What goals are you currently working on?  Are you making progress towards achieving them?  I used to set a lot of goals and then put them aside and tended to forget about them.

It is not uncommon for people, especially with their new years resolutions to start new goals and not follow through with them until completion. 

I have noticed that there are 5 main reasons that this happens.

  1. You do not write them down.  I have the same problem at work.  There are so many things going on that if someone comes into my office and needs something, I have to write it down.  If I don’t, by the time I go back to whatever project that I was working on, I tend to forget that they had a request.
  2. You do not plan the action steps required to reach the goal.  Let’s say that I want to lose 10 pounds in the next two months.  It sounds great, but how am I going to achieve it?  I need to decide if it will require diet and/or exercise and how I will monitor it.
  3. The goal does not have any motivational benefit to you.  Is the motivation driven by others, or is it something that you really want to do?  “How badly you want something dictates how much you are willing to give up to get it.”  @thomasamayberry  You can tweet that if you would like. 
  4. There is no due date.  As what happens at work to many of us, if a project is put on our desk and there is not a due date, we work the priorities that we have around it.  It is not really procrastinating, but the end result is the same.  You need to make your goals a priority.  Setting a due date helps to accomplish this.
  5. You have too many goals.  If you stretch your efforts to too many things, you cannot give them as much attention.  If you are spending time addressing one goal, it is taking time away from another one.  I would limit yourself to just a few goals that hit maybe three different areas of your life.  That may be health, personal relationships and spiritual growth.

Keep pursuing your goals.  It is a great way to grow personally and professionally.  Think about these five things the next time you analyze your goals.  It will make a difference in your success rate.

I would love to hear what your current goals consist of.  You can leave your comments below.

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