GOAL SETTING – WHY SET GOALS AND WHY CARE?

GOAL SETTING – WHY SET GOALS

I have a question for you!  Do you think I would have written 26 books, helped clients all over the world and built highly successful courses, a podcast, a website and this blog if I didn’t set goals?

Well, maybe you can do it without having or setting goals, but for me, it was the single most important thing alongside right action that changed my entire life.

It worked for me, so with that said can goal setting really work for you?

I was talking with a pal the other day who said to me ‘Greg do you REALLY set goals or is it just one of those ‘COACHY’ type words that make people think that we should all have them? But I just don’t think they really work’!

So I said ‘hmmmmm, so you have tried setting any realistic goals yet then mate?’  He said……’Nooooo, because if you set a goal it has to be WILD or what is the point?’

To which I replied ‘Ok, I see where you may be going wrong with the idea of goals’!

I think he was thinking that goals were/are only for those who wish to achieve billionaire status or something, but, it’s for everyone.  And if we don’t set any goals on anything then we potentially drift through life with no direction.

I explained that whilst it is ok to have WILD goals and aim high (as I do) we must also start small, and we can be realistic and break things down,  so I said;  “THAT’S THE POINT OF GOALS, to make us focus on them as they are realistic and achievable.”   I went on to say that, where we begin is just the beginning, and as we grow they grow.

I also said that, we all have goals without knowing it.  

I explained that booking a holiday is a goal setting exercise to ensure you have a great time.  Having a baby is a goal.  Getting a now or better job is a goal. Getting out of a crappy relationship is a goal, and so on.  It’s just that we call them different things, but the process is the same.  With all these goals we can start small, begin planning and researching what we will do about it.

Now, I talked about ‘how’ I have already helped thousands of people 1ON1 and through my Consulting and books and served them in reaching their goals, but a staggering 90% of people never reach the kinds of goals that they would truly feel fulfilled by.

Why?  Because of one or more of these things:

1. THEY NEVER GET AROUND TO IT
2. THEY BELIEVE THAT WHAT THEY DESIRE IS TOO HARD TO ACHIEVE
3. THEY ARE TOO BUSY TO BELIEVE THEY CAN START ANYTHING ELSE
4. THEY MAY HAVE TRIED AND FAILED BEFORE SO ARE SCARED TO TRY AGAIN
5. THEY PUT UP WITH SECOND BEST THINKING THAT IS ALL THEY DESERVE

Do any of these areas resonate with you?

They are perfectly natural and I have personally experienced all of them at one time or another.

The truth is that deep down, most of us know ‘what’ we need to do – and we know that by doing what we need to do we will probably move towards our goals.  The trouble is, too many people feel incapable of a goal in some way and so they become comfortable with staying the same.  But let’s be clear about comfort; this is a word which can bring a great deal of coziness to many including myself when applied to being at home, watching TV, hiding under a blankey, but – when it comes to reaching goals this is not a word we can afford to us.

I am sure you have heard time and time again that we have to push past our comfort zones right?  Of course, and if we wish to grow or to achieve something different then we have to push past these limitations.

So what are limitations?  We can all get them and they can even be things we believe are holding us back or stopping us. They are also not real, but are based on belief, or on old experiences, failures and difficulties, so they are simply ideas and images which we have learned to accept as real.  And we may base our standards and beliefs on the past.  So, from our life of conditioning we have gotten comfortable with this kind of limitation.

But I am here to tell you (in manly motivational voice) that – ‘we are much more than our perceived limitations’.

But seriously –  we are.   And we will never get anywhere else if we don’t start with a goal or vision of having that thing.

Sometimes the fear can hold us back, but other times the fear of not having something else can drive us forward. So we have to see what’s driving us every day.

Oh and in answer to my buddies question – ‘we all have goals already as apart of life, it’s just whether these goals are going to help us and change our lives long term or not’.

If you set a goal to be BIGGER, SMALLER, FITTER, HEALTHIER, RICHER etc. then that is not good enough – as it is not about specifics and is too generic .  We have to get specific about what we are going to do and why. Sure, some goals need more in-depth research than others so they may require some research, development and exploration before we act upon the goal to define IF it is in fact the RIGHT GOAL!

GOAL SETTING – WHY SET GOALS AND WHY CARE?

If we chase the wrong goal most of our lives then we will likely feel deflated, lost, and as though we have just wasted 25 years.

So, we need to really know what is:

A) IS IT WORTH IT AND WORTH OUR TIME AND EFFORT

B) IS IT FROM OUR CORE VALUES

C) IS IT GOING TO ENRICH OUR LIVES IN SOME PROGRESSIVE  WAY

So, that’s up to you to decide what that may be for you.

