Nearly half of Americans will embark on a new set of goals this week (i.e. New Year’s Resolutions). According to the stats, the vast majority of people who make resolutions will fail to reach their goals – 92%. Furthermore, 24% fall short year after year. That reminds me of the definition of insanity (doing the same thing and expecting different results). Are you one of these people? If so, you likely have a flaw in your achievement strategy. If you’ve struggled to achieve your goals, allow me to show you how to overcome the most common stumbling blocks. 

Failed Attempts

I’ve had the great pleasure of helping thousands of people create effective goal plans. Over the years, I continue to hear some of the same struggles from people who have tried and failed. Can you relate to any of these experiences?

• Life got too busy.
• I lost motivation.
• I’m not sure if I met my goal or not.
• I’ve attempted this goal before and just don’t think I can do it.
• I started off strong but I lost momentum.

Just like you, I face these challenges too. I’ve found the goals I struggle to achieve lack key elements in my plan. When those gaps are filled are when I have a far greater chance of reaching my goals.

So, what are the common challenges people face when developing an effective goal plan? How can you overcome these challenges? Read on.

8 Common Mistakes to Goal Achievement 

Whether you are setting goals for a new year, a new season, or simply to chart a new course, you’ll greatly increase your odds of attaining your goal by having a plan. It doesn’t have to be overly complex. You don’t need sophisticated software. However, you do need a plan.

When it comes to achieving goals – a failure to plan is a plan to fail.
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When developing your goal plan, set yourself up for success by avoiding these 8 common mistakes.

1.Lack of Clarity

You have to be crystal clear on what you’re setting out to achieve. Otherwise, how do you know when you truly cross the finish line? When you don’t know where the line in the sand is, it can be hard to stay motivated and continue making progress.

Let me give you an example. The number one New Year’s Resolution for 2015 was, “lose weight.” What does that mean? How much weight do you want to lose? If you gain muscle along the way, you’ll actually gain a little weight because muscle weighs more than fat. Are you sure it’s weight you want to lose or is it fat?

A clearer version of this goal is, “Reduce body fat percentage from 26% to 16%.”

This clearer goal accounts for muscle gains and provides a more measurable and precise finish line than “lose weight.” Can you see the difference?

2. Lack of Purpose

This is often the reason behind a strong start that rapidly dwindles to a halt. Think of the goals you’ve attempted that turned out this way. Why did you pursue the goal in the first place? People set out to lose weight because they know they need to. However, if the realization itself was enough motivation, you would be making progress.

To greatly increase your success rate, you have to dig deep to identify the reasons why your goals really matter. You have to identify your why. Why is this goal important to you? What impact will it have on your life, your family, and your career? What is on the line if you don’t achieve it?

Make a list of all the reasons your goal matters. Keep it close at hand for when the going gets tough.

To achieve a goal, you must have a powerful why to drive your effort when the going gets tough.
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3. Lack of Honesty

I can’t promise that an effective goal plan will turn you into a millionaire, an astronaut, or a professional athlete. That isn’t how goals work. I’m all for optimism, but that optimism has to be grounded in reality.

Often I tell people that when I was younger I wanted to become a superstar in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Despite all my hours in the driveway, I remained a 5’9” high schooler who couldn’t dunk. As the NCAA is quick to highlight, most college athletes “go pro in something other than sports.”

You need honest self-awareness. How much time can you devote to your goal? What resources, materials, knowledge, connections, or credentials are you lacking? Make a list and determine how you will overcome the realities that stand between you and your goal.

4. Lack of Focus

Focus is a struggle for many of when it comes to goal setting. We get lost along the way. We get distracted. We get overcome by someone else’s agenda.

1. They set too many goals.
2. They don’t have a plan for reaching their goals.

The strategies of honesty, identifying your purpose, and clarifying your finish line all help to provide focus. So, if you’ve overcome the above challenges, you’re well on your way.

One additional strategy to enhance your focus on achieving your goal is to refrain from setting too many goals. I recommend that people limit the number of goals they pursue to around five. Any more than that and your attention gets spread too thin and you become ineffective. You can always add goals once one had been achieved.

5. Lack of Visibility

Another stumbling block that lends itself to a lack of focus and motivation is a lack of visibility. We get more of what we focus on. Therefore, we need to keep our focus on our goals.

The best way to do that is to create visual reminders. These can range from a simple goal list you review each morning to more creative vision boards. I’ve outlined my top five ways to create personalized visuals here.

