7 Great Ways to Achieve Your Goals

1. Write down your goals on a small piece of paper you can keep in your wallet. Most likely, you use your wallet every day, so you'll see your goals before you every day. Goals are often associated with making more money, so the more money you make, the more you'll use your wallet. The more you use your wallet, the more often you'll see your goals in front of you.

2. Write your goals on a board at home or at work. Put them up in front of you. I write my goals on whiteboards and bulletin boards on the walls of my office. They're the first thing I see when I walk into my office. They help me stay focused on my larger goals and on the day-to-day things I need to do in order to reach those goals (and having your goals staring you in the face all day also tends to make you feel guilty when you're not working toward them).

3. Tell everybody about your goals. Once you say them out loud, you're committed to them. People will ask you how you're progressing toward your goal. They remind you of your commitment. This doesn't mean you can never change a goal, it's just another external reminder to keep you on track. If you do change a goal and people ask you about it, you will have to lay out the reasons for them, which will help you determine whether you made the change for good, sound reasons, or just because the original goal was proving difficult to achieve. As the German writer Goethe once said, "Concerning all acts of creation, there is one elementary truth...that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too."

4. Break down your goals into small chunks so they're easier to handle. If you pursue a difficult goal and keep failing, you will easily get discouraged. The only way you can get from point A to point B is to take one small step at a time. Often, we don't give ourselves enough credit for the individual steps we take. But it's only by breaking down large, seemingly unattainable goals that we make them attainable. If you break down your goal into small components, you can build your confidence with each step. Remember this ancient African proverb: The best way to eat an elephant standing in your path is to cut it up into little pieces.

5. Put the goals that you are passionate about on your goal board. It's difficult to go after a goal because you feel you have to. It's much easier to go after something because you want to. You've got to want to get to this goal. Otherwise, the smallest obstacle will stop you in your tracks.

6. Write down all the benefits of your goal being achieved. Even if your goal is based on something you don't like, find reasons you want to do it. If your boss says, "I need that report done by October 15," make a list of the benefits you'll get by doing a great job on the report and completing it on time (or even earlier). Your boss will be impressed. You can remind your boss about this when it comes time for performance review. You'll have a better chance of getting promoted, which will mean more money for you and your family, which will mean that you can move into a bigger house, for example. Even if you're not excited about the goal itself, you can be passionate about what achieving that goal will do for you.

7. Talk to people who have achieved the goal you're trying to achieve. Talk to everyone you can to get feedback. Don't assume that what they say is the only way, but let them give you pieces of information you can put together. You become well-rounded this way.

I Dare You...

There is only one dare here, but it's a big one. I dare you to do more than you think is humanly possible. I dare you to set worthy goals, to set them nobly, and to follow a straight path in their direction. Everyone goes through times when they are coasting along, not sure of where they are going. Everyone goes through periods of confusion and insecurity. It's human nature. Just remember that goals help get us out of confusion, they lead us toward security. Keep the oak tree in sight and you'll be amazed at who you are when you get there.

The ultimate goal of all our lives is to be happy and fulfilled. Goal-setting is simply a tool we can use to help us on our way. There's no need to overwhelm yourself by setting too many goals at once. Work on one at a time; then as soon as you are nearing one destination, you can begin planning for the next journey. Goals should be chosen with great care and concern. Be prepared to get what you go after. Whatever it is that you really want can be achieved if you write it on the page and engrave it in your mind.

Despite the success cult, men are most deeply moved not by the reaching of the goal but by the grandness of the effort involved in getting there.

—Max Lerner,
educator

It's one thing to set goals; it's another to follow through on them. In this chapter I asked you to set one goal that might make other people laugh. This is not an easy thing to do. It takes guts, fortitude, and courage. Everybody faces a moment of truth at some point in their life, when they have to face the music and dance.

If you look at any successful person, you'll find someone who, like the phoenix, has faced the music many times, has stumbled or fallen, only to rise again. It's that ability to rise up again and again, to be tenacious, to be persistent and never give up on a dream that has gotten them through so many obstacles. We look at them and see the end result—we don't know all the effort that's gone before. But behind the scenes, they've forced themselves to keep on going long after many others have given up. It's amazing that one of the greatest truths of life is one of the first sayings we learn in life: If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.