What to do when you feel like you’ll never achieve your goals

What is your end goal? It’s ultimately the goal you want to achieve.

Achieving our goals isn’t always easy riding.  Well, it’s not for me anyway and I know through talking with other people and the comments I get here on the blog, that other’s feel this way.

So I want to share this piece of advice with you today.

Keep your end goal in mind

Whatever your goal is, whether it’s a business goal, a financial goal a weight loss goal… this is sound advice.  I recommend having your goals written down and somewhere where you’ll see them often.

Simplify your goals

Make sure your goals are clear and simple then break them down into small action steps.  When I work with coaching clients, I often find that people tend to over-complicate their goals and end up feeling completely overwhelmed and not achieving anything.

See your progress- Using a visual chart example

For example, I have some personal debt (long story that I’ll save for another day).  It’s not a massive amount to be honest, but it’s a lot for me personally.  In a cupboard in my kitchen, I have a debt free countdown chart.  Each month I colour in (in pink highlighter because I love it) the figure I’m at so that I can clearly see how much debt I’ve cleared since starting the chart, I then circle where I want to be by the end of the following month.

My end goal is to be completely debt free.

Having the chart keeps me really focused because I can see the progress I’ve made and I continue to move closer to the end goal.  Last month was an expensive month for me.  We have loads of birthdays in March, lots of going out and presents to buy etc. So I know I’m not going to pay off as much as normal some months.  Other months, I can pay off more than expected.  Knowing my end goal and using a chart like this I don’t get stressed when I go off course a little, I just go back and refocus on my goal.

Having that end goal there also helps me to say “NO.” when I need to without feeling like I’m missing out on anything.

So in this example.  I might say “No” to something my son wants me to buy.  I can say “NO” without any guilt, knowing that by doing so, I (and ultimately my son) are moving towards a debt free life.

Another way of saying keep your end goal in mind is “Eyes on the Prize.”  I love this saying.  It makes me feel like I’m playing a game and I know I’m going to be the winner.

The path to where you want to get to isn’t always clear

So many of my coaching clients tell me they know where they want to be, but they have no idea which path to take to get there. In all honesty, there are probably several paths that will lead to the success you want.  The path doesn’t have to be clear, you just need to see a little further ahead and at the end of the day, if you find you’ve taken the wrong path, there are plenty of others you can choose and try again.

Also, your goal might change over time.  I know my business goals have certainly changed over the years.  This is natural.  It’s a bit like getting in the car and setting the SatNav to take you to London and then after you’ve been driving a while you realize you don’t really feel like going to London anymore, instead, you’d like to go to the seaside, so you pull over, reset the SatNav to your chosen seaside spot and off you go again.  It’s no big deal.  Sure it might take a little longer to get there but at least you’ll really want to be there.

There’s nothing worse than mindlessly pushing yourself toward a goal that you stopped wanting long ago.  I recommend you do a Goals Roadmap check every 3-6 months

Sometimes you just want to give up

I think with most of my big goals in life and business, there have been times when I’ve just felt like giving up.  So keeping that focus on your end goal will help keep you pushing forward when you feel like giving up.

It’s what get’s me up in the morning to work on my business, it’s what encourages me to get out for that walk…

I also encourage you to keep an achievements journal for each of your big goals or a chart like my debt free chart I mentioned above.  This will help keep you motivated to keep going because you’ll clearly be able to see how much you’ve already achieved.

I’d love to hear about your goals and feel free to ask any questions about anything I’ve talked about.

Best wishes to you achieving your own goals.