Visual reminders helps us take action & make consistent progress toward our goals everyday.
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6. Lack of Support

You know the saying, “Two heads are better than one.” We can accomplish more with the help of others. By recruiting support, we gain accountability, encouragement, wisdom, and coaching.

However, we shouldn’t share our goals with just anyone. In a popular TedTalk, Derek Sivers, warns us against sharing our goals before we accomplish them. While I don’t fully agree, I do believe that we need to be strategic in whom we choose to share our goals with.

• believe you can accomplish your goal.
• are supportive and encouraging.
• will hold you accountable but also extend you grace.
• are further along toward a similar goal than you are.
• won’t put you down or berate you along the way.

I’m very fortunate that I can share my goals with my wife. Some goals I share with friends. Perhaps you’ll share different goals with different supporters in your life. That’s okay too. Just avoid the stumbling block of going it alone.

7. Lack of Urgency

Just like any other project or task you intend to accomplish, your goal needs a deadline. Without a deadline your goal will fall by the wayside. You’ll put more effort in tomorrow. Without a deadline there will always be time on the clock.

However, this stumbling block will rob you of progress and sabotage your focus and motivation.

To make your goal most effective from the outset, simply give yourself a deadline. Turn “Reduce body fat percentage from 26% to 16%” into “Reduce body fat percentage from 26% to 16% by July 1st.”

As you review your goals regularly, the deadline will loom large the closer it gets. Your desire to make progress and not miss the mark will help keep you moving forward.

8. Lack of Tracking

This stumbling block can make or break your successful goal attainment. Without some way to track your progress you:

• don’t know how far you’ve come,
• can’t see how far you have to go,
• and aren’t able to celebrate the checkpoints you hit along the way.

You can track your progress in many ways. Some people cross off days on the calendar. Others use a simple check list. Still others use a smartphone app to monitor progress. The point is to find a way that works for you.

If you want to see how I set, plan, and track my goals check out my free guide, click here.

Free Download

To help you set yourself up for success and achieve your goals, I developed this free goal setting worksheet.

Set Yourself Up for Success

Setting, planning, and pursuing goals adds some spice to life. Goals keep us growing, living, and cultivating excellence in our lives. To set yourself up for success and increase your odds of achieving your goals this year avoid these 8 common stumbling blocks.

Question: Which stumbling block has caused you the most trouble when pursuing your goals? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below, or on Facebook  or Twitter.

• Post: Take Your Goal Setting to the Next Level with Personalized Visuals
• Post: Size Matters. Set Your Sights on BIG, Scary Goals for 2015.
• Post: Should You Keep Your Goals A Secret?
• App Guide: The Only 3 Apps I Use to Set, Plan & Track Goals

The post How to Accomplish Your Goals: Avoid 8 Common Mistakes first appeared on The Excelling Edge.

How are you feeling about your goals for the year? Are you on track? In reviewing my goals for 2015, I have gotten completely off track on a few of them. My guess is, I’m not alone. Why do we get off track with our goals? Join me as I attempt to evaluate my goals and get back on track. 

Ambitious But Sidetracked

If you’re like most of my readers, you are ambitious. In your enthusiasm and desire to achieve, you may have set some BIG, scary goals for yourself or your team. That’s a good thing. I did too.

However, I also know that it can be easy to lose track of those ambitious goals. This may have happened for a variety of reasons:

• Sidetracked by other projects
• Someone else’s priorities took precedent
• Simply forgot about your goals
• Less than effective time management
• Bit off more than you could chew
• Change in life circumstances
• Overwhelmed
• Lost motivation

We’ll tackle a few of these head on.

Start by Assessing Your Goals

Before you start to problem solve, you first need to reassess the goals you set. As you review your goals, you have a decision to make. You can do one of three things:

1. Recommit – If the goal is still something you are serious about achieving and you are willing to make the necessary sacrifices to see it through, then you need to recommit.
2. Tweak – If the goal is a little too far fetched to be realistic (but challenging), yet you still want to see progress in this area, then you may need to tweak the goal to make it more manageable.
3. Defer – If the goal is no longer a priority, or doesn’t deserve immediate attention, you can defer it to focus on (or evaluate again) at later time.

This will help you focus your time, energy, and effort on the goals that matter most to you right now.

For the goals you’ve decided to tweak and recommit to, let’s tackle some common challenges that may have derailed your progress.

