What are your goals? Well, that is a pretty general question. There are all sorts of goals you can have. You can have health goals, spiritual goals,  goals for your career, relationships, finances, or education.  We all have goals we want to achieve, but the problem is, many of us don’t try hard enough to reach them. Maybe it’s because we don’t know where to start or lose motivation when we don’t see results. The reasons we continue to give up or procrastinate are endless, but we shouldn’t lose hope. I think the key to achieving our goals is to break them down and be consistent in our effort to reach success little by little. We sometimes get so caught up in the end result that we forget the small steps we need to take first.

Take for example someone who wants to lose 100 pounds. That’s a pretty big goal and you don’t get that result right away. So maybe you lose 2 pounds the first week and you think “Uh, I only lost 2 pounds out of the 100 I need to lose” and you easily get discouraged. Instead, you should break down that goal of 100 pounds into a goal of 10 pounds ( X 10). So you aim to lose 10 pounds first, and when you reach that goal, you aim for another 10 pounds. You keep going with this cycle until you finally get to your overall goal of 100. That way you don’t feel like you have SO far to go and are more excited each time you meet that 10 pound loss. The same logic can be applied to any goal in life. You need to break things down into steps and every time you complete a step you can move on to the next.

Everyone has a different strategy that works for them. It may work best for you to write your goals down and check them off each time you complete a step. Some people may need to speak their goals out loud to a family member or friend and be held accountable. Maybe you need to reward yourself with a girls/boys night out each time you complete a goal. No matter what strategy you use, the important thing is that you pick the best one for you. Give yourself a time limit because if you don’t give yourself a deadline then nothing will ever get done.

Goals aren’t only important in order to get things done, but they give us a feeling of accomplishment and happiness. When we set out to do something and finally reach the finish line, it sets us on fire like nothing else can. When we put our dreams into reality we also motivate others to do the same. We should always aim to live a productive life and improve ourselves a little each day. When we create realistic expectations of ourselves and continually work on reaching them, we may be surprised to find out how much we can accomplish.

Inspirational Quotes on Goals

“If you are bored with life, if you don’t have a burning desire to get up in the morning to do things, your problem is you do not have goals.”
-Lou Holtz

“Goals are simply a way of breaking a vision into smaller, workable units.”
-Nido Qubein

“Most people don’t think in terms of minutes. They waste all the minutes. Nor do they think in terms of their whole life. They operate in the mid-range of hours or days. So they start over again every week, and spend another chunk unrelated to their lifetime goals. They are doing a random walk through life, moving without getting anywhere.”
-Alan Lakein

“One of the marks of excellent people is that they never compare themselves with others. They only compare themselves with themselves and with their past accomplishments and future potential.”
-Brian Tracy

What tips have helped you reach your goals?