5 Proven Strategies to Set Goals You're Motivated to Achieve

In the previous article, I talked about how aligning your goals with your values will help you maximize your success rate.

But is that enough to help you become a master at achieving your goals?

Goals can be difficult on their own. And it gets tougher when you have:

Conflicting priorities.
Other people who are interested parties in your achieving or not achieving the goals.
Shiny object syndrome where you get distracted easily by other goals, new fads, and information that comes your way.
Having the habit of focusing on distractions.
And many other things that eventually either make your goals slide through the cracks or make it seem as if the goals are impossible.

Make the goal achievement process easier by setting yourself up for success. You can speed this up by prioritizing your goals.

Discover ways to set goals you’ll want to achieve. Tailor your goals to your passions, personality, and unique view of life.

You’re not ‘cheating’ when you customize your goals and make them perfect for you. It’s also not selfish to prioritize what’s important to you.

Here are…

5 Proven Strategies to Set Goals You’re Motivated to Achieve

1. Work With a Few Goals

One of the biggest blocks to achieving your goals can be other goals on your list. This causes you to have goals that are competing for your time and attention.

You’ll also be distracted because you’re working on many goals at the same time. Trying to balance too many competing goals drains your energy. You lose time, and in some cases, you also lose money.

Eventually, you have to prioritize because if you don’t, you’ll get distracted, lose focus, get demotivated and give up.

Each goal you add to your list takes away from the ones that are already there.

If you are having trouble achieving your goals, you need to eliminate some from your list (or at least pause them).
Rethink and reorganize the things that are truly important to you.
Get rid of goals that don’t make the cut or put them in a parking lot.
Finally, pick 1 or 2 goals to focus on.

When you give these prioritized goals your complete attention, you’ll start to see movement and progress.

This is the secret behind our Finish Strong Challenge where participants in the 12-week program focus on one of their main goals for the quarter.

What’s interesting is that many of the Challenge participants also end up achieving goals that they were not giving a lot of attention to.

Having a goals parking lot is also important because sometimes you have ideas that are either not fully thought out or that will not work as goals for now.

I revisit my goals parking lot when planning for the next quarter to see if there’s something that needs my attention. Sometimes, something I have in this parking lot ends up as a sub-goal or task in another goal.

2. Say No More Often

You cannot prioritize your goals successfully when you have a problem saying No. So you need to learn how to say No and mean it.

This also means:

Declining commitments that don’t further your goals (this is crucial to your overall success).
Getting out of toxic relationships.
Saying No to distractions and shiny objects.
Overcoming habits that can get in the way of goal achievement e.g. self-doubt, second-guessing yourself, and such.

Saying No gives you room to focus on your goals. It can also be a hard habit to form if you’re not used to it.

Here are some tips that can help.

Just Say No

Don’t apologize, provide excuses, explain yourself, or delay your answer. If you don’t want to do it, or if it doesn’t further your goals positively, a firm but courteous ‘No’ will suffice. Be assertive, saying something like “I can’t do this.”

You can also add, “I’ll let you know if that changes.” if you’re giving someone a direct No makes you feel uncomfortable. You are setting ground rules and also demonstrating a willingness to review at a later date.

Become a Broken Record

You will probably get pushback from the people in your life when you start saying No. So you need to stand your ground and become a broken record.

These pushbacks can lead to feelings of doubt and guilt: Doubt about the value of your goal and guilt about letting people down. Sometimes people who are manipulative will take advantage of this and push even harder.

No is a complete sentence. Say No and stick to it. When someone pushes harder, just say No. Become like a toddler…they have no problem saying No!

One way to turn your mindset into a more positive one when it comes to saying No is to reframe it. You’re not saying ‘No’ to other people and opportunities, you are saying YES to your goals.

You’ll be more empowered when you set goals, prioritize them, and stand your ground.

Place a High Value on Your Time

It’s easy to start the day motivated and then lose track of time. It’s also easy to brush aside a couple of hours here or there.

However, when you divert your focus and energy from your goals and put it towards tasks that don’t help you achieve your goals, it’s actually costing you something.