6 Villains of Goal Achievement & How to Defeat Them

In my experience, we face 6 common villains when it comes to achieving our goals. Let’s identify each one and strategize about how to defeat them.

Villain #1: Ambiguous Goals

If my goal isn’t crystal clear, it is hard to focus on.

This week, I was helping a woman set goals. Initially her goal was “to get back in shape.” That’s pretty vague. So, I asked her some questions to help her figure out what successful achievement of her goal would look like. Eventually she set a clearer goal centered on body mass index.

To defeat the villain of Ambiguous Goals, we need to ensure that our goals are as specific as possible.

When setting goals, it is one thing to hit the dart board, but another to hit the bullseye.
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Villain #2: Out of Sight, Out of Mind

This is simple: we focus more on the things we encounter everyday. If we never encounter our goals, then we shouldn’t be surprised when a week or a month go by without much progress.

I had intended to keep my goals visible this year. But, intentions are not actions. I got busy working on goal-related projects but didn’t create my visuals.  Some goals stuck in my mind and some didn’t. This is why I’ve made more progress on some goals and not on others.

To defeat the villain of Out of Sight, Out of Mind, we need to create visual reminders. You can use goal sheets, sticky notes, digital tools and more. I’ve outlined 5 killer strategies.

Villain #3: Motivation Drain

You may have heard the saying, “When you lose your why, you lose your way.” When we forget why we set out to achieve our goals in the first place, it’s no surprise that our motivations wain. This comes down to a matter of willpower.

To defeat the villain of Motivation Drain, we need to review our whys. We need to ask ourselves, “Why is this important to me?” “What benefits will I gain from achieving it?” This will help us connect our personal values (what matters most to us) with the goals we’ve committed to achieve.

Villain #4: Over-Planning

Sometimes I get bogged down in making plans. Like choosing a route on your GPS, there are often multiple ways to get where we want to go. But, how do we choose if we’ve never been to the destination before? This feeling can cause us to become stuck in our tracks when it comes to pursuing our goals.

Rather than trying to plan out the entire process from start to finish, you simply need to take the next logical step. This is how you can defeat the villain of Over-Planning. Besides, it is easier to see the road ahead once you are standing on the next hilltop.

Villain #5: Isolation

Like the hobbit Frodo in The Lord of the Rings, you can’t complete your journey on your own. Your counterproductive thinking squashes your determination. Your willpower muscle gets fatigued. You may find yourself battered and beaten with no one to dust you off and encourage you to keep going.

To defeat the villain of Isolation, you need to recruit an accountability partner, a confidant. You may need more than one. Perhaps you’ll recruit a different partner for different goals. One caution: don’t tell the world your goals. We have enough doubters in our lives already.

Villain #6: Lost Your Bearings

This is the villain that snuck up on me this year. I’ve got no one to blame but myself.

Like ships sailing across the sea, we quickly get lost when we don’t check our bearings. Ships had navigators responsible for consistently checking their bearings, day and night. A small deviation could divert the ship off course and they would not arrive at their intended destination.

Conducting a regular goal progress review is the strategy to defeat the Lost Your Bearings villain. I have not adhered to my review schedule this year and it shows. I encourage you to download my free Evernote template, customize it, and find what will work best for you.

Free Download

For a quick reference and reminder, I created this free infographic: “Slay the 6 Villains of Goal Achievement: How to Get Your Goals Back on Track.”

Let the Battle Begin

In pursuing our goals, even the most dedicated of us gets off track. Once you’ve decided to recommit to your goals, use the strategies above to fight the 6 Villains of Goal Achievement.

With planning, intentionality, and the right battle plan, you can defeat the common challenges we all face when pursuing goals. Get yourself back on track and achieve what you set out to do.

Yes, you can defeat the 6 Villains of Goal Achievement.
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Question: Which of these 6 villains causes you the most problems in achieving your goals? Share your thoughts in the comments. 

• Download: Template: Goal Progress Review
• Post: Size Matters. Set Your Sights on BIG, Scary Goals for 2015.
• Post: Take Your Goal Setting to the Next Level with Personalized Visuals
• Post: Willpower: Boost Yours
• Post: Should You Keep Your Goals A Secret?
• Post: How to Maintain Your Momentum Using a Goal Progress Review
• Post: Retrain Your Resistance: 3 Steps to More Productive Thinking

The post How to Get Your Goals Back on Track first appeared on The Excelling Edge.

