Goals are blueprints; realistic goals guide our actions, but they are not sufficient for the life we want.
You may have heard the saying before, “A good plan, coupled with hard work and perseverance, will always produce success.”
While it’s true that a good plan can help you achieve your goals, it’s not enough to succeed.
It doesn’t matter how many goals you have or what you plan to do with your life. If you don’t know how to invest your time in the right actions daily, you’ll never be successful.
However, that’s not to say that goals are entirely useless. They can be a handy tool in helping you set and reach your objectives.
Instead of using a goal as a means to an end, use it as a springboard to help you take measurable actions.
Success is a process, a journey, and you need realistic habits to keep going. Instead of thinking of goals as the most crucial step to success, think of them as visual guides to get what you want.
“Make at least one definite move daily toward your goal,” says Bruce Lee.
Goals are necessary for personal and professional fulfilment, but you need a combination of factors to design a better life.
Success requires a road map, a system that tells you how to achieve success.
It’s almost impossible to achieve anything without a process and commitment to measurable habits.
Your goals may be holding you back
“Stop setting goals. Goals are pure fantasy unless you have a specific plan to achieve them.” — Stephen R. Covey
If you want to achieve financial independence, your daily or monthly actions are more important than the end goal.
Saving, investing, minimizing expenses, and spending less than you earn to have funds for long-term investing are the habits that can accelerate progress to get you what you want.
If your goal is to write a book, invest in habits like writing almost every day, starting your day on purpose, minimizing distractions, blocking off time to write, and writing at the same time or place.
When it comes to fitness, most people have a mental block that causes them to focus on the end goal instead of the process.
The end goal is getting into shape, getting fit, and looking good. What you really need are daily fitness routines; exercising almost every day, eating healthy, cutting down on processed foods, increasing healthy options, getting good sleep and making that process a daily habit.
It’s not about how quickly you lose weight. It’s about how consistent you are with your daily exercise routines.
Many people give up too soon because they are too focused on the end goal; they expect quick results now and can’t invest in the process.
High achievers focus on the many details of the expected outcome instead of focusing on a single result. They prioritize the small actions that make a huge difference instead of massive but unrealistic actions.
“Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success,” Pablo Picasso once said.
For every goal you write down, ask yourself; how will I achieve this? What details, processes, or daily habits do I need to accomplish the end goal?
Anticipate the tiny details and plan to achieve them.
Think like a chess player.
Identify the many moves you need to take to win the game. Write down the actions and build a system/process you can repeat every day.
Remember, winning is one step at a time. You have to focus on the small changes you need to make to get from where you are to where you want to be.
Once you have an idea of what changes you need to make, you can start making them. You may not see the results you want overnight, but you can make progress every day.
Daily progress can be hard to notice, but they compound. It can be hard to keep pushing ourselves when we see no results.
The first step is to recognize that progress takes time.
Once we accept that we’re not going to see results until we focus on the process instead of the end goal, it’s a lot easier to follow through.
The second step is to invest in the daily process and commit to daily actions.
Too much focus on the end game can cause you to lose sight of other important things that might help you achieve your long-term goals.
Rather than being excited to achieve your end game, you’ll start to see it as a barrier that you need to overcome.
New habits deliver results, not goals. Build a lifestyle; better habits you can use for life instead of hoping for a single win.
Happiness, wealth, and success are by-products of daily habits.
Don’t let your goals hold you back.
—
This post was previously published on Better Humans.
***
You may also like these posts on The Good Men Project:
Escape the Act Like a Man Box | What We Talk About When We Talk About Men | Why I Don’t Want to Talk About Race | The First Myth of the Patriarchy: The Acorn on the Pillow |
Join The Good Men Project as a Premium Member today.
All Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS.
A $50 annual membership gives you an all access pass. You can be a part of every call, group, class and community.
A $25 annual membership gives you access to one class, one Social Interest group and our online communities.
A $12 annual membership gives you access to our Friday calls with the publisher, our online community.
Register New Account
Need more info? A complete list of benefits is here.
—
Photo credit: iStock