Did you ever set a goal for yourself that you were excited to reach but after a while you gave up on it? Or lost motivation? 

 

Yes? It is very likely that you made one of these five common mistakes while setting goals.

 

No WHY

 

When our goals don‘t have a strong enough reason for going after them, we don‘t have a reason to continue when things get tough. 

 

The strongest why is always the one that comes from within us, not anyone else. Sometimes it’s hard to decipher if it‘s us speaking or just what we internalized from our environment.

 

That‘s why it‘s important to question the intention behind our goals. 

 

To avoid this mistake, take a few moments the next time you sit down to write your goals to really think or even journal about what led you to decide on this goal.

 

Rewrite the goal or delete it entirely if you can‘t find a reason strong enough to follow through on your goal.

 

 

 

Copy-Pasted Goals with missing individuality

 

This point ties into the previous but it deserves its own place on the list.

Many of us have the same goals:

• get a dream body
• Eating healthy
• Making money
• Succeeding in school
• Etc…

I‘m not going to lie, I have these goals too. However, in my own goal-setting, I noticed that they were not precise enough. I didn‘t define what my „dream body“ was nor did I know completely what it looked like. Other goals were the same. 

 

The key to success was defining the keywords in my goals, and defining goals that were precise by breaking them down even further.

 

An example of eating healthy could be: home-cooked meals, reducing the number of fast food meals a month, cooking with more vegetables, trying out new healthy recipes.

 

See how we‘re getting clear now. These goals are attainable and while there are many options for starters I suggest you choose one or two of the Clear Goals you set. 

 

 

 

Attainability 

 

I always encourage my readers and followers to dream big, I say that if you can imagine it, it can happen for you.

 

Now, when it comes to goal-setting we have to cut down “big goals‘ into attainable pieces. Setting goals too high can be counterproductive. Let‘s say you want to climb a mountain and you’re looking up it seems to be unachievable. However, if you focus on the realistic point for the day it seems actually doable. 

 

Reaching smaller goals releases a feeling of accomplishment which is key to fueling motivation and focus to continue on the journey to your end goal however big it might be.

 

 

 

Having no systems

 

Habits and routines have a compound effect. Small choices and actions done consistently over time add up to significant results. 

 

Spending an hour every day reading adds up to 7 hours a week which seems, at least to me, extremely exhausting to do in one day. 

 

Not only, does the daily effort seem easier, but it‘s also more effective in two ways: 

 

One, doing something consistently makes it easier and as time goes on it requires less discipline and motivation because it has become a habit like brushing your teeth. 

 

Secondly, especially for a habit like studying or reading for the sake of learning, it’s easier for your brain to remember information since it doesn’t have to filter through a large amount of information and one hour isn‘t as tiring for the brain as seven so as a consequence more information actually gets remembered.

 

Over time by using your brain actively in a consistent manner it will probably be able to adjust to a longer period of learning. 

 

I imagine it has similar effects on the body in activities such as working out or practicing a skill. 

 

 

 

Focusing on time and results

 

When you focus too much on the time and results you emphasize that you don‘t have it yet which has subconsciously or consciously a negative effect on your motivation and perceived capability. 

 

Finding joy in the process can be difficult but is essential to achieving your goals.

 

Another thing is that sometimes it takes a while to see results because the journey to your success can look entirely different to people.

 

What you recognize as progress is just your perceived progress. Let me illustrate:

 

 

 

 

The mistakes, readjustments, and the learning journey to your goals are just as much progress as the actual visible progress. Just because you don‘t see any progress doesn‘t mean there isn‘t anything happening.