Common Factors That Prevent You From Reaching Your Goals

your goalsPhoto by Marc-Olivier Jodoin on Unsplash

Every year you set goals for yourself. You want to be a better person, have the things you want, and live a meaningful life. Yet, more than halfway through the year you find yourself in the same place (or worse). Unfortunately, you’re no closer to accomplishing your goals. Is it an impossible goal to accomplish? Perhaps it’s just not in the cards for you? All you know is in your mind you want to change but your actions aren’t matching.

Achieving your goals involves a lot more than just wanting them to come to fruition. To reach any level of success in your life you have to have both the right mindset and behaviors. You must stop old habits and develop new ones, eliminate unproductive activities and replace them with actionable steps towards your visions.

This can all be hard to accomplish when you have so many distractions in the way. The first step towards achieving your goals is to identify those factors and remove them:

Fear of Failure

Fear is a natural emotion but it can be very crippling to success. The feeling that you’re not going to succeed in your efforts could essentially keep you from trying at all. Why go out for that promotion if it’s just going to get passed to someone else? What if you start a business and it fails?

It’s not uncommon to get trapped in the land of “what if” when going after something you really want but have never accomplished before. There is also the possibility that you won’t succeed. While this could hurt a bit, it’s not the end of the world.

To overcome your fear of failure you have to start looking at it from a different point of view. When you make mistakes or don’t succeed, perhaps there are valuable lessons that you can take away from it all. If these lessons help you to progress in the future, wasn’t the previous failure then worth it? At the end of the day, even if you failed – at least you tried.

Addictions

If you suffer from substance abuse or addiction but are trying to set goals, the chances of reaching them are slim. That is, at least while you’re still abusing substances. Whether it’s prescription drugs, alcohol, illicit street drugs, or gambling an addiction keeps you trapped. Your life becomes consumed with achieving your next high making it difficult to focus on anything else.

If you struggle with substance abuse or addiction get help now. You can get help for prescription drugs, alcohol, or gambling from rehab centers. Once you’ve completely detoxed and gotten the counseling and support you need to remain sober, you can begin setting goals and accomplishing them.

Impatience

It would be really awesome if you could set a goal and accomplish it the next day but most things don’t happen that way. It takes time and patience. Unfortunately, sometimes even more than you anticipated. When it’s not going according to plan it can be easy to throw in the towel, hence, preventing you from reaching your goal.

It’s true, waiting is hard. However, not everything in life happens exactly when and how you want it to. It is, therefore, important to learn how to simply enjoy the journey of getting to the finish line. Be happy with every step that you take towards your goals and before you know it you’ll see them come to fruition.

Dreaming Too Big

There is certainly nothing wrong with having big dreams. However, when trying to reach those dreams you must set realistic goals. Realistically, you can’t expect to earn $1 million in the next 6 months. When you set the bar too high you’re setting yourself up for failure.

In order to make your dreams come true, you have to break them down into smaller steps. Instead of trying to become a millionaire in 6 months you give yourself six years. Then, create a plan for what you’ll do over the next 6 years to make that happen. For instance, you might start a business, reduce your spending habits, increase your savings, or start investing.

Then, break those steps down even smaller to daily tasks like assessing the costs of a startup, collecting receipts and statements to review spending habits, increasing your savings by an increment of $50 each month, or investing $100 a month into stocks of your choosing. As you’re checking each of these tasks off the list it puts you a step closer to your bigger goal.

Setting goals is one thing. Achieving them is another. If you find that year after year you set goals only to end up in the same predicament the following year, perhaps there’s something holding you back. Whether it be the fear of failing, an addiction, impatience, or simply dreaming too big and biting off more than you can chew, you can turn things around. Start by discerning what’s hindering you then make a plan of action such as the advice provided above to overcome it. Once you’ve removed the problem you can begin taking action every day towards making those goals come true.

