Everything You Need to Know About Goal Setting and Achieving

It doesn’t matter if it’s New Years or any other time of year. If you aren’t on track to achieving the goals you set, you need a better plan for goal setting and achieving. And if you haven’t set any goals at all, how do you expect to get where you want to go?

Oh, you don’t know where you want to go.

It’s time to commit your goals to paper. First, you need to find out what you stand for and what’s important to you. You need those value statements. Don’t worry, the template for creating those statements that define your life and business is part of The Ageless Lifestyle Guide to Setting and Achieving Your Goals.

Those of us who are committed to having an ageless life and business are always learning new things. Setting goals is a great way to make sure the new things we want to create in our lives actually materialize.

Here’s everything you need to know about goal setting and achieving.

Doing this process over and over in each area of your life is how you build an ageless lifestyle after 50.

If you did this last year, you would be taking time right now to review how you did last year as you plan for next year.

If you don’t follow a process for setting and achieving your goals in writing, the odds of them happening is just 3%. So if you’re just going to think about goals, or make a mental note, don’t bother.

You also won’t have near the success rate in achieving your goals if you try to go it alone. For some of your goals, you may want just one accountability partner, while others may be shared goals you can form a team around to ensure the success of everyone.

We are not judged by our intention, we are judged by our results. Results are often brutal, but always fair. Having someone to call you on your fudging of your process is just what you need.

Saturate your mind with a success system you can get behind as one that will work for you. Accept that there will be challenges, things will happen in your life, and yet you will keep moving forward toward achieving your goals.

[Tweet “A big why, one that’s bigger than your own personal interests, will move you through your obstacles to achieving your goals.”]

Making more money is a common goal people have.

Start telling yourself a new and better story about money. It’s time to shift your beliefs about money if you want more of it in your life. The amount of money flowing into your life is always what you believe you deserve. That’s the energy you create. Want more? Change the story and it will change the energy and what flows to you.

Remember, if you play small, you’re going to get small results. Don’t worry about what other people will think if you have big goals. I say, go big or go home and don’t even give a thought to those other people you’ve allowed to judge you in the past. Never look back unless you’re planning to go that way.

Here’s some interesting statistic on goal setting in the form of New Year’s Resolutions:

40-45 % adults make resolutions
The most popular goals are losing weight, getting in shape, stopping smoking and getting more money

How those goals fall out over time:

In the 1st week, 75% of people are still on track to achieve their goals
In the 2nd week, it’s down to 71%
1 month later, only 64% are moving forward
6 months into the year it’s down to 46%

Many years ago there was a Yale study where they surveyed their graduating class on their goals. What they discovered was that only 3% had written goals. When they contacted these same students 20 years later, the 3% with written goals had amassed greater wealth than the other 97% combined!

Still questioning why you need to put your goals on paper? I didn’t think so.

Write SMART goals:

Specific, as much as possible.
Measurable, quantify it and qualify what it will look like when this goal is achieved.
A is attainable, but a real stretch. Think about what you’re capable of doing now. Push yourself and hold yourself accountable.
R is for relevant, real and related. It’s not a fantasy, it’s real. It’s related to your why, your big picture. Have your goals be so real you can feel them and related to what you want out of life. Visualize it as being real right now. Your goals have to be related to your dreams.
T is for time sensitive.  A specific date of when your goal will be accomplished.

One last step:

If what you’ve read above is all you do, there’s a 10% chance you’ll follow through
If you’re really emphatic about your goals, the chance of you achieving them goes up to 20%
If you really promise yourself, you have a 40% chance of making it happen
If you create a written plan, you up your chances to 50%
If you tell someone about your goals, you have a 60% success rate of reaching your goal
If you have an accountability partner, share your goals and connect each week to be accountable for progress, you have a 95% chance of reaching your goals

Set activities of your goals as sub-goals to make it happen. I f your goal is to lose 20 lbs. by June 1st, set a sub-goal to walk each day, work out 3 days a wk, refuse fast food, etc. Then turn that goal of walking into a habit.

It’s always crowded on January 2nd at the gym, and not so much on February 1st.

Do 2 action steps for each goal, share your goals, and relate them to your dreams and you’ll be on your way to an ageless lifestyle after 50.

Limit yourself to the 1-3 most important goals to start with unless you’re a proven goal achiever. Get the habit started and the system down first before you pile on 10 new goals. You will have 2 action steps for each goal.

[Tweet “For each goal you set, you must become the person you need to be for that goal to become real.”] You will then attract the resources to achieve that goal. You’ll start new habits, recognize what you’re not doing now, reward yourself for the good things you are doing now, and get rid of the poor habits you need to stop.

The biggest momentum builder is to have a team or accountability partner you are doing the goal setting and achieving process with. So get busy writing your goals!

This process and so much more is covered in The Ageless Lifestyle Guide to Setting and Achieving Your Goals. So, don’t struggle to try to do this by yourself again, get the help you need with the process all laid out for you. You deserve success.