It’s usually fear that stops you starting something new.
Fear of failure, fear of success, fear of leaving your comfort zone.
Someone told me that she was afraid of being successful in case it meant she had to work that hard for the rest of her life.
The best way to deal with fear is to face it. Plan well and pay attention to detail. You know that if you’ve left something “to chance”, fear will get in there so make sure there are no loose ends.
Stop negative self-talk and start positive self-talk. Focus on what you’ve achieved so far, not on what might happen in the future.
If you’re completely honest with your answer, it could be a real shock. You might realise you’re not ready for this change. We sometimes like the idea of achieving a goal more than we like the reality of it.
If you’re not sure that you have it in you to achieve this goal, talk to others who’ve done it. Find out the steps they had to take and consider if it’s really worth it for you. Remember that your journey will be different to theirs, even if it’s the same goal.
As we tend to take on board the things others want for us, ask yourself if it’s your goal or does it belong to someone else. That person could be one of your family, your significant other or maybe a work colleague.
You see, you’re more likely to see it through to completion if it’s your own goal. If it’s really someone else’s, your heart won’t be in it and you’re more likely to pack it in when the going gets tough.
Can you fit this goal into your life? You know that achieving a big goal takes time. If you’re ‘time poor’, maybe this isn’t the right time. Okay, you can tighten up your time management, but that doesn’t always help.
When you chat to people who’ve already completed this goal, find out how long it took them and how much time they had to spend on it.
Set yourself a realistic time frame then sort out your daily schedule so you can do a little everyday towards your goal.
This is probably the main reason that stops people setting goals.
Decide exactly what you want to achieve and set your time frame for achieving it. Break your goal up into smaller goals then make a list of each step you’ll need to take so you can achieve it.
Allow for flexibility because things can change as you work through each step. You may find your attitude changes or you find a different way of doing a particular step, or another step has to be added because you forgot to include something when you were setting it up.
