Over the last decade or so, we’ve all had it relatively easy when in terms of accessibility to the world around us. We have become accustomed to using Siri to tell us how to get places, daily reminders on our phones to ensure we stay on track, even things like overdraft protection on our debit cards to ensure we don’t spend more than we have.
While these are super useful things to have, they have also taught us always to be reliant on others instead of relying on ourselves. It’s as though we don’t have to take responsibility for anything because there is always somebody else out there ensuring we don’t make the wrong turn, hand things in on time, or spend too much.
This has caused us to always want the greatest desires in life at a moment’s notice. We expect to achieve all of our goals in the blink of an eye, to come out of college making just as much money as our parents who have been working their way up for 25+ years, and to not really have to work al that hard for our dreams.
Arguably, this is why many have a hard time staying on track with their life goals. It’s not that their goals are unachievable. Instead, it’s because they expect their goals to come easy and to come quickly.
This is me from time to time as well. There are many times where I have had to take a step back and realize that life is a process. Nothing worth having in life is ever going to come easy, and nothing that comes easy in life is ever worth having.
How to Create Life Goals And Actually Achieve Them
So how do you create life goals and actually achieve them?
As I continue to take on new challenges in my life, I am constantly asking myself this question, “How can I actually achieve the goals I have for myself?”
Step 1: Have A Destination
The first step is to know what it is that we want to achieve in the first place. Sometimes when I ask myself what my goals are, they are incredibly vague to the point where I don’t even know where to start.
One of my goals is to make $1 million per year when I am older. While this is a good goal to have, a better way to dissect it would be to ask myself what older looks like. At what age do I want to be making $1 million per year by? How do I plan on getting there? What can I do today to help out my future self?
When we set a destination, it becomes easier to break our goals down into actionable steps. Just having an amount of $1 million is stressful to look at (at least for me), but when I give it a timeframe and create a plan for how I am going to achieve that goal, it helps to paint a clearer image in my mind of how I’m actually going to achieve that goal.
Step 2: Break Your Goals Down
I have personally found that this is the hardest thing to do. Again, probably because I am like everybody else in the sense that we would much rather have instantaneous gratification and don’t necessarily want to work for our goals.
It’s important to realize, though, that everything in life starts with a first step. We learn to walk by taking one step at a time. We learn one grade at a time. We eat our dinner one bite at a time. Everything we do is always one step at a time.
The same needs to be said for the goals we set for ourselves. Could you imagine a first-grader trying to take the ACT? That wouldn’t work out well because they haven’t been taught enough. They haven’t been in school enough to make it past the first page.
But when it comes to goals, that’s what many of us do. We are like a first-grader who expects to take the ACT and score a 36 without having to devote 10+ years of our lives to learning the materials that are going to help us pass.
I hope that analogy makes sense. Regardless, realize that life is a process. Achieving your goals isn’t going to happen overnight. It’s going to take many years of headaches and hard work to achieve anything meaningful. So learn to break your goals down into actionable steps that you can take today to help get you on the path where you want to go.
Step 3: Be Willing To Fail
If you aren’t willing to fail, you aren’t willing to learn, and if you aren’t willing to learn, you’re never going to achieve your goals.
In looking back on my life, part of the reason why I used to feel so shallow about myself, was because I was never willing to fail. I was constantly worried about how others viewed me that I was scared to make any mistakes. Throughout this time, not only did I feel miserable and depressed, but I didn’t really achieve anything worth mentioning.
That’s what happens when we don’t allow ourselves to fail. When we are hindered by everybody else’s opinions, we forget how to act on the goals we have for ourselves. We become petrified to take that first step towards creating a better life for ourselves because we are overly concerned about what others are going to think of us.
This is not the recipe for success. Constantly caring about what others thought didn’t do any good for me, and I know it’s not going to do any good for you either.
Believe in yourself and be willing to take chances in life. Be willing to learn from your mistakes. More importantly, be willing to fail. When you do, just pick yourself right back up and continue to move forward because that’s the only way you are ever going to achieve your goals in life.
Before You Go
If you fail to have goals in life, you will fail to give your life direction. If you fail to give your life direction, you are likely going to fail at life.
Don’t just hope that something good is going to happen and that you are going to achieve your goals rather easily. Take the proper steps of turning your goals into your reality and be proud of the strides you make along the way.
Once you lay out your goals, come up with a plan for how you are going to achieve them, and start working towards achieving them, then everything will start to fall into place just as they should. This will health to a healthier and wealthier life for you!
Michael Bonnell
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