one attempt, but in the end they gave up after two weeks. Action plan:

1. Earn money for a subscription.
2. Get a job extra work(which you can then abandon to free up time).
3. Buy several books about sports and fitness.
4. Buy a subscription and sportswear.
5. Create sports affirmations in order to maintain the level of motivation at the highest level.
6. Meet like-minded people.
7. Create a new diet.

Step Two: Use Visualization Techniques

Visualization techniques help you get a solid dose of motivation every day. Each of us has experienced the fact that we wake up and have no desire to achieve our long-term goal. This condition is discouraging.

Sit in a quiet place where no one can disturb you. Start visualizing your goal. Throw yourself into the future and feel that everything worked out. How are you feeling? Who's nearby? What thoughts are in your head?

Now think about the last action you took to achieve this remarkable result. Next, move to reverse side: penultimate action and so on.

“Be” in the present. Now you know how to achieve your goal. Moreover, they mentally survived all the difficulties and coped with them.

Step Three: Create a Morning Schedule

Everything is decided in the morning: once you give yourself some indulgence, in a few hours you will feel laziness of such strength that it will kill all desire and enthusiasm. Create the right mood with some repetitive actions.

Immediately after waking up

No matter how difficult it is, smile immediately. Probably nothing special will happen after this action. And this is normal, because no one promised a magic pill. But a start has been made.

Ask yourself some good questions while you're lying in bed:

• What am I proud of?
• What am I happy with?
• What am I grateful for?
• What do I expect from today?
• What am I going to do today?

Drink a glass of water. This simple act will help replenish the lack of water that has formed overnight.

20 minutes after waking up

Take up meditation. Set aside at least 5-10 minutes for this. With this exercise you will put your brain in order.

Take a journal and write down your goals for that day. If they are already there, just review them. It will only cost a few seconds, but will get you set up.

Read an inspiring book. It can be about self-development, about achieving goals, about dreams. The point of all this is to get enough motivation. Without it, it will be very unpleasant to get down to business.

Use the Brian Tracy Technique

If everything written above seems too complicated, then try something simple that you can use right now.

Brian Tracy does so much work in goal counseling that you might want to try this technique:

1. Create a burning desire within yourself.
2. Believe in yourself.
3. Write down the goal.
4. Analyze your starting point.
5. Determine why you want to succeed in this field.
6. Set a deadline.
7. Identify obstacles.
8. Determine what additional knowledge you may need.
9. Determine what kind of people you might need.
10. Make a plan.
11. Visualize.
12. Never give up.

Books

If you think that the techniques and tips presented in the article are not enough, there is always the opportunity to read several additional books on this topic. Reading large volumes information helps the brain get used to (and it will resist) the fact that a change will come very soon. Here's a list of books to get you started. Just don’t forget that the main thing is action.

• “Achieving goals. Step-by-step system» Marilyn Atkinson, Rae T. Choice.
• “A whole life. Key skills to achieve your goals" Les Hewitt, Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen.
• “This year I…” M.J. Ryan.
• "Getting Things Done" by David Allen.
• "Focus. Achieving Priority Goals" Stephen Covey.
• “52 Mondays. How to achieve any goals in a year" Vic Johnson.
• “Try it - it will work!” Seth Godin.
• The Psychology of Achievement by Heidi Grant Halsvorson.
• "The Habit of Achieving" Bernard Ross.

Success depends on many factors, such as a successful combination of circumstances, environment, knowledge and skills in certain areas activities. However, one of the most important components is the ability to set goals correctly and make every effort to achieve them.

Goal setting

A clear understanding of your own desires is the first step towards turning your aspirations into reality. To understand the direction of action and determine what specific steps need to be taken in the future, the first thing you need to do is clearly formulate a goal and develop a plan. For clarity, it is better to write it down, formulating the desired result in the first person in the present tense. That is, as if at the moment we have already achieved our plans. Another important point- describe in detail the progress of the plan, break it down into stages, approximately noting the timing of each step on the path to success. You can then make changes as needed. Regardless of which methods of achieving goals are chosen, the beginning of the path is identical in all cases: the correct formulation and understanding of what exactly you want.

In addition, there are various techniques for self-regulation and increasing confidence in one’s own capabilities:

• Visualization. Psychologists recommend visualizing the desired result. This helps you tune in to the wave of success and increase motivation.
• Meditation. Helps balance psychological state, reduce nervous tension, get rid of fatigue, increase creativity and unlock potential.
• Affirmations are frequently repeated positive statements.

Of course, the above techniques cannot completely replace the basic actions on the path to success. They only help tune the subconscious to the desired frequency.

There are also various techniques that teach how to correctly formulate and write down desires, draw up a plan and achieve goals.

Motivation

Proper motivation is the most important driver on the path to Moreover, it is an indicator indicating the degree of importance of a particular desire. If the intention is not strong enough, it is worth considering whether what is planned is really that important? Will the quality of life change after achieving what you want? Or perhaps this goal arose from the influence of others. Almost any dream requires certain expenses: effort, time, money. If the degree of significance of the desire and the amount of effort required are unequal, the likelihood of success will be in question.