Do you feel satisfied in the progress you’re making on your goals? Like many of you, each new year I set my sights on next steps, progress, growth and achievements. I set BIG, scary goals. However, setting goals isn’t the hard part. Following through is.

Only 46% of Americans who set goals at the beginning of the year make it past 6 months. Establishing a goal review process can greatly increase your chances of following through on those lofty intentions.

How easily we lose track

Whether you aim to run a half marathon, save money or take that vacation to the tropics, keeping your goals visible, having accountability and checking in regularly go a long way toward helping you achieve what you set out to do.

Looking back, I can clearly see that the goals I failed to achieve are those I simply lost track of. The same may be true for you.

Adopt a regular goal review process

To avoid this common pitfall, I designed a goal review process for myself. In my free download, The Only 3 Apps I Use to Set, Plan & Track Goals, I explain how I set myself up to stay on track with my goals.

In this post, I’d like to share part of my follow-up process. Hopefully it will help you keep your goals on track and maintain the momentum necessary to succeed.

Here is my 3 step Goal Progress Review. Download my Evernote template for this here.

If you haven’t already done so, commit each of your goals to writing so you won’t forget them. This solidifies them and makes them tangible. It also gives you a greater sense of ownership over each one.

I’ve intentionally planned to work toward some of my goals later in the year. Even though I may start working on a goal later, I write it down so I can maintain awareness of it.

1. For each goal, respond to 3 specific prompts:

• List progress made, achievements met or personal victories. Essentially, since your last goal review, what positives or successes have occurred? These may be significant or even minor but it is still important to list them. By doing so you’ll gain a sense of pride, accomplishment and confidence, which fuels your momentum.
• What needs improving? This is where you take an honest look at what’s not working. What have you neglected, pushed aside or forgotten about? Perhaps you simply need to plan your grocery shopping better to ensure you eat healthy. Or maybe you need to plan your time better to get housework done so you can get in that extra run. Whatever it is, make a note of what needs improving.
• What lessons have you learned to help you going forward? As you work toward your goals, you inevitably learn along the way. It’s here that you want to capitalize on it. What’s working well for you? How was it that you got to the gym on Tuesday? What happened that triggered a cigarette craving on Monday? Learn from your successes and your failures. Apply those lessons  as you move forward!

2. Consolidate action items. After doing a quick scrub of each goal you’ve set using the 3 prompts above, collect next steps and to-dos. This packages up your goal review into the things you need to do. I suggest beginning each of these with a verb – something to do.

3. Assimilate to-dos. In this last step, the intent is to set yourself up for future success. Add action items to your to-do list. I use Wunderlist for this.

Set reminders to help you establish routines or hold yourself accountable. I have several that go off throughout the day to help keep me on track, using Coach.me.

Add insights to your journal, white board or notebook as appropriate so you can revisit them later.

A regular Goal Progress Review keeps your momentum going & your goals on track.
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Schedule your Goal Progress Review

You’re probably wondering, “How often am I supposed to use this Goal Progress Review?” Honestly, only you can answer that for yourself. I’ve found it depends on several factors: individuals, goals, and amounts of self-regulation. For some, once per week may be best. I’ve found that once per month works well for me. That said, I do check in on my progress for several goals everyday (using Coach.me).

Once you decide on a timeframe, schedule your Goal Progress Review on your calendar. Protect it like you would an important appointment, even though it is with yourself. If you really care about achieving your goals, you must make time to ensure you are keeping on track.

I encourage you to download my free Evernote template, customize it and find what will work best for you. The point is to stay aware of your goals, evaluate your progress and maintain the momentum you need to accomplish your goals.

Question: What other strategies help you stay on track with your goals? I’d love to hear your ideas or tools in the comments section.

• Template: Goal Progress Review
• Resource: Evernote
• Resource: Wunderlist
• Resource: Coach.me
• Post: Should You Keep Your Goals A Secret?
• Post: Size Matters. Set Your Sights on BIG, Scary Goals for 2015
• Post: One Word You Never Want to Leave Off Items On Your To-Do List
• Post: Take Your Goal Setting to the Next Level with Personalized Visuals

The post How to Maintain Your Momentum Using a Goal Progress Review first appeared on The Excelling Edge.

Why is it that only 8% of people fulfill their New Year’s Resolutions? Recent research on willpower sheds light on why we struggle. More importantly, it also points us to one profound tactic that can help us take control, follow-through and actually achieve our goals.

