Three Mistakes to Avoid When You’re Setting Life Goals
Having a vision for yourself can be motivational and give you something to work towards. But setting personal goals in life can become overwhelming when people make three key mistakes before they even get started. Goals are the outcomes we want to achieve. You can have goals for your life, career or business, and even relationships and mental health. People set goals because they don’t feel fulfilled, or they’re ready for the next level of success. There may be some external barriers like the lack of resources or support you’ll need to overcome. Sometimes the tougher issues are the internal ones like the fear of failure or feeling like an imposter that holds you back. But you’re more likely to be successful with creating your goals when you avoid these three mistakes:
Being unclear about what your focus goal is
Not connecting with your “why” before getting started
Not planning the pathway to your success
Stop trying to accomplish everything at once
You can have a million good ideas. But you can’t work on a million things at once. You might be feeling really inspired to do it all. But most likely, it’s going to lead to you being overwhelmed if your life goals list is too long. It’s also easy to get confused between the idea and the steps you have to take to accomplish it. You can end up giving up before you actually start to work on your goals. I used this example recently of a dominos game- don’t focus on making the last domino fall. Instead, focus on how to set up the very first domino. Decide on the one goal you are really ready to take on. When I’m coaching someone, we spend time clarifying what their focus goals are. We get as specific as possible because it’s like having a home base and the place we will keep going back to throughout the process.
Know the “Why” when you’re setting goals in life
Like I mentioned before, you can have a million good ideas, but that doesn’t mean you want to invest your time and energy in every one of them. Some outcomes may be easier to accomplish, but they will still require some amount of time and investment from you. Avoid doing something just because it seems like a good idea or because it’s what other people think you should do. A huge mistake is doing something when you haven’t connected to the actual value. Understanding the value of your goal is going to be helpful when you face challenges along the way. Before you even start to work on a goal, get clear on the “why.” Ask yourself things like what makes this important to you? How will this have an impact on your life? What will the impact be if you don’t achieve it?
You won’t know you achieved success in your goals if you don’t have a clear path
Another mistake that people make when creating their life goals list is forgetting that they need to create a strategic plan for success. Once you have your first domino in place, you need to set up a path for that success. That path is also an important place to come back to. One way to do this is by using a vision board. Using a vision board, for example, can include visual and verbal prompts to help guide you through this process and keep you focused. Vision boards are more than just cutting and pasting. It is a way to create a multidimensional and inspirational path. Having something tangible to come back to will help you stay on track. It’s also a visual reminder of what you’re working towards.
Set yourself up to successfully set your life goals
Having a vision or dream about what you want in life can be motivational. When you are ready to pursue the goals on your life goals list, you really want to take an approach that won’t leave you feeling overwhelmed and unclear about what you’re doing. Avoiding these pitfalls will give you a better chance of being successful. Dedicate time to both life goals setting and planning. Decide on your key focus goal(s). Be clear about “why” this is important to you. Spend time creating a roadmap for success that you can keep coming back to. Use our 1-3-5 Goal Setting sheet to help you get started on the road to success.
