At the start of the year, I wrote an article about writing game-changing goals and used the steps mentioned in the article to plan for this year. We are almost halfway through the year, and the results of my goals are astounding. I set some pretty big goals and have crushed nearly all of them.

This is the first year that I have had this much progress in such a short amount of time, and I really feel compelled to share with you how I did it, and how to not be like the fools who are making excuses about their goals!

The steps to writing effective goals are one thing, but actually being able to execute on them is something entirely different.

My greatest human need is the need for growth, and so goals play an even more critical role in my life compared to the average person. If you’re a success junkie like me, then I suggest reading the tips in this article carefully if you want to compound your results and make the remainder of this year productive.

The four steps I followed to crush my goals are:

Step 1 – Get used to fear and attract it

Like most people, it’s easy to avoid doing anything that is uncomfortable or requires effort. It’s easier to reward ourselves with food, alcohol, coffee or other stimulants than it is to sit down and do the hard yards.

If you were only to get one thing from this article then let it be this; all you need to do to crush your goals is to chase after the things that you fear and that are required to make your goals happen. As soon as something comes up that makes you uncomfortable or fearful, say yes to it, take action, and think about it later (OR JUST DELAY THINKING ABOUT IT AT ALL).

I am someone that hasn’t traditionally liked flying. One of my goals this year was to fly to Asia from Australia, which is a long way. The way I crushed this goal was just to book the flights, forget about it, and just show up at the airport without ever intending on going.

I figured that if I just showed up, got myself into the situation, and had faith, somehow it would all work out. People surrounded me with fear about vaccinations, poor food quality, air pollution, kidnapping, theft and a whole host of things.

I thought to myself if I just sit here and think about the 1001 things that could happen then I am never going to achieve any goal. So, I just did what felt right and stopped believing all the fools that were trying to scare me away from my goal.

The result, the trip was amazing, I crushed my goal, and now I can’t wait to go back to Asia in three weeks. As it turns out, I’m not actually afraid of flying and the best way to describe my time on the plane is that it was like a giant couch, with hours of personal development to do in the form of hundreds of podcasts.

From now on, flying equals a relaxing time to catch up on podcasts from Lewis Howes, Tim Ferriss, Joel Brown, Tony Robbins and a whole lot of others. THAT’S HOW YOU CRUSH YOUR GOALS, MY FRIENDS!!!

Step 2 – Link massive pain to procrastinating away from your goals

We should change the catchphrase of ads that say “high blood pressure is a silent killer” to “procrastination is a silent killer.” Procrastination kills more dreams every year than anything else. It causes the feelings of frustration, anger, bitterness and a whole raft of other negative side effects.

To avoid doing what most fools do, I decided that I was going to link massive pain to any form of procrastination. This meant that if I had two tasks to do then, I would only ever select the one linked to a goal, on my goal list, even if the other task was urgent.

It’s this type of determination and discipline that you need to mimic my results with your own goals. Whenever you allow things like housework to overtake your passion (also known as goals) you are guaranteeing yourself that you will feel unfulfilled.

From now on, think of pain when you think of a task that is not on your goal list. The more you do this, the more likely you are to beat the fools who are not doing this and are sitting around wasting their lives away.

Step 3 – Keep your goals where you will trip over them

Someone once told me that the way to never forget something important is to place the item or piece of paper with the written words, somewhere where you will trip over it. Using this great piece of advice, I have placed my goals in my wallet and right next to my computer where I write all of my Addicted2Success articles.

This step is so dumb, so simple, and so easy to understand; yet almost no one uses this fundamental life hack. When your goals are somewhere where you can’t avoid them, they constantly start to appear in your mind.

By having your goals where you can trip over them, you avoid becoming one of those people who allows twelve months to go by with no progress towards a goal occurring. If you are really terrible at remembering your goals, you can take it a step further than I did and put your goals on your car steering wheel or sticky tape them to the door.

An even better idea is to stick your goals up where everyone can see them so that other people start reminding you about them. Try the family fridge or on your work desk in front of all your colleagues.

Just don’t ever forget your goals and don’t allow yourself to be distracted away from them!

Step 4 – Gamify your results

The reason why games like Candy Crush are so addictive is because anything that involves gamification is something that all of our busy minds crave. When we play a game, the progress that we make by working through the levels is hugely gratifying.

I personally don’t have time for computer games, so the way I get my fix is through my goals. To crush my goals all I did was turn them into levels of a game. Again, the art of showing up is how I begin almost every goal (level).

Public speaking – a major goal of mine – is hard but when you show up and are prepared to have a go no matter what the result is, you quickly start to pass through the levels of the game. Fools make progress in computer games without realising that the progress they have made does nothing to help them in the real world.

If you don’t have a goal that you think you can turn into a game, then I am going to give you one. Every night, read one chapter of a book. Do this every day and watch your reading skills, vocabulary and even your grammar, improve out of sight.

Since I started playing the game of reading, my knowledge of things that I care about (personal development, leadership, social media, inspiring others) has gone through the roof. Reading every day has even helped me write better blog posts and given me more ideas to use at work.

***Final Thought***

I use the word fool in this article a lot not to sound like a smart ass but to move you into action. No one that comes on Addicted2Success is a fool although you can act like one if you don’t take your goals more seriously.

Goals should really be called “the things that require effort” because a goal is almost always hard. A goal such as: starting a business, losing weight, travelling the world, is very damn hard. It takes effort that a lot of us are not prepared to put in, but we are quick to complain when we don’t get what we want.

Coming on here for motivation is not going to help you crush your goals! The only way to crush your goals is to use these four steps and start taking action towards the things that you have deemed non-negotiable. YOU CAN DO THIS JUST GO GET STARTED RIGHT NOW!

“Does your life matter to you and do you want to have achieved something in your time on Earth? I am hoping the answer is yes. If it’s not, then you are on the wrong website, and I suggest going to Instagram and looking at people who have the life you dream of”

What’s your number one goal in life and why do you want to achieve it? Share your answer in the comments section below or on my website timdenning.net  or my Facebook Page.