Just take some time one day and price it out:

How much could you potentially make in the long term when you achieve your goals?
How much are you ‘earning’ from lesser priority tasks?
And how much are you gaining from saying no to these lesser-priority tasks, even if you don’t work on your goals?

The saying that time is money is easy to state. It’s a tough one to swallow when you see the financial figures!

3. Eliminate Distractions

Sometimes it’s not other people who are knocking us off course – but ourselves and our environment.

Eliminate distractions in your workspace.
Limit hours on your phone.
Install app blockers that control how much browsing you can do on your phone and computer.
File documents in the appropriate places.
Clean up your physical, online, and computer folders so that documents are easy to find.
Set aside time each day and week to update your filing systems and to clear up your online and physical workspaces.

Renew your commitment to your goals by removing anything that competes with your time, energy, and attention.

You also have to constantly say No to yourself if you get distracted by shiny new objects. This is a lesson I learned the hard way after running around trying to succeed on 5 social media platforms.

There were so many shiny new tactics and strategies that I just had to learn and try. I wasted a lot of time, energy, and money and still didn’t get the results I was looking for.

Eventually, I dropped off social media and started a community on WhatsApp while focusing on growing my newsletter readership. That has led to more business than all the money and effort I put into social media marketing.

So eliminate those online distractions that come in the name of free and low-cost downloads and courses. It also helps to Unsubscribe from mailing lists on a regular basis.

We have a number of articles on Productivity on this blog. Check them out for additional strategies on how to manage your time better.

4. Create a Vision Board

Putting your goals in writing is key to success. It’s also helpful when you add images to your goals in the form of a vision board. The images in your vision board can help you prioritize your goals in your day-to-day life.

A vision board contains pictures, drawings, sketches, and short one-liners that represent your goals. Looking at this board on a daily basis keeps your goals at the top of your mind. This in turn makes you more focused and motivated.

Create a vision board that has images and a description of each of your goals. You can also set up a special board for finances and investments if you want to grow this area. You can create a physical board or a digital one, but just make sure you put it somewhere visible.

Finally, vision boards are very personal. So ensure that you keep yours in a space where only you and the people you have allowed can see it. Avoid showing it to anyone who is pessimistic or who has the potential to water down your goals.

5. Celebrate Your Achievements

In one of the articles on this blog, I share that I never used to celebrate myself or my wins. It was just go, go, go! The achievement of one goal or milestone was the immediate beginning of another one.

Today, I’ve made celebration a way of life. Celebrations are also built into all our programs at Biashara Threesixty. We encourage clients to celebrate small and big wins every week, month, quarter, and year.

Most high achievers struggle with celebrating their achievements. Many feel that celebrating even privately is wrong and could be seen as bragging. Others are afraid that celebrating might jinx them in the future.

I could say a lot about celebrating your achievements…and it’s already covered in these blog posts:

Always include celebrations in your action plan. Having small celebrations for small milestones you achieve and large celebrations for big achievements keeps you motivated as you work on your goals.

Increase the Chances of Success as You Set Goals

Accomplishing goals isn’t easy and can take a lot of time and commitment. Having a long list of unrelated goals will only sabotage your best efforts.

As you set goals, customize and prioritize them to ensure that you don’t put something on your list simply because it should or must be there. Only include goals that you are passionate about and are aligned with your core values.

Ready to learn a step-by-step process to set goals you’re motivated to work on?

I have 2 programs that go beyond goal setting to help you supercharge the achievement of your personal and business goals.

1. Goal Setting Masterclass

Setting goals is the first step in making your business dreams a reality. Harness the power of goal-setting in your daily life in this 8-week e-course.

Prioritize goals that challenge and excite you.
Take actions that keep you focused.
Develop manageable tasks that will eventually get the job done.

When you know where you’re going and you have an effective action plan that you follow consistently, every step you take brings you closer to the achievement of your goals.

Find out more in the Goal Setting Masterclass.

2. Finish Strong Challenge

Do you find yourself losing momentum on your set goals as the year moves along? Would you like to have different results this year?

Join the Finish Strong Challenge and make breakthroughs in your business goals this year without losing out on time for what you love (family, friends, hobbies, etc).

(Image credit: Unsplash)