3 Ways to Advance Your Goals
Goals are essential to every aspect of life in which you want success! Simply having them is not enough. You must have a plan to move the ball forward. Your desire should be to advance your goals to the next phase and continuously move up the ladder of success! Here are 3 quick methods to help you achieve better goal success.
1. Start with the End in Mind – Focus on Success
Goal guru Stephen Covey says, “Beginning with the end in mind is the endowment of imagination. If you are the programmer, write the program.” Goals help us to focus, and the quality of our attention is enhanced by a having a project so cool and interesting that we can’t help but make a leap. Let’s say, you want to organize your work space so that everyone is inspired to do their best work. The in-between steps: like ergonomic concerns & planning comfortable lighting, in-and-of itself can seem mundane and uninspiring. However, once you can unite them under one over-arching goal, they take on a new meaning and purpose. Focus on success & keep in mind how you want things to end up–And you’ll soon enough be successful. Here are some steps to create exciting goals.
- Name the accomplishment
- Give your project a title
- What needs to be done by when?
- How would you like things to end up?
- Identify upbeat reasons for pursuing the goal
2. Shoot for the Moon by Raising the Bar
Define greatness, challenge the limits, double the goal, or try something new…These are just some of the sentiments that put your plans into action advance your goals toward revolutionary results. Raising the bar on a project can simply mean taking one extra step, having an allegiance to a weird idea, or devoting to a regular practice. Commit to a goal in a meaningful way, personalize it & make it your own, and then watch an otherwise sleepy project wake up and give way to a new-found energy, creativity and distinction. “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.”
Check out ways you can advance your goals to the next level:
- Double the goal
- Challenge the limits
- Create a regular practice
- Raise your standards, values, or beliefs
- Make it a game
3. Look for the Path of Least Resistance – Find a Shortcut
Sometimes a goal deserves a break. TIME MAGAZINE reported that after 8 hours of sleep you’d be more than twice as likely to find a shortcut for solving a problem. The article suggests that taking it easy is good for the brain, and what’s good for the brain is good for the overall psyche. Are you doing too much, not getting nourished and becoming exhausted? Well perhaps it’s time to consider another path to advance your goals. Don’t re-invent the wheel. Pick up a book written by an expert, join a group that’s geared around your project, sign up for an informational newsletter, or ask someone for help.
For instance, if I was writing a screenplay and struggling with a self-imposed deadline, I could simplify my project just by signing up for a writing class. With weekly writing tasks & in-class exercises, this alone would expedite the development of my script. Another overlooked shortcut is to consider smaller steps. The smaller the increments the easier the goal. Deng Ming-Dao, writes in EVERYDAY TAO, “An inch in one direction, then an inch in another already makes a span of 2 inches.” Incremental change is still change! Here are some tips to keep you on track and help find a quicker path.
- Don’t reinvent the wheel. Find someone who’s done it before.
- Slow down or change the pace
- Keep to minimum daily standards
- Write everything down. Loose ideas = Lost ideas
- The smaller the increments the easier the goal
Advance your goals in simple ways that will improve your chances of success and maybe even your quality of life. After all, what good is reaching a goal if you are totally miserable by the time you achieve it?
