Disclosure: This article contains links to Articulate Tee’s S.M.A.R.T Goals Worksheets at: https://www.articulatetee.com/online-store/S-M-A-R-T-Goals-Worksheets-8-5-x-11-p343109314 and https://www.articulatetee.com/online-store/S-M-A-R-T-Goals-Worksheets-8-5-x-14-p342978613
High achievers have the formula of achievement down pat. If you’re serious about setting goals, here’s what the high achievers know that you may be missing out on.
Fun fact.
Were you aware that an astonishing 8% of the population who make New Year’s resolutions actually uphold them throughout the entire year!
The majority of the population fails to keep their resolution by the first week of February.
The reason for the failure (according to Clinical Psychologist (Ph.D) Joseph J. Luciani) is due to self-sabotage caused by a lack of self-discipline.
Imagine that. We are the one’s to blame for our own failures because of self.
Okay, that was a bit of sarcasm because many times we blame external factors as to why we couldn’t achieve our goal(s) when failure strikes.
We blame our busy schedules for our lack of self-care, blame traffic for our lateness, or blame the difficulty of the goal instead of our lack of effort and consistency.
It’s human nature to want to find the root cause of a problem and for it to be external to ourselves. This is because we have a tendency to want to distance ourselves from the conflict, failure or problem for the sake of saving ourselves.
Is that a selfish move?
Heck yes! Absolutely. That’s the human brain for you. However, we can train ourselves to stop self-sabotaging our success(es) by not lying to ourselves. By taking the times necessary to understand your wants and needs.
Nobody can change for you, so when you shy away from change, you’re inadvertently halting the steps towards your success(es). Everything that changes in your life is up to you.
No one can force you to act or be a certain way or want something different. That’s up to you.
I made a promise to myself in 2020 to continually achieve in all 7 areas of my life in order to change my life even more significantly.
I use and review my s.m.a.r.t goal worksheets weekly to hold myself accountable for my actions.
These areas are:
- Social
- Career
- Financial
- Spiritual
- Physical
-Intellectual
- Family
If you’re looking to make bigger impacts in your life too then you should check out my 17-paged premium s.m.a.r.t goals PDF printable (available in two sizes) to help you set the right foundations for yourself.
Everyday, you’ve got to choose who you’re going to or aspire to be.
Everyday you’re going to have to go out there and fight for what you need out of life because nobody’s going to hand you a new life.
Nobody knows what you want to change except for you. Nobody will be as sorry as you if you don’t get it…
This is a reminder to never give up on your journey of changing for the betterment of you!
I myself have failed many times at achieving my goals. If you’re similar to me – a high-achieving, ambitions entrepreneur with a type-A personality- failing to meet a goal can knock the wind out of you and leave you feeling disappointed and frustrated.
Those are some heavy feelings to sit with and digest.
With that being said, you can use the opportunity to journal your outcome and strategize how you will overcome the setback in the future.
Learning from an experience for me means not doing the same mistake more than twice.
Once is a mistake, twice is the final straw that I give myself as a boundary to prevent a slide of destructive of self-sabotaging behaviours. Everybody has their own methods of reaching success and it’s heavily dependent on your personality type, work style, energy level, goal, beliefs, principals, etc.…
Research by Edwin Locke and Gary Latham (2006) discovered that setting goals are linked to higher motivation, self-esteem, self-confidence and autonomy which establishes a strong connection between goal setting and success (Matthews
,2015).
The secret in the sauce of successfully slaying those goals is using the - rule coined by George T. Doran in the year 1981. This infamous rule was first published in a management research paper of the Washington Power Company.
What does “s.m.a.r.t goals” mean anyways?
For those of you that want a refresher the s.m.a.r.t acronym stands for goals that are: specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely (or time bound).
· S (Specific) – What do you want to achieve exactly?
· M (Measurable) – How will you measure your progress?
· A (Attainable) – Your needs in order to achieve your goals?
· R (Relevant) – Why do you want to accomplish this goal?
· T (Timely/Time Bound) – What is the deadline for this goal? Is it realistic?
To be real with you I didn’t realize there was a method for achieving your goals until I reached my first year of college back in 2008.
The acronym was introduced to me by a thorough HR career councillor. I was definitely encouraged to have goals and accomplish them to the best of my abilities. Then, as an a-type I took that mission to another level in all aspects of the matter.
If you also want to take your goals to another level then I'll let you in on the final high-achieving secret...
High-er achievers push their goal setting skills even further by adding “E.R” to their s.m.a.r.t goals.
· E (Evaluate/Ethical) – Does this goal align with personal and professional ethics?
· R (Rewarding) – How does accomplishing this goal make you feel on the inside (intrinsically)?
If you haven't noticed yet, high-achievers are more successful than others because of their optimal levels of self-discipline, that's their secret. The last words of this article is you can reach your new years resolution or goals but tracking any and all progress on a consistent basis.
- Thanks for reading
Articulate Tee
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