Whether we are talking about professional objectives and goals or New Year’s resolutions (which, in the end, are the same thing), we have already looked at some of the most common reasons we fail to keep those resolutions.
And as many of you will already have guessed, if you can’t keep a simple New Year’s resolution, you probably won’t be able to achieve any other goal either, because what goes wrong is really the same.
When we talk about achieving success as entrepreneurs, the importance of goals and their relationship with success and happiness always comes up. The moment you stop staying focused on reaching your goals, you can say goodbye to the project.
Ian Usher is the author of 7 Simple Steps to Goal Achieving Success. He is also a friend of Richard Branson.
For Ian, the trouble entrepreneurs have in reaching their goals lies above all in putting many of the steps into practice day after day. In other words, you have to stay focused every single day.
To stay focused on his goals every day, Ian says he follows this simple scheme, with a few steps that so far have helped him drive his career and projects towards success.
(Also read: 15 steps for applying the right concepts when starting a project)
1. Write down the goal and set a deadline
Writing our goal down on paper can turn it into a statement of intent. The process of writing it out in a detailed, precise and concise way forces our subconscious to accept the commitment.
And to stay focused, it also helps to write down our conclusions every day in a kind of entrepreneur’s diary.
Set a deadline.
This is very important, because without a deadline, procrastination can get the better of us. If the goal is very big, we should break it down into smaller objectives and set a deadline for each stage. At some stages we will fall short, which is an incentive to push even harder the following month.
For goal deadlines, set up a calendar that sends you an alarm. At all times, something or someone should remind you that you are fighting to achieve something, and that the dates are getting closer.
2. Work on your mindset
Sometimes we need to change the way we think, especially when a large part of our life has been taken over by negative thinking. The road to reaching goals is hard, so we will have to start looking for the positive side of that hardship.
It will help to read inspirational or motivational texts and books, spend more time with motivated people who talk about something other than the economic crisis, and start believing in your own abilities. Even if it sounds like a cliché, you’ll need to start swapping “impossible” for “improbable”.
3. Develop the skill set
To reach a new goal, we may well need to learn some new skills. It is our responsibility to know in advance what other new knowledge we will need to achieve this objective. Find the best way to learn the new knowledge you will need.
(Read: 5 strategies to learn faster, part 2)
4. Take the first step and keep going to the end
The most important thing in reaching a goal is not to put things off. Nothing is achieved without real action, and sometimes, when we postpone, we never get round to acting.
You don’t have to wait until the whole scene is just right and you have every resource you need, because you will never have everything you need to get started. So start taking your first steps. If you can’t sell to a customer on the other side of the world, start by selling to someone in your neighbourhood.
As you keep taking steps, each one will be easier than the last, and if you don’t stop moving forward, before you know it you will be well on your way to reaching your goal.
Now you just have to keep going.
The road, like success, is not a straight line, so you are unlikely to escape difficulties. Never give in to the obstacles you meet in the fight for your goal.
Always keep your enthusiasm, your focus and your drive, and keep moving forward.
Your commitment is to do at least one thing every day that pushes you a little closer to your goal. When we move forward every day, whatever happens, the goal becomes something we end up reaching through sheer momentum.
And once you have reached your goal, raise a glass to it.
See also: 25 habits of successful people
Featured image: Jimmy Harris, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr.
