5 Reasons You’re Unable to Achieve Your Goals
That aren’t meditation, journaling, or SMART goals.
You’ve probably heard about goal setting since your school days. But it’s so difficult, isn’t it? It feels like this fantastical destination that's so hard to reach, almost impossible. Plus, what will people say if you fail?
I was so scared of forming goals as well; I didn’t think I had it in me to commit to them. Plus, something was missing. They didn’t motivate me enough to achieve what I set my heart to.
I even tried to shift to birthday resolutions instead of new year resolutions, to achieve things depending on my age instead of a new year. Nothing worked out.
Do you feel stuck too? Are you unable to achieve what you write? In fact, aren’t you sick of writing goals and never achieving them? Then these prompts may help you.
They helped me to achieve more than what I set my heart into, and I’m no ninja. I’m the person who watches an hour of Netflix after lunch every day.
Here’s what helped me, and should hopefully help you too.
You Don’t Create ‘Fluid’ Goals
A year ago, I wanted to be a full-time writer. A few months into it, I didn’t just want to write, so I changed my goals as I went ahead. I released an ebook and a cohort-based course for writers.
One notion about goals is that you need to stick to them no matter what. Why? Who’s watching you?
You don’t owe it to anybody to achieve. You’re the only person you’re answerable to in this journey.
So, move your goals as your interests move. It’s not necessary that you’d want the same thing a year later. Maybe you’d want to set another milestone or a different one altogether.
Don’t be afraid to do that.
“A goal is not always meant to be reached; it often serves simply as something to aim at.” –Bruce Lee
Goals Need This One Thing to Work
From 10th grade until I graduated, every year I wrote a new year's resolution to drop 10 kgs. It was embarrassing how my skirt got tight after every summer holiday, I didn’t like how I looked yet I couldn’t change it.
In college, I wrote the same goal again. But I made one change — I will hit the gym every morning before my classes. And two years later, I dropped 25 kgs.
To date, I work out as soon as I wake up.
Your goals need a process to work. You can’t achieve something monumental by doing what you’ve done all along.
The Key Component to Make Goals Work for You
When I had a side hustle along with my full-time job, it was bloody hard. I worked before my job to edit articles and after my job to write new articles. Saturdays were for more writing and freelance projects.
But I never felt it to be painful. I knew this is what I have to do to be self-employed and live with more freedom.
But why did I want to live with more freedom?
- To do meaningful work
- To create something that serves others
- To live more mindfully
- To test my potential and see where it takes me
It’s these points that drove me, not the money or the illusion of ‘being your own boss’.
Have you tried finding out this why? It’s a better motivator than the goal itself.
You Don’t Bet on It
Self-image has a significant impact on how you conduct your life.
Think about it.
How you think about yourself affects the decisions you make. It influences how you behave. These two elements are constantly creating your life.
If you told me a few years ago that I’d quit my job to do something of my own, I’d call you an unrealistic peanut.
But becoming more self-aware and many personal development books later (plus actually using their strategy), I developed this boring phrase called self-belief. But it made me, and still makes me, feel invincible.
If you don’t bet on yourself, you would not be able to do what you want to do. Take the first step, heal your negative inner beliefs.
You Don’t Know How to Achieve Your Goals
One simple reason people don’t achieve their goals is that they don’t know how to. And that's valid, also because we’re living in an age of over information.
Are there people who’re doing something you want to do?
Is there a mentor you can approach?
Have you considered coaching or courses?
All these are time and sometimes monetary investments you make for yourself. There’s no excuse because YouTube is free to learn from!
The strategy I pursued is doing all three one by one, and it continues to help. If you don’t know what to do, it’s easy to hop onto YouTube and find how some people are doing it already. Steal their strategies.
Lastly
“The future rewards those who press on. I don’t have time to feel sorry for myself. I don’t have time to complain. I’m going to press on.” — Barack Obama
If you’re unable to achieve your goals, it’s either because
- You aren’t working for your goals
- Your goals aren’t working for you
To harmonise this relationship, it’s crucial that you create fluid goals, have a process and a purpose, fight your inner battles, and take help to achieve them.
If an average person like me with little self-esteem stuck in a boring corporate job could make it on their own, especially when being from a developing country gets me clients who want to pay me peanuts, you can do it too.
And even when you don't ace some goals, be compassionate enough to modify them for next time. The best is yet to come, always!
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