The 3 Crucial Components to Achieving Any Goal

As people head into the new year, typically they are focused on setting goals for themselves.  Over 50% of Americans make a New Year’s resolution of some sort; that’s over 156 MILLION people trying to do better.  Some set work goals and some set personal goals.  In a recent study by the University of Scranton in the Journal of Clinical Psychology, the top 10 goals made this year were:

1. Lose Weight
2. Get Organized
3. Spend less, Save More
4. Enjoy Life to the Fullest
5. Staying Fit and Healthy
6. Learn Something Exciting
7. Quit Smoking
8. Help Others in Their Dreams
9. Fall in Love
10. Spend More Time With Family

Americans are goal-oriented people; we like to set them but when it comes to putting “the rubber to the road” and striving to create a REAL change, we often give up.  Out of those 156+ million people trying to improve, only 8% will succeed–8%?!.  What the heck?  Only 8% will succeed.  This statistic shows that we have real hope and desire to change, but OBVIOUSLY do not have the skills, determination and the accountability to produce the results.

What are your goals for 2014?  Mine include losing weight, having more joy and peace in my family and building a business with a bigger online presence.  In order for me (and YOU!) to make our goals transform into an actual result, we must have 3 crucial components:

1.  the skill set to accomplish the goal.  Ask yourself – Do you know how to accomplish it and do have the tools/resources you need?

2.  determination and discipline to follow through – What is your structure/system to accomplish your goals?  

3.  accountability to kick us in the butt, when #1 and #2 wane – How will you be held accountable when you fail, and what will push you to move passed quitting?

I challenge you to re-examine your annual goals.  Build in these three crucial components and be intentional about setting yourself up to win.  If we all took on building a solid plan around our goals, we’d actually be driven to succeed rather than set up to fail.

Success is not about accomplishing the goal the first time you attempt it.  It is about NOT quitting until you succeed.  If all of us structured our goals with the three crucial components in mind, that national percentage of 8% would be more like 80-90%.

CALL TO ACTION:  Re-examine your goals and build in structure that answers the three questions in the crucial components above.