You told yourself that this was the year you’d be achieving your goals. But you look back only to find that you’re stuck in the same place you were months ago. You have great intentions, but the follow-through just doesn’t happen. Why is that? And, how can you change it?
If you’re ready to start making real progress on your goals, read on! We’re sharing why getting your goals out of your head actually helps you win!
TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:
[00:55] Achieving Your Goals is Harder When You Aren’t Clear on Them
[03:49] What Keeps You From Writing Down Your Goals
[07:39] Achieving Your Goals Starts with Writing Them Down
[09:14] 3 Reasons Why Writing Down Your Goals Helps You Achieve Them
[17:22] Final Thoughts About Achieving Your Goals
[18:59] Bloopers
Achieving Your Goals is Harder When You Aren’t Clear on Them
[Theresa] Hey, Meghan! Recently, I was speaking with a colleague. He shared several strategies and tactics he’s been taking in his business. But the more I listened, the more confused I became.
So, I asked him, “what are all of these actions you’re taking helping you achieve?” He tilted his head and looked at me as though I was speaking another language. I said to him, “What are your goals? Because it sounds like you’re really busy doing all of these things and I’m curious to know how these actions are supporting your goals.”
His reply was, “I kinda sorta know what I want, but I don’t have anything really specific.” In pressing further, it was clear that he thought about what he wanted from his business in a general way. But, in fact, he did not have any clear, specific goals at all.
He was just functioning in his business day-to-day doing what he thought he was supposed to do and trying new things. However, he didn’t know what he was working towards. And therefore, he didn’t know if any of his efforts were working or if they were even the right ones. And how could he?
[Meghan] Exactly, how could he?! You can’t possibly know if the tactics and strategies are working if you don’t know your goals. That’d be like driving to a party that’s somewhere in California but you don’t know the address.
Without the address, you’re not going to get to the party.
You can’t possibly know if tactics and strategies are working if you don’t know your goals.
[Theresa] Yes! Running a business without setting clear goals and objectives is exactly like that. Yet this is how the majority of business owner’s function. You have some vague notion of where you’d like to go in your head and that’s as far as it gets.
What Keeps You From Writing Down Your Goals
[Meghan] It’s no wonder you end up frustrated and disillusioned. We get it. Setting goals can be overwhelming. Both Theresa and I have been there. It’s the pinnacle of working messy!
You know in your heart that you should set a few key goals and write them down, but you don’t do it. Why is that?
[Theresa] That’s a great question. In my work with clients, I’ve uncovered three reasons why you don’t write down your goals.
The first reason is your limiting beliefs. Often, you have lofty aspirations, but your negative self-talk keeps you small and too fearful to take action on those ambitions.
[Meghan] Your limiting beliefs can absolutely keep you from aiming higher. If you want to achieve bigger things, you must face those limiting beliefs and reframe them. It takes work, though. But it’s important work because your mindset determines your success.
[bctt tweet=”Your limiting beliefs can keep you from aiming higher. If you want to achieve bigger things, you must face those limiting beliefs and reframe them.” username=”@MeghanMonaghan1″]
You can choose at any time to change your beliefs. We shared some core business beliefs in episode 17. You don’t need to change everything all at once. Start by changing one belief.
[Theresa] Wise words, Meghan.
The second reason is you don’t want to commit to just a few things. You want to do it all. But can you have it all? I think you can, but you can’t have it all at the same time.
[Meghan] So, I’m glad you mentioned this. That is my biggest barrier to goal setting: wanting to accomplish too much in too little time.
When you divide your focus across too many things, it’s impossible to get anything over the finish line. That has happened to me multiple times. Failing to reach the end of a project or your end goal leads to frustration and overwhelm. And that compounds your limiting beliefs, yes?
One of the biggest barriers to goal setting is wanting to accomplish too much in too little time.
[Theresa] I think so, Meghan. When you’re not achieving anything it opens up the door to negative self-talk. You begin to think that you don’t have what it takes. But truthfully, all of that could be avoided if you just committed to a few goals for the year.
Commitment is a crucial part of achieving your goals.
When you don’t commit to a goal by writing it down and planning it out you’re basically saying, “I don’t really want this.” So choose. There is nothing wrong with choosing a few things for now and saving others for later.