And, this is where we need to get defined on what we are chasing.

We can start by first setting a realistic goal to uncover these things so we at least know what that thing is.

In this way we actually get the process moving and in doing so, this gives us more confidence, as does each step.  So we grow and our goals grow.

Now, here are some of the Keys to Success with Goal Setting which I teach my clients and I taught my buddy which is a key way for you to achieve all of your goals, and it’s pretty simple….

It’s very important to break your goals down into the activities necessary to achieve them. From there you can see an end point coming right back to today.  And you can look at the types of action necessary to take you forward little by little.

We also need to see that we cannot control everything – because life just isn’t like that. Many things can and will get in the way of our goals for many reasons, but you and I can still control WHAT WE DO.  We can control the activities we apply which yield or lead inevitably to a result we desire – if we aim at it with consistent focus and action.  The law of probability tells us that we will have a much greater chance at hitting our goals when they are very specific.  So, the more precise we are about our activities, the more likely we are to accomplish our goals.

Here’s a goal setting exercise for you to complete in order to break down your goals into the precise activities you have to do to achieve each one of them.

Imagine you want to lose weight.  Start off with knowing your end goal weight for example; so, how much weight do you want to lose, and what might you need to do by when to get there?  Why do you want to lose this weight?  What will this do for you?  How much exercise and diet could get you to where you wish to be in order to achieve your desired goal?

Work out every reason why you want this – and what you will do in order to reach the weight loss goal.

Use tools to help you.  Whatever you need to help you – use it.

For example, if you want to lose 2 stone in 6 months (1 stone is 6.3 kilograms or 13.8 pounds) you will need to lose 27.6 pounds. How can you do this with gym and diet?  It is recommended that at least 200 minutes (more than three hours) a week of moderate intensity exercise will be required.  But you also need to eat less junk food. So what food and drink goals will also need to be implemented?  You will need to look at your routines, habits and patterns and see where you might start cutting back being sure to keep all numbers  noted.

Now bear in mind that I am not a personal trainer I am simply breaking down some ideas to demonstrate the kind of calculations you may need to make. 

No matter what goal/s you wish to aim for, you will always measure and monitor progress.

Maybe you’ll have to vary what you do in terms of exercise and diet, so make some plans with an expert to create something to work from.  Know your strategy as this is the ONLY way to keep yourself accountable and to gauge your progress.

Let’s say you have a goal to reach $10k per month net from home.

You will once again need to work out what actions will be required of you every single day in order to achieve this.

Create a plan, a vision, and look at the numbers.  What will you be selling and at what price points?  How many units or sales will be required to reach this goal minus all of your outgoings or expenses?

GOAL SETTING – WHY SET GOALS AND WHY CARE?

For me it selling 3 X £2k coaching programs per month which = £6k which is at the current rate $7,917.45

Also I will sell my Self study course for £29.70 X 20 per month on average which = £594 which is at the current rate $783.22

On top of that I expect to sell books, and affiliate products/services which averages around = £2000 per month which is at the current rate $2,635.75

My expenses total @ £2,956 per month. which is at the current rate $3,897.42

So, you can see a basic version of what I earn and

what this equates to. If I sell more courses, coaching

or products it increases and the only ways to increase

my financial goals are:

1. To add more products or services

2. To increase my prices

3. To sell more

So, I will (with my small team) look at the figures in order to define what our goals are and we will do so in each and every area of the business.

There will be high weeks and low weeks, and high months and low months, but on average overall, you can hit your targets as we will keep moving regardless of setbacks and this is critical.

As we move forward knowing what I have spoken of, we may also monitor our progress, and look at why we didn’t reach our goals on a particular day, week or month and assess what may be tweaked, changed, or whatever the metric is we need to work on.

I will have very small and quick meetings at the beginning of every week to look at how we may need to strategize over what actions are required.

If I was to negate the action and attention needed to reach my goals, I would have no idea what one month would look like compared to another, so I wouldn’t have anything to gauge my progress against.  But, I  have the right tools, resources and processes in place so I can see what I need to do and if I am on track or not for that particular week or month.

My primary goal is in the increase my financial grow month on month – and of course in specifically in knowing what the numbers are and what this means for me – which is with using Sage.

CLICK HERE TO SEE A SIMPLE EXPLANATION BY SAGE OF MEASURING BUSINESS GROWTH 

CLICK HERE TO SEE HOW TO GROW YOUR BUSINESS FROM SAGE 

Now, coming back to losing weight for a moment; if you wanted to lose that weight and yet you failed to keep an account of your progress and perhaps even started to skip your training activities, you would likely ‘not’ hit your goal of course.  The trouble is that the more we miss-  the more we get used to MISSING and this can disable our sense of achievement and our progress.  We then start to lose momentum.