CC courtesy of Emmanuel Pignat on Flickr, edited in Canva

Like many of you, I set some goals to begin 2015. I set goals as opposed to making resolutions. Goals come with a plan and a system to help ensure I follow through. However, I still face tough moments when I’d rather relax than go for a run. Sometimes I’d rather head off for a weekend adventure than do what needs doing. I face the decision to wash the dishes or roam Twitter. You know what I’m talking about, right?

Recent research says we struggle with self-control in part due to what’s called willpower depletion (which I’ve witten about here). Willpower depletion occurs as we resist temptation after temptation throughout the day. Like working out, our willpower “muscle” gets tired and starts to wimp out. Neurological research has confirmed this theory by examining brain activity. As willpower depletion sets in, activity in the pre-frontal cortex (responsible for executive brain functions like decision making and self-control) decreases.

So, as you choose:

• not to hit snooze on the alarm clock,
• yogurt rather than a muffin,
• to skip the extra sugar in your coffee,
• to do the most important item on your task list before checking email,
• to order the salad and not the burger…

…you can see how easily we get depleted.

Luckily, willpower research doesn’t only explain the problem. It also gives solutions. Avoiding temptations is one potential solution. For example, don’t open your email when you have something pressing that needs doing. Turn off notifications on your phone. However, if you’re trying to accomplish goals, do things that matter, and sustain progress, that solution isn’t going to work in every situation.

Another solution is to use implementation intentions to increase follow-through in achieving goals, according to Peter Gollwitzer (1999). Research found that implementation intentions improve self-control. What is an implementation intention, you ask? Here’s the research definition. (Hold tight, I’ll explain it for you.) An implementation intention is a proactive decision, using “when-then” statements about what you will or won’t do based on an anticipated opportunity or situation. This helps us make decisions in the moment without depleting our willpowers.

Implementation intentions significantly increase follow-through on the things that matter most.
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Gollwitzer (1999) explains them this way: “When situation x arrises, I will perform response y!” We’re committed to respond to a certain situation in a specific way. The response corresponds to actions that move us toward our goals. By planning ahead, we can short-circuit the effects of willpower depletion.

If I intend to exercise regularly, an implementation intention would lay out when, where and how I intend to exercise – taking the taxing deliberation process out of it. I’ve seen this in action when I’ve had a workout routine already planned. I could simply walk in to the gym and start with item number “1.”

Examples of implementation intentions

• “When my computer is booting up, I’ll do 25 pushups.”
• “When I’m waiting to pick the kids up from school, I’ll read a book rather than surf social media.”
• “When I get home from work on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I’ll put on my running gear first thing.”
• “When I only have 30 minutes for my workout, I’ll turn my exercises into a circuit.”
• “When the server asks if I’d like dessert, I’ll order a decaf coffee instead.”
• “When I tuck the kids into bed, I’ll spend the next hour writing my first book.”
• “When I feel sluggish and distracted, I’ll take a 10 minute walk.”
• “When the timer turns the lamp off at 9:45, I’ll turn off the TV and start getting ready for bed.”
• “When junk mail shows up in the mailbox, I will take it straight to the recycle bin.”

Can you see how each of these proactively sets you up to follow-through on a goal-directed behavior?

3 Steps to create your implementation intentions

Step 1: List your opportunities and key situations. Think about the times when your willpower lets you down. Write down those situations. Also, write down the times when you overcame temptations and followed through. These serve as the first part of your implementation intentions.

Step 2: List your desired actions. For each opportunity and situation you collected in step 1, identify the way you want to respond. What action do you want to take in those situations?

Step 3: Pair the two together. Pair up your situations with your desired responses. I’d suggest keeping this somewhere that’s easy to access as you get started. Refer back to it often. However, as you become more familiar with your implementation intentions, they’ll become second nature and save you from willpower depletion.

In summary, implementation intentions turn goal-directed actions on auto-pilot. By pre-planning how you intend to respond when anticipated situations arise, you’ll be much more likely to follow through. Even better, you’ll save some of that willpower muscle for truly unforeseen decisions. Putting implementation intentions into practice will increase your progress toward the goals that matter most.

Question: What is one temptation you will attack with implementation intentions? I can’t wait to hear your ideas. Please share them in the comments below this post.

