The Biggest Reason Why Most People Don't Achieve Their Goals

Do you know the number one reason most people don't achieve their goals? They never get started. Yes, that's true. Many of us have dreams, goals, and aspirations, but we just never actually get started on them. Maybe we buy the shoes we need for running, but the only running we actually accomplish is running late.

Or we may have set goals but because they don't excite us we will start on them next Monday. Think about the goals we've set and the resolutions we have made and never took a single action toward that goal. If that has happened to you then you are not alone. According to Napoleon Hill, 87% of people who set goals never actually start. (Then again I also heard that 85% of statistics are made up on the spot.) So I don't know if Napoleon Hill was correct in that percentage, but I do know that some of us set goals that we never truly intend to achieve. A recent survey concluded that only 8% of the goals set are achieved. Combine that with the fact that only 3% of the population actually set goals and you have a very small percentage of people who set and achieve their goals.

There are many reasons why people never start on their goals. Some of the most common ones are:

• Our goals are too big and scary
• Our goals are too small
• We are not clear about why we want it
• We don't believe in their ability to make it happen
• We are not clear enough about what it looks like
• Our goals are too distant

Our goals are too big and scary.
If you struggle because you have goals that are too big and scary, then break them down into bite size chunks. Taking little steps is easy, taking little steps consistently is the hard part. When we have a big goal then it will probably take a while to complete as well. So being persistent and patient is key. Sometimes it is not the size of the goal but the timeline we have chosen that makes it hard.

For example, setting a goal of having a million dollars in your retirement is a big goal. Doing that in a year or even 10 years is much harder than doing that in 40 years. Of course when going after a big goal, a question I would have is, "Has anyone else done before?" If it has been done before then chances are that it can be done again. Why not by us? Do you know someone that has done it, interview them. Ask them for help. If you don't know them personally, did they write a book about it? Is there a course or seminar you can take to help you with what it will take?

Our goals are too small.
Some us because our goals are too small, so there is no excitement about it. If there is no excitement in the achievement of the goal then chances are we are not going to work very hard at it if at all, and it is more probably that we will give up at the first moment that things get tough. If this is the case my first question would be, "Are you thinking too small?" Find a goal that excites you, that makes you want its achievement and are committed to doing the work to get it. What was important about this goal at the time we set it? What was the benefit for achieving it?

When I was younger and talking with my friends, one of them said they wanted to rebuild a car. The car they wanted to rebuild was a Chevette. My other friend told him that it takes just as much work to rebuild a Chevette as it does a Corvette, except when you rebuild a Corvette, then you have a Corvette instead of a Chevette. I don't know about you but I could get a whole lot more excited about rebuilding a Corvette. Another way to say this is that working on a $1,000,000 idea is just as much work as a 10,000 idea. I know there are a lot of people out there to tell you to think big. I am not telling you to think big. What I am saying is to think of something that excites you. It doesn't have to be a Corvette or a $1,000,000 idea to get you excited about achieving the goal.

We don't know why we want it.
There isn't enough clarity around the goal. In talking my friend Dave, one of his goals is to run a marathon. I asked him what was important about achieving that goal. He couldn't really answer. And when he was taking I could tell that he wasn't excited about it. He was talking about it like you talk about an item on a to-do list. Dave still has yet to run around the block much less a marathon. Here are the questions to ask ourselves to check our level of commitment to a goal:

• Why do we want this goal?
• What will it do for us?
• Why is that important?
• What else is important about achieving this goal?
• What other benefits will we get from achieving this goal?
• Will anyone else around us benefit as well?
• Who else would be inspired by us achieving this goal?

For many of us we only ask the first question. And that is good but asking the rest of the questions listed above is what will give us more clarity on what is truly important about the goal. Try answering the above questions and take the answer from the first question, and ask the next question. For example, Dave's goal of running a marathon. "Dave, why do you want to run a marathon?" Answer, "Then I can check that off my bucket list." "What will checking that off your bucket list do for you?" Continue with the rest of the questions. This exercise gives us the clarity we need to decide if this is something we really want or was just a whim of an idea we had.

We do not believe in our ability to make it happen.
When we set goals and are swamped with doubts about whether or not we can actually pull it off, that takes our focus away from the "WHAT" and the "HOW" and places it on the "IF"? If we are always thinking, what if we fail, then chances are we are going to find it hard to get out of the starting blocks. If, however,  we are thinking about what would happen when we succeed, then all sorts of images come to mind. Those images can be the fuel that drives us through the tough parts. Personally, when I have failed to meet a goal, and there have been plenty of times, my thoughts were more about doubt than success. They centered around "IF" I could succeed. However, when I have succeeded, I can honestly say that doubt never entered the picture. My thoughts were not about "IF" I would succeed, only how long it would take, and how far could I go.

Our goals are too distant.

Does it feel like achieving the goal with take forever? The trouble with this is that we don't feel like we are succeeding. We work and work and don't see any results. That can feel like failure. Or it may be that since the goal is so distant that we don't see it clearly. The image of success is too faded, so it doesn't generate the excitement or the motivation to get going on it. Like having a $1,000,000 in your retirement account. Whether it takes 40 years or 20 years, that is a long term to stay focused and persistent.

So if you find yourself this New Year's with the same resolutions you made last year because you made no visible progress towards it, take a look at this post again. See if you can identify what is stopping you or keeping you from beginning or persisting. Hopefully when you get to next year, you will have a whole new set of goals to achieve because you already achieved the goals you set this time.