Keys To Building A Successful Future For Yourself

Instead of worrying about what the future holds, it’s more helpful if you plan and prepare ahead to ensure yours is rewarding. There are a few action steps you should take if you want to set yourself up to experience success going forward.

successPhoto by Catherine McMahon on Unsplash

Avoid thinking about what mistakes you’ve made in the past and focus your energy on what you can do now that will help you achieve your upcoming goals. The only aspect that may be holding you back is yourself and your beliefs that it’ll be too difficult of a journey and that you could fail. Every time you stumble think of it as a learning opportunity and then get back up and dust yourself off so you can continue on strong.

Identify Your Strengths

Knowing what you’re good at is going to help you build a more successful future for yourself. This way you’ll be more likely to go after the right type of career and put your best skills to use. Do some soul searching and get a better understanding of what it is you bring to the table so you can make sure you’re utilizing these abilities in your daily life. Focus on putting to use more of what you do well, and your confidence will not only soar, but you’ll likely be able to achieve more because you’ll be in the right line of work.

Address any Health Concerns

The healthier you are, the more easily you’ll be able to tackle your responsibilities and maneuver through life without feeling worn out. What will help you build a more successful future for yourself is to proactively address any health concerns as they arise. Not only see your doctor on a regular basis but also purchase the drugs you need to feel better. You can go online to learn more about how you can fill your prescription and save yourself money in the process. It’s important to take care of your physical being as well as your mental health if you want to feel great each day and tackle all that’s on your plate with vigor and energy.

Create A Vision Board

It’s going to be tough to make a brighter future for yourself if you don’t know where you’re heading. One idea is to create a vision board and include images and words that constantly remind you of what goals you’re after and what you can do to achieve them. Hang this board up where you can see it each day, so you’re able to stay focused and not allow distractions to throw you off track. Refer to this diagram when you’re at a crossroads and need direction about how you should proceed next. Include a mix of personal and professional desires, so you’re able to establish more balance in your life.

Be Willing to Take Risks

The reality is you may get stuck in one place or not be able to overcome obstacles if you’re unwilling to take risks along the way. It’s important to step outside of your comfort zone and stretch yourself once in a while if you want to get ahead. For instance, throw your name in to contend for a promotion at work or try to maintain a new and rigorous exercise program. Be prepared to not always perform to the best of your ability or achieve your goals. What you can do is use these challenges as learning experiences for the next time around. You never know what sort of opportunities will arise when you engage in activities outside of your normal routine.

Invest in Knowledge

Build a successful future for yourself by taking the time to invest in knowledge and draw in as much new information as possible. The more you know, the more confident and prepared you’ll be to embark on the unknown and throw yourself into new situations. Educating yourself on a wide variety of topics will help you advance in your career and make you a more well-rounded person in general. You’ll likely make wiser decisions as you go forward which will lead you down a more promising path. Make it a point to focus on your own personal development any chance you get and don’t be afraid to engage in uncomfortable or unfamiliar circumstances because you’re more likely to grow from them.

Take Baby Steps

Keep in mind that you don’t need to have it all figured out overnight or plan for your entire future today. Allow yourself to take baby steps to help you get to a better place as time passes and focus your energy on gaining as many new experiences as possible. Acknowledge that you may move in a positive direction one month and have a few setbacks another, but that this is normal and expected. Celebrate your small successes along the way which will eventually build up to you completing larger achievements in the future.

Refuse to Give up

The only way to experience greatness and get to where you want to be is to continue trying. You have to refuse to give up if you want to build a more successful future for yourself. The road may become difficult, and you’ll inevitably face more than a few roadblocks that will try to get in your way, but you need to not give in to these temptations and retract. Monitor what you’ve been doing well throughout your journey and have been able to overcome so you can review this list when you’re feeling defeated.

Conclusion

The reality is that your future is in your hands and no one else’s. Take advantage of these pieces of advice for how you can help to ensure the days ahead are fulfilling for you. Remain flexible and open to changing your course if you run into unforeseen circumstances and need to create a new path for yourself. Set your priorities straight and then proceed forward with a positive attitude and the confidence that you can design and live the life you always envisioned for yourself.