IN this issue easier to understand specific example. Let’s say a person sets a goal to master English, but cannot begin to regularly devote time to a foreign language. First you need to figure out what was the motive. Is this really vital? Perhaps the desire is dictated by the widespread belief that it would be good to know a foreign language. For someone who, for example, finds himself in another country, the question of the advisability of obtaining such knowledge will not arise at all, and all doubts associated with language abilities will disappear. Learning will become a priority, the hidden capabilities of the brain will be mobilized, and new system thinking and transmitting information will be mastered in a short time.

If there are no such external motivating factors, then you will have to show willpower and artificially create conditions for advancement.

Willpower

Weak developed strength will can significantly worsen the quality of life. A person who is unable to overcome negative habits becomes a slave to his weakness of will. This is precisely the reason why people sacrifice long-term prospects for the sake of short-term pleasures, and natural personal aspirations are overcome by instincts and momentary impulses.

Willpower can be developed by regularly performing actions aimed at self-development. It Can Be Anything: Study foreign language, playing sports, reading educational literature, playing musical instruments, chess, acquiring new skills in any field.

One of the most important conditions Regarding how to achieve your goals - this is the ability to concentrate on the primary task, discarding everything unnecessary. These actions will be easier to perform if you find a suitable stimulus and focus on what you want. It is recommended to set no more than two goals at a time. Otherwise, dispersion and the desire to succeed in several areas at once can result in failure.

Procrastination is the enemy of success

The reason for constantly postponing important things to the future lies in the contradiction between the unconscious area responsible for short-term pleasures (the limbic system) and the prefrontal cortex of the brain, which controls planning and long-term perspectives. There are two ways to overcome this negative habit: increase motivation or reduce resistance.

Common causes of laziness and procrastination:

• self-doubt;
• lack of knowledge;
• fear of failure;
• fear of working hours;
• wrong habits.

How to deal with self-doubt?

Disbelief in own strength, in turn, can cause permanent delays in action. The only way out is to overcome uncertainty and begin to implement your plans. For objective assessment For any question, you can use a method known as “Descartes square”:

Usually, most people consider this or that problem from only one side: what will happen if the plan is implemented. Looking at it from different sides, can be foreseen in advance possible benefit and impending losses. Awareness will add confidence and help get rid of most doubts.

Incompetence

Another reason for lack of confidence in one’s own capabilities often lies in the lack of information.

In this case, there are several solutions:

• Find a teacher. It could be someone you know or famous person. often help you achieve your goal by following the same path.
• Proceed to self-study and learn as much as possible about the issue of interest.
• Find assistants and delegate some of the work. Surrounded by like-minded people who are always ready to help, achieving your goals is much easier.

How to overcome the fear of failure?

This is the most common enemy of success. Fear is closely related to uncertainty and is often the cause of its occurrence. The mechanisms for dealing with such fears are almost identical to working with a lack of faith in your own. To protect yourself from possible failure, you need to consider all the ways and solutions. In addition, you should understand by what criteria the level of success will be assessed. Sometimes the reason for apparent failure is excessive demands on oneself.

For those who have managed to overcome fears, doubts and uncertainty, achieving the following goals will be much easier.

Fear of work hours

To solve this problem you need to separate large volume work into stages. Each time, starting the next segment, direct attention only to what is important at the moment. It is best to think about the next problem after the previous ones have been achieved. This method will help you accomplish more, save energy, and do any work efficiently.

Another good way overcome fears and doubts - remember those moments in your life when you managed to easily achieve your goal (or goals). Pleasant memories are able to instill confidence and help look at the situation from a positive side.

Wrong habits

Our whole life is built from small things we do every day, most of which have already become habits. If for years you fail to build your life according to own desires, perhaps you should think about the appropriateness of the actions being taken.

A habit is formed by repeating the same action over and over again over a period of time. This occurs due to the fact that neurons used simultaneously form a network. Therefore, many actions are performed automatically, and attempts to do something new cause difficulties at first. Thanks to this, throughout life, not only habits are formed, but also a certain attitude, as well as ways of responding to various kinds of stimuli. external environment. That is, depending on the set of repeated actions, a person creates a certain perception of the world around him.

If a person has a program negative attitude In addition to everything that happens, it is most likely that any aspirations to achieve success will end in failure. This program can be changed by getting rid of destructive attitudes and developing In addition, it is important to introduce habits that will subsequently help you get closer to what you want. Certain regular actions aimed at self-development and changes in the quality of life in general will further change the worldview in better side. You can start small. For example, replace the daily two-hour viewing of television shows with reading educational books, both general educational and narrowly focused, allowing you to deepen your knowledge in your professional field. Or learn something new that will help unleash your creative potential.

There are even non-standard methods changes familiar image life. For example, looking for new ways to do the same job, changing the sequence of daily tasks, developing ambidexterity - becoming a person who can perform certain actions equally well with both hands (for example, writing).