Why you can't reach your goals
There has been a lot said about goals. How to set goals. How to achieve your goals. It is instilled into us from the earliest age. As soon as an infant has taken her first uncertain step, she has automatically set a new goal - to take two steps.
Yet somewhere along the way to ‘grown up business people' we seem to have lost our way and set goals for the wrong reasons.
Some goals we set ourselves. Other goals are set for us by our managers and leaders. But no matter which way you look at it a goal is a goal. A target. An outcome to strive for and achieve. So they need planning, right?
There's lots of different ways to plan. Everything from five centimetre thick files of A4 paper all neatly tabbed and cross referenced through to the much more simple version of cutting out a photo and sticking it on the refrigerator door. Right now, I have a goal. To finish preparing this article before my first meeting of the day ... only 52 minutes left.
You've probably heard the often quoted statistic claiming only four percent of people set goals. I think that's rubbish. We all have goals. You don't get in your car or jump on a train without having a goal. I think what the statistic is trying to represent is the number of people or organisations who set major goals and achieve them.
When you look at it that way, we can all relate to it. We've all missed a goal, lost interest along the way or fallen back into our former habits we are trying to change. Everyone, and every organisation have had a goal that has not been met.
Here's why ...
You didn't have the intention to begin with.
Your intentions and your goals are linked right back to the genesis of your idea. In fact, your intentions come before your goals. If your intention is lacking, it is unlikely that you will achieve your goal.
Go back and read that paragraph again. It's a powerful truth.
What are your intentions? What do you intend to do or achieve?
Your goal may be set by yourself, or it may be set by someone in authority, however your intentions will determine the outcome of your efforts.
Intentions are the thoughts behind your actions and the justification behind your words and deeds. If you intend to achieve a goal, what you say and what you do will follow.
Your intentions form the starting point of your actions. It's the place where the realisation of your goals and dreams begin.
So, before you sit and write some goals for the new financial year, the new month or just your goals for today, try writing down your intentions first.
Life, business and communication starts with your intentions. What you intend to do is what you will usually end up doing.