And finally, the third reason is simply that writing your goals down and planning seems like too much work. You just don’t want to take the time to do it.
[bctt tweet=”When you don’t commit to a goal by writing it down and planning it out you’re basically saying, “I don’t really want this.” So choose. There is nothing wrong with choosing a few things for now and saving others for later.” username=”@TheresaCifali”]
[Meghan] Ok. I can see that. It does take time and effort when it comes to choosing your goals and creating a plan to achieve them. You’re busy. But, like they say, you have to slow down to speed up sometimes.
Wouldn’t it feel great knowing that what you’re doing matters to your bigger picture? To me, writing down my goals and creating a plan to attain them sounds like a good use of my time, not a waste of it.
[Theresa] I think so too! If you want to work smarter, you have to get your goals and aspirations out of your head. The time you spend doing that is an investment in your future.
Achieving Your Goals Starts with Writing Them Down
[Theresa] Working on your business without having clearly expressed goals prevents you from making progress. Period.
As a matter of fact, Gail Matthews, a clinical psychologist from Dominican University ran a study on the effects of writing down your goals. In the study, 267 participants were separated into 5 control groups.
Group 1 was asked to think about the goals they wanted to achieve and simply state them. Groups 2-5 were asked to write down their goals. Groups 3-5 were given additional criteria from creating action steps to submitting a written report on their progress to a friend.
[Meghan] Oh, data! You know I love research. What was the outcome?
[Theresa] Matthews’ study concluded that you are 42% more likely to achieve your goals if you write them down. Group 5 had the best success rate with 76% of the stated goals achieved. They were asked to write down their goals, create action steps, tell a friend, and send weekly reports to them.
[Meghan] Wow, those are significant results! Theresa, I know you work with your clients on this stuff all the time. So, how about you share with us three more reasons that achieving your goals is more likely when you get them out of your head?
[Theresa] I’d love to!
3 Reasons Why Writing Down Your Goals Helps You Achieve Them
Write Down Your Goals to Help You Save Time
[Theresa] You know that I’m a big believer in planning. Having a plan saves you time, in, and of itself. But that begs the question, “what are you planning for?” How can you plan without knowing the goal?
Having a plan saves you time but how can you plan without knowing the goal?
[Meghan] Right. Yet there you are, taking action all over the place without knowing where it’s taking you or if it even matters. It makes me think about a quote by Yogi Berra, “If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll end up someplace else.”
You waste so much time when your actions don’t align with a goal. And you know how much I hate wasting time!
[Theresa] I sure do. That’s why reason #1 is to write down your goals so you can save time. We know that you’re taking action every day in your business. But being busy isn’t a goal.
Like the friend I mentioned earlier, you’re trying different strategies and tactics but you can’t explain why you’re doing them. Even if you’re seeing results from your efforts, you can’t say how that result benefits you or what it’s moving you closer to achieving.
[Meghan] This is similar to what I’m always saying about content and marketing, right? You’ve got to know the WHY to point you in the right direction. The WHY determines a lot of your next steps and action items.
Okay, so what you’re saying is that any action you take in your business should be moving you closer to achieving your goal. Is that right?
[Theresa] Exactly. This saves you tons of time in the long run. Who wants to do unnecessary work?
Instead of taking random actions, choose the activities to take in your business based on the goals you want to achieve. You can’t clearly see that unless you get those goals out of your head.
Think of a goal as a pin sticking in a map. It’s marking a destination. Once you have that information, you can create a path to get there. You’ll know in which direction to head and what turns to make along the way. Then all you need to do is follow the path.
It’s by following the path that you save time. The path to your goal will contain only the strategies, tactics, and tasks that will bring you closer to your goal.
[bctt tweet=”When you write down your goals, you can clearly see the best actions to take in your business.” username=”@TheresaCifali”]
No more wasting hours on the things that don’t matter to your business. Instead, you end up doing less. Doing less means you’ll have more time. More time equals more happiness and prosperity!
[Meghan] Ok, that’s brilliant advice, I love it! That’s a much smarter way to work. What’s the second reason to write your goals down?
Write Down Your Goals to Help You Make Real Progress
[Theresa] The second reason to write down your goals is that it helps you make real progress. You can’t possibly expect to make progress on a vague idea.
You can’t possibly expect to make progress on a vague idea.