Links:

• Article: Gollwitzer, P. M. (1999). Implementation intentions: strong effects of simple plans. American psychologist, 54(7), 493.
• Post: Do What Matters Most Today: 4 Tips to Get You Started
• Post: The Overlooked Cost of Notifications on Your Phone by John Meese
• Post: Willpower: Boost Yours

The post How to Conserve Willpower & Boost Goal Achievement with Implementation Intentions first appeared on The Excelling Edge.

I hate when I fail to achieve my goals. Don’t you? We often start a new year with new goals, feeling energized and hopeful. Then, by February, we’re into our old rhythms, overcome by busyness and left with little time to focus on the goals that seemed so important a month ago. Why do we lose focus? More importantly, how can we keep that from happening again? 

As a runner in high school, I would often write my goal for the season, my target time, on my training shoes. I saw it everyday as I stretched, warmed up and ran. It was visible. The time became a symbol and reminder of why I worked so hard and what I was shooting for. It prompted me to push myself when I didn’t feel like it. Having that reminder kept me focused on my goal. Most importantly, it worked. I reached my target times and I continued to set new personal records (PRs).

I still leverage this strategy of intentionally putting my goals in front of my face in other pursuits. As I coach clients to pursue their goals, this is a critical step in the process.

Here are my top 5 ideas to get you thinking about how you can keep your goals visible everyday. 

#1. Post a Goal Sheet. You can keep this simple or make it as elaborate as you’d like. At a minimum, an effective goal sheet should include your written goals, their deadlines and an action or two that pertains to each goal. This makes for a one page overview of what you’re trying to accomplish and a brief reminder of how you’ll get there.

#2. Create A Vision Board. These are fairly common and highly customized. A vision board is a cork board or other place to gather and display goals, pictures, quotes and symbols. These ought to be things that provide you with encouragement, inspiration and motivation to start and persevere along the way to achieving your goals.

#3. Set Digital Trip Wires. With so much technology and visual input, we’d be crazy not to leverage it to help us achieve our goals. Turn your goals into images and use them as a screen saver or backdrop. I did this for my first year in a new job and it really kept me focused on excelling everyday. Quotes and other inspirational images work great too. I keep one on the Lock Screen of my iPhone, so I see it every time I unlock my phone. Can there be any one action I do more times a day than that?!

#4. Scatter Sticky Notes. These might be the greatest invention in the office supply industry, ever! I’ve attached them to my desktop screen at work with focusing statements. One I have right now says, “I push my limits everyday!” Its a reminder to stay focused on what matters most and not settle for the path of least resistance. You can put them on the bathroom mirror, in the car, or even on the refrigerator. Write your goal, jot down a quote, or draw a picture that reminds you of your goal every time you see it.

#5. Leverage Evernote. Confession: I’m one of those crazy Evernote users who tells everybody I meet how awesome it is. That said, it is a phenomenal tool for writing out your goals and your strategy and for collecting things to spur your efforts along the journey. I keep a copy of my goals for the year in Evernote and have a shortcut that takes me directly to them in a single click. This allows me to review my goals quickly and easily. The best part is, I have Evernote with me wherever I go. I can review my goals while in line at the grocery store if I so desire.

In coaching clients to be creative and come up with their own strategies for making their goals visual, I’ve come across lots of other great ideas too. Someone wanting to lose weight and eat healthier posted a “before” picture on the refrigerator. One young man wanting to finish his college degree hung an empty diploma frame over the TV in his family’s living room as a reminder to study. Another gentlemen had a son who wanted to be an Olympic athlete, so the father bought an Olympic flag and hung it on the ceiling over his son’s bed. Brilliant ideas!

The bottom line is that we need to bump into our goals regularly. When we do, they stay top of mind. These visual reminders encourage us to take action on our goals and make consistent progress toward the things that matter most to us.

Question: What visual reminders could you use to keep your focus on your goals in 2015? I’d love to hear your ideas in the comments section below. 

Link:

• Software: Evernote

The post Take Your Goal Setting to the Next Level with Personalized Visuals first appeared on The Excelling Edge.

In the past, I’ve struggled to follow through on smaller goals, especially over time. I didn’t really learn to play the guitar. I’m not fluent in Spanish. For the big goals, I’m more likely to put in the time to develop a thorough plan, map it out and also to reach my goal. But, for me, it’s the little ones that slip away. Maybe you have struggled to achieve some smaller goals too.

