Top 10 Fail-Safe Goal-Setting Tips to Guarantee YOUR Success

Staying motivated to see the realization of your goals and dreams is a process that requires practice.

It can be especially challenging when you’re not looking forward to doing what it takes to achieve them.  Maybe you’re even like me and inclined to procrastinate a bit here and there.  After all, there are so many distractions in the summer.

Here are some keys to success that will help you stay on track and achieve the goals you've set out for yourself:  

1. Visualize the end result.  Creating a visual of what you ultimately want is a success key to understanding how to motivate yourself so that when you do achieve your goal, you’ll feel a sense of accomplishment.   

Action Step: Visualize how you’ll feel once you’ve accomplished each goal.  List on a piece of paper how you’ll celebrate each step as a win once you get the tasks out of the way.  Maybe a weekend away with your partner or a trip to the spa or a round of golf is in order?  Find something that motivates you.  Create a vision board (Pinterest/Hard Copy with pictures) and hang it or place the list where it will remind you daily of the desired result and the celebration of success. 

2. Determine what drives you.  

• Are you driven by your own needs?
• Are you more motivated by the needs of your family or loved ones?
• Maybe you’re driven by the needs of your clients?
• What are you willing to do to achieve your goal?
• How badly do you want it? 

Maybe your drive comes from wanting to pay off your debt and provide more stability for your family.  Maybe it comes from wanting to fit into all those beautiful clothes you have in your closet.   

Action Step:  Once you understand WHY you want to accomplish your goal, you can exploit your drive to stay motivated and focused.  Write down your WHY and post it at your work station, on your refrigerator or somewhere you will see it frequently throughout the day.  To stay focused on your goals, be sure to look at it often.

3.  Reward yourself.  Rewards are the very best motivators.  Every time you accomplish something on your goal list, motivate yourself with a tiny prize.  Set up small rewards for each goal you achieve or for accomplishing a step toward a bigger goal.

Action Step:  Staying motivated is infinitely easier when you have something exciting in the immediate future to strive for or something to anticipate:  a cup of specialty coffee or tea, a break to read one of your favourite books, or watch a movie with your partner, or maybe some time to take a mini getaway.

4.  Work Your Plan.    Creating a realistic schedule is an essential success key when you’re trying to stay motivated to accomplish your goals. 

Action Step: Review the timeline you had in mind for accomplishing your goal.  Is it realistic?  Give yourself a set amount of time each day to do something that moves you toward completing your goal.  If you’re not finished when the time’s up, save the task for the end of the day add it to your to-do list for the next day and reprioritize. 

5.  Change your setting.  Variety is the spice of life, right?  Sometimes, it’s difficult to get motivated when you’re endlessly looking at the same view.  Just changing the scenery may be all you need to get the ball rolling. 

Action Step:  If it’s nice outside, take your work to the porch or poolside.  Move your laptop to a window for some natural light.  Live in the city?  No problem.  Take advantage of the free wifi at nearby coffee shop, grab a latte and get to work.

6.  Divide Responsibility/Schedule/ Automate. Many of us are juggling a tonne of stuff – a career, the demands of our children, the household, long-term plans, and extra-curricular activities that also take our time and attention.  

If you have a spouse or children, consider delegating some responsibilities to them.  Kids who have responsibilities in the house grow up to be more self-sufficient and independent.  They can pull weeds, sweep, vacuum, take out the garbage, set and clear dishes, fold and put away laundry, walk the dog and clean out kitty litter.  

Maybe your spouse can pick up the groceries on the way home instead of you using your break to run all those errands.  Plan your grocery shopping so it happens once a week instead of five times a week – you’ll save money this way too.  Bills can be paid online to avoid a trip to the post office or to the bank.    

Action Step: Hold a family, or team, meeting to divide responsibilities throughout your household or office so you can free up some valuable time to devote to achieving your goals.

7.  Review Your Reason – Your WHY.  So massively vital to your success, I’m mentioning it again.  Think about your values, what you’re passionate about and how those are tied into what you’re trying to achieve. 

Action Step: Take a look at your goals and align your action steps with them each day, each week and at the end of the month with an understanding of WHY you want what you want.  Knowing why you want to achieve your goals, and understanding what you have to do to accomplish them, will draw you, or pull you, toward your desired results.

8.  Utilize PUSH power.  This may seem like a dirty little trick; however, sometimes it’s a necessary evil to stay motivated.  Try looking at what you want to achieve from a different angle.  Consider what would happen if you didn’t reach those goals.  Ultimately, people do things for two reasons – fear and desire.  Desire to achieve an outcome.  Fear to avoid one.   

Action Step: Think of what you could lose if you don’t achieve your goal.  What will happen?  How will it make you feel?  Analyze what’s at stake and let the fear of THAT outcome motivate you into action.

9.  Raise the Bar.  Striving for excellence is key to self-improvement and personal accomplishment.  Raising the bar each time you achieve a goal forces you to advance your skills, develop personally, become more efficient, become a strategic planner and sets you up for living a life by design, as opposed to by default. 

Action Step:  Raise the bar every month or even every week.  If you have a goal in mind, ask yourself what it would take to step it up one or two more notches.  I’ll bet you’ll start to see your motivation increase as you stay focused on achieving your goals.

10.  Make Sweat Your Friend.  Regular, daily exercise has been proven to boost confidence levels, increase motivation and elevate people from a state of depression (myself included). Get active and clear your thoughts by incorporating a brisk walk into your daily routine.  Up-level your routine by adding in some hills or a hike in the forest.  

Walking or jogging not your thing?  Try swimming a lap or two in the pool before work or after dinner.  Any kind of physical activity will help you get motivated and get those endorphins popping. 

Action Step: Commit to 30-minutes per day of any type of exercise that raises your heart-rate.  Your heart will thank you for it and you’ll see your productivity, and disposition, improve.   Use your peak energy to the best advantage by listening to your body – when is the best time for you to work it out? 

Follow these tips and action steps to help you maintain your motivation so you can turn this New Year into YOUR year of success and joy.  

Remember, action is magic.  Stay focused on your goals by reviewing them daily, and disciplined by taking positive steps forward, evaluate what’s working and do more of that.  Avoid what’s not working.  Do these things daily, weekly and monthly and you’ll move from where you are to where you want to be.

Bonus tip:  Ask for help!!  It’s what coaches are for.  We help you stay motivated and on track to achieve your goals and turn your dreams into reality.  

If you'd like some help breaking your big life goals down into action steps and creating a plan to achieve them, I'd love to chat.

Contact me today to schedule your ZERO COST Rapid Results Strategy Call.  andrea@coachforlife.ca.

About the Author:

Andrea Raco, is a Certified Success and Life Enrichment Coach, Founder of Coach for Life, and Curator of Gold Key Club ~ a private community for Ladypreneurs, Supermoms, and Sisters making a difference in the world.

For more information about her programs and services, visit www.coachforlife.ca.