When you consider the amount of time, effort and hard work you apply to your personal growth, all in the cause of self development, is it any wonder that you become frustrated and somewhat despondent when you fail to accomplish your goals. Your wish to achieve greater success than you already have has failed again.

What are you going to do? You’ve followed all the rules identified what you want or desire, what you’ve already done, identified the options and the way forward. Yes, you’ve followed the coaching GROW model but yet again you’ve come up short. You can read more about the GROW model here, “Why is goal setting important“?

Realistic goals

You are living in the real world, therefore real results are required. Real results means setting realistic goals. Are you guilty of setting goals that are too general and not enough detail? Or are you setting goals that do not challenge you? Develop your goal setting skills and make your goals more specific. Set yourself realistic goals!

This requires honesty; honesty about your current situation and what is really achievable in the short, medium and long term. if something is really within your reach then make it one of your goals, otherwise leave it well alone. By all means have big dreams but ensure they’re achievable. For instance, if you want to be an Olympic Champion and you haven’t trained for a number of years, you may need to reconsider your goals. Be honest with yourself!

Clarity

If you walk round with a blurred vision you’ll be unable to see exactly where you are going and more than likely you’ll spend your time bumping in to things. Probably suffering a number of cuts and bruiseson the way.

Ensuring you are clearly focused on your personal goals will help you accomplish your outcomes rather spending your time bumping into your obstacles and achieving nothing but a bruised ego.

Ask yourself some clarifying questions about the goals you have set, such as:

• What does success feel/look/smell/sound/taste like? (yes, use all five of your senses)
• What will I have when I’ve succeeded, that I don’t have now?
• What will people be saying to me when I’ve achieved my success?
• What will I be able to do that I can’t do now, when I’ve succeed?

These are just a sample of the type of questions you could use, there are many more. Be honest with your answers otherwise you’ll end up with the same results as before. If you are getting the same answers and the same results perhaps you need different goals. Remember;

“If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you always got.” Mark Twain

Writing your goals down will bring it to life more; use your journal diary for this.

Commitment

When you set your goals and make your commitment, how strong is that commitment towards success. Making sure you have 100% commitment is a important step to ensuring your success.

When you have set your goal, measuring your true commitment, is a great step to take to evaluate your own expectations. This can be achieved by asking yourself a few powerful questions and answering them honestly. If you are truly committed to your goal this won’t be a problem. Try asking yourself the following questions as an exercise.

• What will happen if I achieve this . . . ? (fill in the blank)
• What will happen if I don’t achieve this . . . ? (fill in the blank)
• What won’t happen if I achieve this . . . ? (fill in the blank)
• What won’t happen if I don’t achieve this . . . ? (fill in the blank)

Let your mind play around with the questions. Don’t rush the exercise, give yourself time to come up with the answers. It may not be the same day; be patient!Go on, try it, right now!

Expect to succeed

When you have set your goal and your ready to begin working towards it; what are the thoughts deep in your mind about the chances of your accomplishing it. Do you find any lingering doubts, may be from previous experiences, about your chances of success.

Successful people expect to win every time, nothing else will do. They are winners and they expect nothing else other than success. If they experience failure, they view it as a temporary setback and look forward to their next goal. They also know when to call it a day, when the goal they are chasing is no longer a viable option.

Make some big decisions about the viability of your goals; are they still a worthwhile cause, or are you just living in hope. Is it time to move on to your next project and focus on new goals.

These four steps require an honest appraisal about how you are approaching your personal development and the success or otherwise you are achieving. Follow them and watch your personal development achieve real results; surprise yourself and your friends, as your personal development training takes on a new meaning.

Thank you for reading this post, please let me know what you think and share your experiences.  While you’re here please take the time to sign up for the newsletter or alternatively you may prefer to subscribe for regular updates in your favourite reader or by email.

photo credit: Melody Campbell

Related Posts

• Why is goal setting important?
• 6 steps to getting over your barriers to success
• Building strong coaching relationships
• Achieve success with your coaching practice in 5 easy steps
• 8 great ways to a new you

        
        
        
        
       

Tags: achieve, clarity, commitment, expect to succeed, Goal setting, Goals, GROW, GROW model, journal diary, Mark Twain, Personal Development, personal development training, Personal Growth, realistic goals, self improvement, success, Technorati

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