Recently, I managed to complete, albeit not on schedule, reading the Bible. My goal was to do so in one year. I began the journey to read through the entire Bible, all 66 books, approximately 18 months before I crossed the finish line.

I knew it would be a challenge. However, I didn’t stay on track, on schedule, or consistent. Some would consider the effort a failure. Yet I still consider this an achievement. Just to be clear, I’m convinced some divine intervention was required.

Reflecting on that journey, I distilled 4 lessons learned that can help me, and hopefully you too, to achieve other small goals in life, if we put them into action.

1. Keep Your Why In Focus

I’ve heard Michael Hyatt say, “When you lose your why, you lose your way.” I’m not sure it’s original to him, but it has stuck with me. During this recent journey to read the Bible, I continued to revisit my why. For me, this meant recalling that I wanted to grow in my faith, develop the discipline of daily reading and become better equipped to lead others in their walks with Christ.

When we lose focus on why we set a goal or began a journey, it becomes hard to follow through. Motivation evaporates and commitment wanes. What’s your why? I’d suggest you write it down and revisit it often.

2.  Aim For Progress Not Perfection

In most goals, specifically when aiming for a regular practice or habit, aim for progress. Admittedly, I’m a recovering perfectionist and when I set out to read the Bible in a year, that was exactly my intent. When I started to slip it would have been easy to throw in the towel in defeat.

When I fell behind my plan, I had to remind myself to be flexible and continue to make progress. Most goals that I help people with are not all or nothing goals. So, as long as you’re making progress, you’re on your way to victory.

3. Be Held Accountable

Luckily I wasn’t out on my own little island. My wife knew whether I was getting up every morning or not, which is when I did my reading. Having someone to help hold me accountable was huge. While this can take many forms, just having someone else aware of your goal can make a difference in your follow through.

Either explicitly or implicitly, get someone on your team…someone to hold you accountable. Even an online community through services like irunurun (link) or lift (link) could do the job.

4. Extend Some Grace

“I don’t get bonus points for finishing on time.” I repeated this to myself to fight my disappointment and perfectionistic tendencies. As we know, we’re our own worst critics. But, the reality is, life happens, things come up, we don’t control everything.

So, expect the unexpected and try not to beat yourself up over slipping timelines or breaks in the action. Anticipate and build contingencies around foreseeable obstacles (e.g. time management). Allow yourself some flexibility and try not to beat yourself up when you get off track.

As you strive to achieve even the small goals in your life, there will be challenges and things won’t always go according to plan. What’s holding you back? What are your challenges? Hopefully, you and I can learn from these 4 lessons and achieve meaningful goals as we pursue our full potentials.

Question: Which of these 4 lessons is the hardest for you to follow? I’d love to discuss with you in the comments section below.

The post Stick With It: 4 Lessons For Achieving Smaller Goals first appeared on The Excelling Edge.

“When achievers fail, they see it as a momentary event, not a lifelong epidemic,” stated John Maxwell in his book, Failing Forward. This is a mindset we desperately need in our culture today, whereas we see failure as akin to some kind of plague. Parents go to great lengths to protect their children from failure. Our education system forces teachers to do everything except lie to protect students from failing a class.

We easily forget the failures of many famous names: Abraham Lincoln, Michael Jordan, Walt Disney, Steve Jobs. These achievers didn’t let their failures define them and went on to great success. Are we dealing with failure all wrong? How can we capitalize on our failures to spur future success?

Once, I competed in the open flight of a tennis tournament in Orlando, FL. There are a couple things you should know before I go on. First, open flights of tournaments are meant for really good players, like high-level collegiate contenders and tennis instructors. Second, I was an awkward 13 year-old tennis convert eager to finally play some real matches. Are you seeing the recipe for disaster?

What I didn’t know didn’t hurt me until I met my first opponent, a nationally ranked, Division I beast of a player. Allow me to let you in on a little secret: I didn’t win a single point in the match. That’s what some call an epic fail.

To be honest, I’m not new to failure. I’ve failed in multiple areas during my life. Those failures weren’t easy to swallow when they happened. However, what matters aren’t the failures, but what they’ve made possible. The reality is that how you interpret a mistake, failure or setback sets your trajectory. Either you quit, keep failing or grow. The choice is yours.

We can all learn from failure and cultivate future success by applying these 3 truths.