Tony Robbins says, “Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.” I love this quote. When your goals are written down they become tangible, fixed objects. When you don’t, they are moving targets. You can’t make progress on a moving target.
To make real progress on your goals, you have to choose the right actions to take. Your goals provide the information you need to make the best choices when it comes to deciding what to do. Having your goals written down helps you choose:
- What strategies and tactics to try
- When to try something new
- When to remove things that aren’t working
- If and when to make a change to your goals
How to Ensure You’re Choosing the Right Actions
[Meghan] So, when you document your goals, you can then see the right actions to take. You gain clarity. That makes sense.
When I went through your Plan to Achieve course, you shared a framing question that we could use to help us make good choices around our actions. Will you share that?
[Theresa] Absolutely. I heard this from James Wedmore, but I don’t know where he heard it. The question is, “will this get me there?” It’s helped me stay on track many times.
When deciding what strategies and tactics to try in your business, ask yourself, “will this get me there?” Then make a decision based on your honest answer.
Once you’ve committed to a goal and created a path to achieve it there will be decisions to make and opportunities that come up along your journey. By applying the question “will this get me there?” you can more easily identify what you should spend your time doing. It also helps you identify what is and what isn’t a distraction.
For example, let’s say your goal is to add 500 new, relevant email subscribers to your list in the next 3 months. A friend who’s hosting an online summit asks you to participate. At first, it seems like a great opportunity to get in front of a lot of new eyes, but you then realize that the audience demographic doesn’t align with yours.
Before you say yes, stop and ask yourself, “will this opportunity get me closer to 500 new, relevant email subscribers?” While the opportunity might move your numbers, those new subscribers certainly won’t be relevant. So you can confidently say no thank you and move on to something more worthwhile.
But in order for that question to work for you, you have to get clear on your goals. So get those goals out of your head and write them down so they are visible.
[Meghan] I love that you mention this because you’re reiterating what we talked about in last week’s episode—about how goal setting supports your decision to say yes or no.
[Theresa] Yep! If the result of something you’re doing isn’t clearly moving you in the direction of achieving your goals, it’s time to say no to it. Dump that activity or change it.
Continuing to do work that isn’t moving you forward hampers your progress.
But, again, it starts with writing down those goals. It’s easy to determine what is and isn’t working when you know what you’re working for.
[Meghan] It’s amazing to me how setting goals makes identifying tasks and taking action so much easier and obvious. I don’t believe people realize that.
[bctt tweet=”Setting goals makes identifying tasks and taking action to take in your business so much easier and obvious.” username=”@MeghanMonaghan1″]
Okay, so that brings Theresa to the last reason to write down your goals.
Write Down Your Goals to Help You Stay Accountable
[Theresa] I think this last point is really important. Writing down your goals helps you stay accountable to them. You’re essentially saying, “I’m committing to this.”
It makes them real. It’s easier to be responsible for something when you know what it is.
It’s easier to be responsible for your goals when you know what they are.
Writing down your goals also helps you articulate them. It’s easier to speak about your goals when you’ve gotten clear on them yourself. Once you’ve done so, you can go a step further by sharing your goals with a friend. Then they can help you stay accountable to them as well.
[Meghan] Commitment to your goals and to yourself is a big deal. And, I love the idea of incorporating accountability into goal setting. Sharing your goals with others is an effective method to get clearer on your goals and stick to them.
Thank you for all of this helpful advice, Theresa! I’ve mentioned it before, but I’ll say it again. Theresa’s Plan to Achieve course was so helpful for me in my goal setting and planning. In fact, it made me change direction a bit! And that’s a good thing.
Final Thoughts About Achieving Your Goals
[Theresa] Thanks, Meghan! It makes me feel good knowing that the course helped you.
Ok, friends. Now you know why achieving your goals starts with writing them down. You’ll save time, make real progress, and stay accountable.
If you’ve been functioning in your business without writing your goals down and appropriately planning for them, I invite you to think about this. While messy moments are a normal part of doing business, not having clearly defined, written out goals is not one of them.
[Meghan] I agree, Theresa. Taking imperfect action on those goals is unavoidable, but you’ll save yourself a lot of stress if you take the time to get your goals out of your head first.
[Theresa] Okay, that’s it for this episode! If you like what you heard today, please share this with a friend or leave us a review.
