Success Advice

3 Easy Steps to Achieving Your Goals According to Science

Published

3 years ago

Sep 24, 2020

Shawn Lim

Image Credit: Unsplash

Many people are living in mediocrity and most don’t seem to get anywhere worthwhile because they lack direction. They have no idea what they want out of their lives. One of the most important keys to success and living a fulfilling life is to know what you want and work relentlessly toward that worthy ideal. The problem is that most people have no idea what they want. Or in other words, they don’t set goals for themselves.

If you think about extraordinary people who went on to accomplish amazing success in life such as top-level athletes Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods, and successful entrepreneurs like Elon Musk and Mark Cuban, you will notice that they all shared a common trait – they know what they want, they set goals, and they are making progress towards reaching their goals every day.

When you set goals, it gives you a long-term vision to focus on and at the same time, it also provides you the short-term motivation you need to work through each day. Dr. Gail Matthews, a professor at the Dominican University, once conducted a study on how writing down goals, committing to action, and being accountable, can influence the achievement of the goal.

Dr. Gail Matthews recruited 267 participants from various groups ranging from age 23 to 72, and they were all from different countries including the United States. England, Japan, and Australia.

The participants were then randomly divided into 5 groups:

Group 1 – Participants were simply asked to think about their goals (what they wanted to achieve over the next 4 weeks) and rate the goals according to their difficulties, importance, motivation, and more.

Group 2 – Participants were asked to write down their goals and rate them.

Group 3 – Participants were asked to follow Group 2 and also to formulate action commitments.

Group 4 – Participants were asked to follow Group 3 and also send their goals and action commitments to a supportive friend.

Group 5 – Participants were asked to follow Group 4 and also send a weekly progress report to a supportive friend.

Guess what happened at the end of the 4 weeks?

Results grew from a 43 percent success rate in Group 1 and increased to 76 percent success rate in Group 5.

This means when you write down your goals, make actionable commitments, and send a weekly progress report to a supportive friend, you are 76% more likely to achieve the goal.

“Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.” – Norman Vincent Peale

Therefore, to achieve outstanding success and reach your goals, you need to focus on these 3 easy steps:

1. Write down your goals

First, you have to identify what you want to achieve, and then you will have to write it down. Many personal development coaches like Jack Canfield, John Assaraf, and Robin Sharma suggest their students write down their goals because when you do so, you increase your commitment to your goals.

After all, you will never bother writing something down if it is not important to you, right? Hence, make it a habit to write down your goals and constantly review them.

Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert comic strip and one of the most successful cartoonists in the world, said that he wrote down his goal 15 times a day. He wrote down, “I, Scott Adams, will become a syndicated cartoonist.” And he continued to do so day-in and day-out, for 15 times a day.

Eventually, his dreams came true. He became the world’s most syndicated cartoonist. In the year 2000, Dilbert was featured in 2,000 newspapers in 57 countries and 19 languages. The comic strip also spawned dozens of television series, books, and themed merchandise items.

Therefore, if you are serious about achieving your goals, write them down. In fact, do it like how Scott Adams did, write down your goals every day so you condition your goals to your subconscious mind.

2. Create action commitments

Writing down your goals is the first step. The second step you need to take is to create action commitments. In other words, you need to come up with a plan of what you need to do to reach your goals.

You can’t just think or write down what you want and hope that things will magically appear in front of you. No, goal setting is not a magic lamp, it is a technique that helps you identify specifically what you want so you can formulate a plan to achieve it.

Most people don’t make plans for their goals. They just think of their goals and nothing more. Remember you need to make a plan if you are truly committed to your goals.

Write down all the specific action steps you can take to accomplish your goals. If you have no idea what you can do to achieve your goals, your action commitment is to do just that.

There are plenty of books and courses you can learn from. For instance, if your goal is to set up an e-commerce website, but you have no idea how to do that, your action commitment is to learn how to do it.

List down all the possible action commitments you need to take. Lastly, work on each of them one-by-one because that’s how you make progress.

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

3. Get an accountability partner and send your weekly progress report

Finally, to make sure you stick to your plan, you need to be accountable for it. Thus, get an accountability partner who supports your work. Commit to sending your partner a weekly progress report each week.

You want to get an accountability partner because if you don’t, you will never hold yourself accountable. However, when you know someone is watching and monitoring your work, you become more committed to working on your plan.

Plus, when you commit to sending a weekly progress report, it creates a deadline and urgency to get the action commitment done.

Getting an accountability partner doesn’t need to be difficult. You just need to get someone who supports and is willing to keep an eye on your progress. Your job is to send your progress report to him or her each week.

When you do this, you will make sure you are making progress toward your goals every week.

Conclusion

These are the 3 easy steps on how you can achieve your goals. Remember, according to research, you can greatly improve your success rate by as much as 76% when you follow the 3 simple steps above.

So, identify your goals, write them down, create action commitments to achieve them, and get a supportive partner to hold you accountable for your progress.

