As the summer winds down and we gear up for the hustle of Fall, I have no doubt you have some big goals to accomplish before you celebrate the New Year.
I feel like as soon as September 1st hits, a shot is fired and we’re off on a 3 month sprint. Hurdling over the holidays while keeping focused on the finish line.
Let’s say you have your goals narrowed down and you’re ready to pull out your project planner and to-do list. But wait.
Don’t you want the best shot at accomplishing these goals?
Why spend your precious time working towards something if you’re not fully utilizing all the simple tools to make your dreams a reality.
Those goals however glorious and exciting may be require some intention and action on your part.
Based on research from psychology professor Dr. Gail Matthews at Dominican University, here are three must-haves to achieve any goal you set for yourself.
1 | Writing Down Goals
How many times have you set a goal for yourself but found it only lived in your head?
We’re all guilty of this but there is real power in putting pen to paper.
If all you do is simply write down your goal… yes, Write. It. Down. – you will increase your likelihood of success by 43%. If that’s all you do that’s pretty damn good.
The next time you set a goal for yourself commit to writing it down and place it someplace you will see it often.
“The discipline of writing something down is the first step toward making it happen.” – Lee Iococca
2 | Action Commitments
I will save the notion of sincerely committing to yourself and your biggest dreams for another time. In terms of committing to your goals what we’re talking about is taking action commitments regularly. What does that mean? Action commitments are taking intentional steps each day, week and months towards meeting your goals. A goal is simply a dream if it’s not acted upon.
“You are what you do, not what you say you’ll do.” ― C.G. Jung
3 | Accountability
We know it to be true but often pretend we don’t have the time, energy or resources to make it happen. In your previous job you had deadlines and people to hold you to those deadlines. Come hell or high water you got the job done.
But, why is it, that when we’re working for ourselves – which is vastly more purposeful and exciting than working for someone else – we completely flail about.
We miss important self-imposed deadlines, never really set stretch goals, take our sweet time and simply not get the important stuff done!
It’s because we have no one to account to. No one we share our goals with. We are our worst accountability buddies. So go find someone or a group to share your goals and commitments with!
Matthews’ research found that over 70% of the participants who sent weekly updates to a friend reported achieving their goals (or were nearly there!) compared to a sad 35% of those who kept their goals to themselves without writing them down.
“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” – Helen Keller
If you’re able to combined all three of these factors: writing down your goals, committing to regular action and having someone accountable to you will have over 70% chance of achieving any goal you set for yourself.
Want to read more on the research: You can find it here.
Plus research summary here.
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