Achieving Success Through Habits and Goal Setting

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What Is A Goal?

The dictionary states that a goal is: the object of a person’s ambition or effort; an aim or desired result.

Now, we know each person has different ambitions, but how different people get to each aspiration is almost always the same.

There is a formula for almost anything in life, including that of achieving success through habits and goal setting. Read this list to see what is NOT in the formula and the reason most people do not complete their goal.

A Bad Formula

1. Lack of ambition or drive
2. Gets discouraged easily
3. Tries to take the easy route
4. They do not have a plan because they do not see the importance of one.
5. Has no patients
6. Falls apart when something does not go according to what they had planned.
7. Fear of rejection
8. Fear of failure

According to the University of Scranton, a whopping 92 percent of people who set New Year’s goals never actually achieve them. That leaves 8 percent of us in a very elite category of goal-achievers.

By Marcel Schwantes

Elite group, alright. This percentage is huge. So what is it that 8% are doing differently? Let’s talk about it.

Why Are Some People Successful While Others Are Not?

Saying you’re going to do something and then not doing it is a common thing but why? Is it the society we live in and the short attention span, or I don’t want to do it if I don’t get instant gratification syndrome?

I think it’s both. People have so much at their fingertips that rarely do they need to be patient with anything anymore. Hate to tell you this, but success, unless it was handed down to you, doesn’t come instantly.

The turtle and the rabbit are the perfect illustration or picture one should paint in their mind when they think of success through habits and goal setting. Success and reaching your goals is the turtle who gets there in months sometimes years. Not the rabbit who runs a little then gets lazy and decides to run again.

Unlike 92%, 8% have different habits and a formula they follow to make their success happen. Want to know what it is, or what you should be doing to be in the elite group? I thought so.

Habits of the Elite Group

1. Know what the end goal looks like. You need a clear vision and a starting plan to get you from A-Z. Successful people have that. They know how they want to start, plan a path that includes resources or items needed to obtain small victories or mini-goals along the way, and ultimately see the end in their mind or on the paper.
2. Have confidence in your abilities. You are not going to find people who lack confidence in the 8% bracket. Success through goal setting is hard enough without doubting yourself every step of the way. Know your worth, or there’s no worth in starting.
3. Create a team of successful people. Surrounding yourself with like-minded and ambitious people is a must if you want to succeed. A team not only helps in keeping you motivated, but they can help with breakthroughs and offer sound advice or opinions on your project.
4. Be consistent. I cannot stress this one enough. This one right here will break you more than any other and send your goals back to the starting line. You must be consistent and form the habits needed to reach ANY achievement. Think about an Olympic athlete, and you will understand that consistency is critical.
5. Stay Focused. Yes, it’s easy to go in five different directions, especially if you are working on a computer. However, if you can’t remain focused slowly but surely the work required to achieve the small or big steps needed will not get done setting you back or keeping you under that lazy tree where the rabbit is while someone else works their way to the finish line.
6. Use affirmations. Telling yourself you can do it, or writing yourself a little script is like taking in oxygen before you suffocate. Affirmations are needed every day sometimes multiple times a day and could be the difference from you giving up before you crest the hill you’re climbing.
7. Put in to place good habits. A habit is something that’s done repeatedly/consistently for a long period of time. Choosing good habits will propel your success and keep you on track with your goals.

What do These Steps Have in Common?

All of these are action steps. Without action, no philosophy, or idea will ever take root. Here is a long quote from one of my favorite books, but one worth paying attention too.

What is the Magic Formula?

“I could show you exactly what I did to create four different, separate, independent multimillion-dollar organizations—and teach you how to do the exact same thing. In twenty minutes. 

And chances are, it wouldn’t work for you. Why not? Because how to do it is not the issue. Because, if we don’t change the way you think, then you’ll have rearranged what I said by the time you leave the room. You’ll have reinvented it by the time you go to bed that night, and in the morning, you won’t even recognize it as the same information.

People everywhere are clamoring for the formula, the secret, the path to improving their lives. Tell me how you did this, so I can do it, too. Give me the definitive plan. Tell me how to be healthy. How to be rich. Tell me how to be happy. Tell me, tell me, tell me… 

If you’re one of the millions looking for cookie-cutter answers to the great questions in life, you can call off the search right now! How to do it is not the issue.

