3 Things Every Goal Needs To Be Successful

What is your biggest goal right now? Take a minute to think about where that goal came from. Who gave you that goal? And why is it important to you?

Were those hard questions to answer? Often when we actually sit down and look at our goals we realize we’re not sure where they came from, and when we start to talk about why the goal is important to us we find we aren’t as excited about the goal as we thought.

In order to truly set ourselves up to reach our goals the goal needs to make our heart race a bit when we think about achieving it. This goal needs to make you feel excited. If I’m not excited about my goals, how the heck am I going to get my brain to stay focused on that goal when times get tough?

Here’s a pretty common set of goals. I’m going to go to college or university so I can get a degree, then I’ll get a job with benefits and a pension, and then I get married and have a family and live happily ever after. Sound familiar? The problem with this type of goal/plan that we believe we all “should” follow is that it doesn’t resonate enough with us. It’s not personally meaningful. It doesn’t get us excited to think about, and so we lose motivation part way to reaching the goal. Or we reach our goal but don’t feel over the moon excited because we weren’t really that passionate about the goal to start with.

Here are 3 key components of goal setting that works.

1.      Our brains are more motivated by goals that come from within us. Think about the last time you tried to get a toddler to do something you wanted. This is pretty much our daily life right now. Sometimes I can convince Allison to do things with an external reward, like a treat, or a sticker. But most of the time if she doesn’t want to do it, she doesn’t do it, no matter what I offer her. We know that even young children are much more motivated when the reason they do things comes from themselves, rather than a goal that someone else sets for them. If I set a goal for myself I am much more likely to keep pushing towards compared to a goal that’s set by my boss, my friend, or my mom.

2.      Our goals need to light us up. If I truly want to achieve my goal it needs to fill me with passion when I think about it. And this passion to reach my goal has to be strong enough that when I’m having a bad day and just don’t feel like working, I drag my butt out of bed, put on some clothes, and get to work. This only happens for goals that light us up!

3.      I need to feel proud when I reach my goal and be ready to set a new goal. If my goal is not something that lights me up, or it’s a goal that’s set by someone else, then I’m probably not going to be super excited when I reach my goal. I might be happy, but I’m not going to be filled with this overwhelming pride in myself that pushes me to achieve even more.

Guys, take a look at your goals. Sit down, close your eyes, and picture yourself reaching this goal. Do you feel excited? Do you feel your stomach flipping and your heart racing? Do you feel proud thinking about what it will be like to reach that goal? If not, then your brain is not going to be motivated to stay on track for this goal. Things are going to get tough, and your brain is going to give up because the goal was not personal and meaningful enough.

Find a goal that sets you on fire. That makes you jump out of bed excited to start the day. This is how we set goals we will actually achieve. Want more tips on setting goals you actually achieve? I put together my top tips in this free workbook. Click here to get your copy.