Sometimes the main obstacle in the way of achieving our goals is ourselves.
We are wracked with self-doubt and limiting beliefs that tell us that our dreams are too big, not realistic or that good things simply don’t happen to us.
By giving into these limiting beliefs, we don’t end up getting what we wanted anyway, because we haven’t even tried – we’ve given up before we’ve started!
Clearly, you’re here because you want to know how to achieve your most ambitious goals and get yourself set for success, but if you’re looking for a one-size-fits-all solution to achieving your specific dream, you won’t find it here, because it doesn’t exist.
However, one thing that all successful people have in common is that they are good at one thing: making an actionable plan and sticking to it.
It sounds simple right?
Well, that’s because it is!
The thing is, most people have these vague ideas about where they want to be without having a single idea of what they’re going to do to get there.
In other words, they don’t have a plan.
In this article, I’m going to show you how to make the perfect plan that will help you achieve your most ambitious goals.
How to Achieve Your Most Ambitious Goals in 5 Simple Steps
How to Plan for Success in 5 Easy Steps
1. Be Specific
First off, you have to decide what exactly it is you want to achieve and BE SPECIFIC.
If you want to be healthy, that’s great—but what does that mean?
If you want to be rich, how rich? What number do you want to see in the bank?
Do you want to grow your blog? How much? How many monthly pageviews do you want to see?
2. Make it Measurable
One way to get as specific as possible about what it is that you want it to make your goals measurable.
Be specific and make sure your goal is measurable – that way you’ll know if you’ve reached that marker or not.
The number of people clicking through to your blog from Google is measurable. The average amount of time people are spending on your website is measurable, too. Where your posts are ranking on Google is also measurable.
‘Growing your blog’ is not an easily measured goal.
In order to make this easier, I suggest creating a spreadsheet where you can record all of your current numbers and measure how they change over time. This will also show you what’s working, and what you need to work harder on in order to achieve your goals.
3. Make it Achievable
When you’re setting up your success plan, be sure that your goal is actually achievable and reachable.
Let’s stick with the example of growing a blog.
If your goal is to start a blog today and have 1 million readers within 3 months, that’s not a reasonable or achievable goal.
Don’t set yourself up to fail by setting a goal that is impossible. This will only discourage you and put you in a fixed mindset where you believe that success is simply not within reach.
Break it down into smaller chunks if your goal is lofty and spread it out over time.
For example, a more achievable goal would be to aim for 10,000 pageviews within 6 months. This is a much more realistic goal, and when you reach it, you can make a new one!
4. Figure Out Your Why
Setting a relevant goal will help you be successful because there is a ‘why’ attached to the outcome.
Why do you want to grow a website or make money with affiliate marketing?
Do you want to be able to work from home, or have an uncapped income potential?
Do you want more time to spend with your children?
Whatever the reason, it is important that you get really clear on what that reason is, because when you have a why behind your goal, it helps keep you motivated to succeed.
The 5 Whys method might be useful if you don’t have a solid idea of why you want the things you want.
5. Time Limits
Always set a time limit to your success goals.
Without a time commitment to achieve your goals by a certain date, the goals are merely wishes, and you won’t have any sense of urgency in achieving them.
Having a realistic deadline for your goals will help ensure you reach them.
Making that deadline public to the people you know will help you be held accountable, because people will want to know your progress. This helps you to stop procrastinating and get sh*t done!
SMART Goals
What we’ve just described is a way to set a SMART goal.
A SMART goal is Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timely.
If your goal has all of these attributes, you’ve created a solid foundation for success.
Now that you’ve set your SMART goal, it’s time to put things into action.
Break it Down and Schedule
The first thing you need to do is figure out precisely what you need to do to reach your goal.
Break everything down into small chunks and work through them, one by one.
Once you know what those action steps are, schedule them into your calendar and honour that commitment to yourself.
Treat these appointments on your calendar as if they were scheduled with your doctor and make them non-negotiable.
If you want to achieve your most ambitious goals, you have to commit to actually putting in the work to get there, and take them seriously.
Don’t Forget About Pre-Planning
If you need to do pre-planning in order to make the action steps happen, be sure to incorporate that into your schedule as well.
Most things involve a certain amount of pre-planning.
For example, if I am going to write an optimised blog post for Google, I will need to perform keyword research beforehand. If I don’t know how to optimise a post then I may have to take a course or buy a book that will help me learn.
Break down the steps to make sure you’re scheduling in all the parts in order to be successful, rather than just diving in headfirst, unprepared.
Measure Your Results
Remember when we said that your goals must be measurable?
Having hard data to analyse is invaluable in achieving your most ambitious goals.
You need to know what’s working, what could be better, and what’s really lagging behind. This will help you figure out what your strengths are, what your weaknesses are (maybe it’s time to outsource some of the work?), and where your priorities lie.
Identify Problem Areas
Once you’ve looked at the data, try and figure out why some areas aren’t working as well as you’d have liked.
Are there some things that you’re not as skilled as you could be, where you could benefit from working on improving those skills?
Is the issue one of motivation, or procrastination? If so, you need to address that.
Perhaps the problem is related to time management, and being able to fit in your daily responsibilities with working towards your goals.
Another potential obstacle could be your own mind!
Many of us have, for example, money blocks that stand in the way of our ability to make more money and become rich. Working through those money blocks could be what you need to do in order to achieve your goals.
Again, you need to acknowledge that and find a solution.
How to Achieve Your Most Ambitious Goals | Final Thoughts
Hopefully by now, you’re no longer wondering how to achieve your most ambitious goals and you’re feeling motivated to begin actually achieving them.
Setting yourself up for success is all about the planning.
Plan out your SMART goal, create your plan and work through it, step by step.
This is such a simple concept that most people just ignore! Although it will take time to achieve your goals, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be able to reach them with the right amount of planning and hard work.
Here’s to your inevitable success!
XOXO
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