Why not? Because the answer is only the answer— it isn’t actually doing the thing. It isn’t applying the answer, living the answer. It’s only information.” –The Slight Edge, by Jeff Olson.

The Power of Your Mind

You see, although there is not a secret ingredient there is a secret, or not so secret, formula to achieving success through habits and goal setting. Your mind controls everything you do and therefore if you control that you control everything. Change the way you think and you change your life.

Your thoughts propel your actions and your actions are the tools to get you money, success, and a relationship. Don’t be fooled; however, you need continued action to keep these things, make them grow, or become long-lasting and healthy.

Be Consistent

Remember our turtle? He kept going, always putting one step in front of the other. He is our action, man. The lazy rabbit, on the other hand, ultimately lost the race because he is our in a hurry man, with no plan, who got tired and lost the race.

You don’t need to push yourself to the brink of no sleep and craziness, just diligently work hard towards your goals.

Have a Clear and Vivid Dream

“People who live with huge, vivid, clearly articulated dreams are pulled along towards those dreams with such force, they become practically unstoppable.

What made people like Martin Luther King, Jr., Gandhi or Mother Teresa, Edison or IBM’s Thomas Watson, Wilberforce, or Lincoln such forces of nature that nothing could stand in their way, no matter what the odds or obstacles? It was not some magic in their character, though they certainly became people of unusual character along the way. It was the power of their dreams.

The vision each of these men and women held created a magnetic force against which no opposition could stand.” -The Slight Edge, by Jeff Olson.

Evaluate Your Habits

Remember though, you not only need a vision but the habits and heart to go along with it. Habits you form and repeat each day determine your outcome.

For instance, if you write every day you would become a writer, if you swim, you would be a swimmer. Your actions and habits form what person you become in the future.

Building Good Habits In Four Simple Steps

1. “First, there is the Cue. The cue triggers your brain to initiate a behavior. It is a bit of information that predicts a reward. Because the cue is the first indication that we’re close to a reward it naturally leads to a craving. Every person is different though so cues are meaningless until they are interpreted. The thoughts, feelings, and emotions of the observer are what transform a cue into a craving.
2. Cravings are the second step, and they are the motivational force behind every habit. Without some level of motivation or desire–without craving a change–we have no reason to act. What you crave is not the habit itself but the change in state in delivers. You do not crave smoking a cigarette, you crave the feeling of relief it provides. You are not motivated by brushing your teeth but rather by the feeling of a clean mouth. Every craving is linked to a desire to change your internal state.
3. The third step is the Response. The response is the actual habit you perform, which can take the form of a thought or an action. Whether a response occurs depends on how motivated you are and how much friction is associated with the behavior. If a particular action requires more physical or mental effort than you are willing to expend, then you won’t do it. Your response also depends on your ability. It sounds simple, but a habit can occur only if you are capable of doing it. If you want to dunk a basketball but can’t jump high enough to reach the hoop, well, you’re out of luck.
4. Finally, the response delivers a Reward. Rewards are the end goal of every habit. The cue is about noticing the reward. The craving is about wanting the reward. The response is about obtaining the reward. We chase rewards because they serve two purposes: (1) they satisfy us and (2) they teach us.” –Atomic Habits, by James Clear

Are Habits Really That Important?

The ability to form good habits will help you achieve success in all aspects of your life.

Now you understand why only 8% of people are considered to be in the elite group. It’s not that the elite group is unattainable or even hard, it’s that our society lacks ambition and the drive to follow through on something that takes longer than a week or few months to achieve.

Bad Habits

Bad habits are learned behaviors that we need to unlearn before continuing down a forward path. That’s not always easy, but critical to your achieving success through habits and goal setting.

If it doesn’t move you forward, then you need to replace it.

No amount of justifying a bad habit will help you succeed.

Well, that’s it. To achieve success through good habits and goal setting you must be willing to put aside your old self and create a new improved, consistent, habit driven, you.

Enjoy your week, friends.

-Heather Earles