And even if we go back to our target now and then we are not 110%.

I have seen it many times, when a person says “oh I will start on Friday with measuring XYZ”, and then they work for a couple of hours towards it but not giving it full attention and and eventually quit saying “I’ll work on it twice as hard next week.”

And then guess what?  This doesn’t always happen!  And they will get further and further behind.

Especially in a business where a person is working at home and they have no-one to keep them accountable.

So we need to be strict with ourselves and our goals. But flexible enough to work through the trials we will experience.

GOAL SETTING – WHY SET GOALS AND WHY CARE?

GOALS

Without Goal setting we would never have achieved anything worthy as Human beings.  And – in the past and throughout history great inventors, Pioneers, innovators, scientists, technology experts and many others who were trying to move past barriers in order to make breakthroughs would have never conquered any new discoveries if they didn’t have something to aim for.

Simply, without an aim we are of course – aimless.

Personally, I hold myself accountable and responsible for my actions, as I work at home a great deal of the time, so I have to have a strict structure to my day and to know what my top priorities are going to be that day.

I will write this blog post before breakfast at 7am.  After breakfast at 8am I will then get this post formatted and add any images and key words.  Make it look good, then I will add relevant links for you to look at – such as coaching with me to reach your goals or any other links which are of value.  By 12pm I will be editing one of my books for 2 hours to ensure they are as good as I can make them.  By 2pm I will work with a coaching client.

This may take me until 4pm when I will then market my self study course for an hour until at 5pm I then read for an hour.

At 6pm I eat my dinner and relax and at 7pm I exercise for 30 minutes. By 7:30pm I will check emails and all social media to share and connect.  By 8:15pm I then stop for the night and meditate.  After that I evaluate if I am set to reach my goals by the end of the week. I will talk with my team across slack and zoom if necessary at the end of that day.

So, you can see, I have timescales and I try to make them as tight as I can.

This is called self discipline and GOAL SETTING. I know that I will never get where I want to be if I don’t do this. So it is about productivity on a daily basis, which the video will show you. If I procrastinate and fool around all morning and I don’t keep a promise to myself then I WON’T GET THERE.

This is how I have become a highly successful and top earning consultant and writer.

There is no secret to this, just hard focus.

Just ask yourself – ‘what is at stake if I don’t do what I need to do?’  My body will suffer, my reputation will be in tatters, my bills won’t get paid, my home will fall apart, my relationship will fall apart.  You know what you need to do, so just do it now.

Hold yourself accountable so that you have a deal with yourself.  Now here’s a little video for you to enjoy about being productive in your day:

It’s simple yet extremely powerful way to help you with your goal setting so take notes:

GOAL SETTING – WHY SET GOALS AND WHY CARE?

Now you have seen exactly what I do to kick my own ass.  You decide, do you think it is worth it?  

The truth is – it’s not that hard to demonstrate but IT REALLY SEPARATES THE LOSERS FROM THE WINNERS!  That’s just the way it is.

What can you do now?  What help do you need to get it done? Why? What will that do for you?

It’s time you got clear on your goals.

TIP: Many people rarely set goals to improve themselves more within, and yet I think this is a greatly undervalued area.  As we see the mind as something we cannot physically see, we cannot always see the point in trying to gauge or measure progress, yet – it is the one area which will change everything else.   When we can focus on becoming people of value, people of growth, people of giving, and people of self understanding and awareness we also become more – and this in turn creates and builds stronger Human beings who can make better decisions, and create better lives.  So, set a goal to work on yourself more and you will undoubtedly change your outlook, state and subsequent results.        

For 1ON1 coaching with to help you reach your Mind and business, contact me @ www.GregDeTisi.com for a free planning session where we will create a crystal clear vision for you to aim for.

Before you go watch this VERY IMPORTANT VIDEO by the founder of Mindvalley to see that MINDSET is the most important element in all success, not marketing, not strategy, not tools – but your mind. It always will be. MINDSET-BY-MINDVALLEY

Wishing you the very best with your goals – I know you can do it and I am sure that you know what you wish to achieve. 

Greg

CONTACT ME HERE FOR A FREE PLANNING SESSION

READ MY BOOKS HERE

TRY MY $10K PER MONTH PASSION TO PROFIT SELF STUDY COURSE HERE FREE

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GregDeTisi

Author and Small Business Blogger at Greg De Tisi Writing and Small Business Blogging

Author of 26 books, a course creator and business blogger - Greg has been supporting clients from all backgrounds all over the globe for over 15 years in developing ideas and passions into sustainable Small Business Models. Greg now has more of a focus on supporting his local business community in Bristol UK.