How many times have you set a goal only to fail? Many people are great at setting a goal based on what they think they want, or should have, for their life and end up in the hamster wheel of get excited and set a goal, fall short, feel disappointed and depressed, pick back up and do it all over again. In this blog, you will learn how to set SMART goals, how to connect your goals to your why and the first 16 of 32 rules to live by when working towards any goal.
It’s not enough to set, or have, goals. You must make them smart; know why you want the goal and how it aligns with your values and vision.
Once you get clear about the vision you desire for all areas of your life including relationships, health, service and abundance, you can upgrade them at any time. But, if your vision is skewed, or you can’t see a clear picture of what you desire, things will remain the same as they are today.
Even though you may have experienced failure in the past with setting goals that’s ok! It’s time to see the world through a new lens. You are all the creator of your own Universe. Anything is possible when you believe it will happen!
Get ready for the upgraded life you desire by setting yourself up with the right tools for success, move forward with confidence and the belief that you deserve to have everything you want!
What are Goals?
According to LifeHack, “a goal is an idea of the future or desired result that a person or a group of people envision, plan and commit to achieve.
Goals represent the decisions you make and the commitments you take in order to reach attainment, break bad habits, adopt useful habits or achieve more in different areas of life.
Goals enable you to achieve focus in life by helping you to determine what you want. They keep you motivated and propelled, constantly putting you in state of action even when times get tough.
Goals, when properly conceived and pursued, can help you maximize the one and only life you have to live.
Goals can be applied to different areas of your life and can be based on a time range. For example, life-based goals can be personal development goals, career goals, educational goals, health goals, family and relationship goals, spiritual goals, social goals, etc.
Goals can be set based on time and duration such as life-time goals, long term goals, short term goals and even stepping stone goals which are small unit goals that we undertake in order to achieve the short, long and lifetime goals.”
Ask the right questions
When you have a clear vision of the goal you want to accomplish, ask questions that will help lead you closer to your goals. When you ask “how or what” rather than “why,” things will change.
For example, if you ask “how can I or what do I need to know to manifest the career/relationship/body of my dreams,” the unconscious mind is triggered, the Universe takes note of your request and begins processing your order.
However, if you ask, “why is this happening to me right now,” you will stay stuck because you are placing your energy and focus on the negative aspect of your situation.
Questions to activate the unconscious mind:
- What are three things you do that bring you the most joy, freedom and fulfillment?
- How do you feel in your peak moments? How do you want to feel every single day?
- What is one thing, or a few things, you want to do but keep putting off?
- What would you do if you had all the time and money you could imagine and had no fear holding you back?
- Think about you already living your ideal lifestyle. What is new and different with this lifestyle that you are not doing today?
- Describe your perfect day. What does your day look like from the moment you get up in the morning to when you go to bed? How do you serve others?
Clarify Your Vision
Once you have your goal in mind you want to get clear on your vision. Discover what you really want to accomplish in your life. What do you desire for your health? How wealthy do you want to be? How do you want to serve people? What do you want to do for your career?
To help you get clear on these questions and develop a strategy to accomplish your goals you will want to do the following:
Step 1: Get Specific
Know Your Your Values.
Your values are the things that you believe are important in the way you live your life. They are your highest priorities and are a measure you can use to determine if you are on the right path.
Clarify your values by writing down as many things you can think of that are important to you in one to two word statements.
Then, rank your values from one to 10. If you have more than 10, that’s ok, but only choose your top ten values.
Once you have chosen your top 10, break them down into your top five. These should be the values that you base all decisions on for your life. These are your top five non-negotiables.
Step 2: Set Your Intentions
What is an intention?
An intention is a commitment to carrying out an action, or actions, in the future.
The Power of Intention:
Many books have been written on the power of intention. In his book, “The Power of Intention“, Dr. Wayne Dyer states that, “The law of attraction is this: You don’t attract what you want. You attract what you are.” Therefore, when you set your intention think about the person you are, or who you want to become, then act accordingly.
Some thoughts on intention:
- What you ask for you will receive whether it is positive or negative.
- The Universe responds to everything as energy. Therefore, the energy you send out is what you will get back. So be careful what you wish for.
- When you set an intention you are asking the Universe for what you want. Think of it as a wish. What do you wish for? Do you wish to have abundance and good things in your life? Or, do you want hardship and struggle?
- Anything is possible if you believe it will happen!
How to set your intention:
To set an intention it’s important to ask some specific questions to get a clear on what you want:
- What do you intend to accomplish for your life (health, happiness, other).