What’s one goal you’re looking to accomplish this year? Share it with us below so we can help keep you accountable!

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Shawn Lim

Shawn Lim is the creator of StunningMotivation.com (https://StunningMotivation.com) and he’s a passionate blogger in the personal development industry who has inspired thousands to pursue their dreams and follow their passions. You can learn more about him plus download a free copy of his guidebook, Reach Your Goals on his website.

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How to Break the Cycles of Mediocrity and Manifest Your Greatness

There is no greatness without becoming and there is no becoming with authenticity

Published

3 weeks ago

Nov 16, 2023

Jamelle Sanders

Image Credit: Midjourney

In just a few weeks, we will be wrapping up 2023. Can you believe it? This year has been absolutely incredible for me.

I have seen amazing doors opened, new relationships formed and I am seeing dreams realized in my life. While this seems like the hallmarks of a great year, this has also been the most challenging year of my life. With all of the change happening in my life, I have been forced out of my comfort zone and challenged to grow in every area of my life.

I can truly say that I have made the most of my moments this year and I have used everything as a catalyst for maximizing my greatest potential.

As a revolutionary leader, I have the pleasure of consulting and advising leaders around the world to fulfill purpose, realize their greatest potential and make an impact.

I want to share some insights with you that will help you to break cycles of mediocrity and manifest your greatness.

Everything legal must come through the matrix

I am sure that some of you are wondering why I am using the term matrix. However, what you have to understand is that I am trying to make a highly complex spiritual principle practical to understand.

Regardless of your spiritual beliefs, every life has an origin and I believe that origin is divine and begins with eternity. You are birthed from eternity and into time to fulfill a unique purpose and assignment in your lifetime and generation.

The matrix is simply the portal or vehicle that brings something out of the invisible realm and into tangible form. The problem with much of the teaching today is that it excludes the matrix. We are told to believe that success is instantaneous and overnight.

Nobody talks about how a dream progresses through stages beginning with visualization and ultimately culminating in manifestation. Without a matrix or portal then everything that you attempt to birth and build will be illegal.

The matrix not only makes you legal but it gives you the authority and power to function as the greatest expression of who you were created to be.

Every matrix has an incubation process

While many people admire and respect me today, I remember a time when nobody knew who I was or the significance of my message. How did I get to where I am today? I got here through an incubation process.

In other words, everything that has been destined for your life is incubating and awaiting a set time of manifestation. The problem is that most people live their entire lives idle and never initiate the incubation process.

What do I meany by that? Most people are living reckless and very few people are living intentionally. I am amazed at the number of people I have conversations with that have no vision, goals or strategies for their lives. They show great promise and they have undeniable potential.

However, without development they will die with their dreams still in them.

Everything that has been destined for your life must be incubated and converted to become realities born to time.

“Visualize this thing that you want, see it, feel it, believe in it. Make your mental blueprint and begin to build.” – Robert Collier

You must give expression to that which is not yet born to time

When you think about a matrix or a prophetic incubation process, you have to understand that potential is often unrealized and untapped. In other words, your potential is in raw form and your potential cannot serve you as long as it is untapped.

The thing that makes me valuable is that I have the ability to convert potential into power. I have done it in my own life and I have empowered leaders around the world to do the same. How do you convert potential into power?

First, it is important to note that you have to perceive potential. If you cannot perceive your potential then you can never cultivate your potential. In addition, you must take the time to cultivate your potential. We often get excited about our capabilities; however, we never expand our capacity in order to realize our greatest potential.

In other words, the strength of your potential is only discovered through your willingness to stretch. The more we are challenged the more we are empowered to expand our capacity for greatness. Most of all, you must begin to express your potential. The expression of potential is different for every person.

For example, the expression of my potential is best demonstrated through the thoughts, ideas, products, services, books, etc.

For another person the expression of potential may look like a screenplay, artwork, sports, scientific discoveries, medical breakthroughs, etc.

Regardless of the form of expression, I know that you will live empty and unfulfilled until you make the decision to express your potential. The expression of your potential gives voice to your dreams, life to your vision, significance to your moments and activates your true power.

You must manifest your greatness

As a revolutionary thinker and leader, my work has impacted people around the world. I am grateful that my life is a source of empowerment to so many people. However, before anyone could ever benefit from my life, I had to make a non-negotiable decision to become who I was born to be.

I wish I could tell you that this journey is easy and that you will get there overnight. However, in a world that celebrates us for doing we are often criticized for being. As a result, I wasted a lot of time trying to be who other people wanted me to be instead of being who I was born to be.

There is no greatness without becoming and there is no becoming with authenticity. It is through our bravery to be vulnerable that we ultimately manifest our greatness. We do not bless the world by being a duplicate. We bless the world when we honor our difference. When you honor your difference you honor your potential.

Ultimately, your difference is how you manifest your greatness.

When you present anything but your authentic self to the world, you are playing small and you are robbing the world of your significance. Manifesting your greatness requires you to master your gifts.