Failure Isn’t Final
“Success isn’t permanent, and failure isn’t fatal,” according to a quote most commonly attributed to Winston Churchill. We all make mistakes, mess up, and blow it. Keeping a thick skin isn’t easy, but it is necessary. When we let our failures define us, we blow them out of proportion and begin to think counterproductive thoughts like, “Wow, maybe people were right, I am a failure.”

The truth is, failure isn’t final. Don’t allow it to rob you of confidence, enthusiasm and motivation. Instead, see it as a single event, this thing that happened once that you don’t intend to repeat. Failure is the beginning of a new chapter, not the end of the story. That gruesome massacre that occurred on a tennis court in Orlando wasn’t the final page in my racquet swinging saga. It was just a bump on the road to success.

Failure Is Controllable
It is important to take responsibility for our failures. If we don’t, we give away all control. Referees, understaffed, weather, baby kept me up all night… If you think these sound like excuses, you’re right. Admittedly, other factors do work against us sometimes, but it does us no good to give them our attention. (See link to a previous post below.)

In order to learn and grow from failures we have to be willing to take a hard look in the mirror. Maybe we weren’t prepared enough, focused enough, didn’t communicate effectively or just choked the under pressure. The reality is, these are all things that we have control over.

Failure Holds The Juice Of Success
Visualize a large, juicy Florida orange. If you were to cut it in half and squeeze the fresh, tart juice into a glass, what’s left in your hand? Garbage. Technically, the peel and flesh of the orange are left, but I’m no chef, so zesting isn’t really my thing. You don’t want to stand there holding that sticky mess for very long do you? No, of course not. Throw it away or compost it. Now, you’re left with a tangy glass of juice.

Translation: squeeze your failures and get all the useful, actionable, controllable goodness out of them. What can you learn from the failure? Once you’ve analyzed it and gathered the lessons learned (aka the juice in the glass), throw away the peel and quit ruminating on the failure.

Holding onto the sticky mess causes us to lose sleep at night and creates unnecessary stress and raised blood pressure. Keep the good stuff, the lessons learned and chuck the rest, it’s only weighing you down. Why walk around with an orange peel in your pocket?

I have blown presentations, messed up relationships, let people down, quit playing guitar and failed in numerous other ways. But none of them were final; the story continues. All of them are controllable. It is up to me to squeeze out the juice and toss the rest. The more readily I do that, the faster I move on to future successes.

And so it is for you. Fail. Juice it. Then, move on to the success that lies ahead.

Question: How have you used your failures to create future success? I’d love to hear from your experiences in the comments below. 

The post Juice It and Toss It: How To Redefine And Grow From Failure first appeared on The Excelling Edge.

Spring is almost here for those of us in the four-season-belt of the U.S. Flowers bloom, birds sing and life returns as the chill of winter subsides. Despite the budding all around us, many people find this to be a grueling time of the year. The holidays seem ages ago and summer vacation seems eons away. Oh, and those New Year’s resolutions, how are those coming along? I’d say it’s time for a booster shot to get us refocused, energized and taking actionable steps toward our goals again. 

In high school I was neat and organized, with binder tabs and a planner. Not nerdy, just structured. I routinely jotted down my assignments at the end of each class period. However, college was a bit more of a challenge. Assignments were no longer straightforward. Each year, I tried a new way to stay on top of everything that was stacking up on my to-do list. Somehow I survived. Then, with an uncanny ability to procrastinate (a side effect of perfectionism) and a scattered approach to staying focused on what needed to get done to achieve my goals (graduate), I launched into the throes of graduate school.

Verbs Alleviate Ambiguity
As human beings, we struggle with ambiguity. It keeps us from taking action. In One Question by Ken Coleman, author Jim Collins says people aren’t risk averse, they are ambiguity averse. With uncertainty, we get stuck; we don’t take action. Verbs eliminate this obstacle. Check out the difference. Let’s say my to-do list reads, “Dry Cleaning.” What does that mean? Am I supposed to pick clothes up or drop clothes off? Given the ambiguity, I’m likely to head home rather than stopping at the cleaners and asking, “Do you have anything here that belongs to me?” Get rid of ambiguity and get unstuck. Add a verb and never wonder again.

The post One Word You Never Want to Leave Off Items On Your To-Do List first appeared on The Excelling Edge.

The post Should You Keep Your Goals A Secret? first appeared on The Excelling Edge.

The post 5:00 AM: Up And At ‘Em (How Incremental Change Made It Happen) first appeared on The Excelling Edge.