2. What sort of person do you intend to become?
3. How do you intend to help other people upgrade their life?
4. If you were to manifest the above intentions would this fulfill your desire and reasons for living?
What will happen when you set intentions?
Powerful things will happen when you set clear intentions. Your world will begin to change. Things that do not serve your intention will leave your life and new opportunities will come in. As you move forward towards your goals, you may need to reset your intentions, as they will change over time.
Step 3: Set SMART Goals
Setting SMART goals is the most effective way to get results. These goals will give you a clear picture of what you want to accomplish.
I find it’s always a good idea to set one long-term goal (six months to one year) and at least two short-term goals for different areas of your life such as:
1) Health: What weight do you want to be at? What fitness level do you want? Do you want to prevent or manage disease? What would you like your eating habits to be? How is your body image?
2) Relationships: Family, romantic, friends, children, etc.
3) Work/Career: What makes you happy? What challenges you? Excites you? Motivates you?
4) Financial: How much money do you need, or would you be happy with?
5) Leisure time/vacations: Where do you want to explore?
6) Accomplishments: What do you want to accomplish?
7) Emotions: How do you want to feel?
8) Spiritual: Do you have a connection with the Divine or Higher Power?
SMART Goal Setting
When you set SMART GOALS ask yourself these questions:
| S.M.A.R.T. | Questions… |
| Specific | Does your goal clearly and specifically state what you are tying to achieve? |
| Measureable | How will you know if progress is being made on achieving your goal? Can you quantify or put numbers to your outcome? |
| Attainable | Is achieving your goal dependent on anyone else? Is it possible to reframe your goals so it depends only on you and not others? What factors may prevent you from accomplishing your goals? |
| Relevant | Why is achieving this goal important to you? What values in your life does this goal reflect? What effect will achieving this goal have on your life or on others? |
| Time-Bound | When will you reach your goal? Do you need to break your goal down into smaller milestones? |
Step 4: Discover Your True Why
German philosopher Frederick Nietzsche once said, “He who has a why can endure any how.” Knowing your why is an important first step in figuring out how to achieve the goals that excite you and create a life you enjoy living rather than just surviving. Only when you know your ‘why’ will you find the courage to take the risks needed to get ahead, stay motivated when the chips are down, and move your life onto an entirely new, more challenging, and more rewarding direction.
It’s one thing to have a reason for wanting to accomplish a goal but another to understand your true why. Your true why is the reason that brings out a strong emotional response, such as crying, every time you think of why you are working so hard to reach your goal. It will take time to discover this true why but when you do you will be more likely to accomplish your goals.
To discover your true why you will want to state your goal and ask yourself why you want to accomplish the goal. Then ask yourself why you want that and continue to ask yourself why until you feel an emotional response that will tie you to your goal(s).
For example, it’s not enough to just say, “I want to lose weight.” There is no way this will keep you focused an motivated on doing the hard things you will need to do to see your desired results so you need to dig deeper.
Ask yourself, “why do I want to lose weight?”
Your answer may be, “because I want to look better in my clothes.”
Then ask why do you want to look better in your clothes.
You may answer, “because I want to feel confident when I’m out in the world.”
Then, ask why again. “Because I want others to see me as a confident, successful person.”
Ask why again. “Because I want people’s respect.”
Ask why again, “Because I never felt respected as a child and I want to be loved for who I am.”
Ask why again. “Because I want to find the love of my life.”
Ask why again, “Because I believe I deserve to be happy.”
Ask why again and so on… do you see where this is going? You will know you’re at your true why when you can look at, or think about, your reason each day and it gets you fired up to take on the day and take the steps you need to get a little closer to your goal. Accomplishing goals that are worth it, such as transforming your body and your health, building a successful business and a sold, loving relationship are not always easy. There will be tough times on the road to accomplishing your goal so you need to be crystal clear on what you want and why you want it.
Step 5: Develop an Action Plan
Once you are clear with your goal and why you want it, you must determine the action steps you will take to accomplish your goals and stick with it. It is much easier to know your plan when it is clearly thought out and written down.
For example, if you desire to lose weight and gain better health what are the things you will need to do each day, each week, and each month that will get you closer to you big goal? Some of the things you will want to be sure to do are:
- Get enough sleep.
- Drink lots of water and keep your body properly hydrated.
- Eat whole foods that are rich fibre and healing nutrients.
- Move your body and exercise daily.
- Take the right supplements to support recovery, repair and overall health of your body.
These of course are the basic steps you will want to write down, when you set your health goal, then within those steps you need to determine the details of each, such as:
- How will you ensure that you get enough sleep? CLICK HERE to listen to the Rockin’ Wellness Podcast episode #47 for techniques you can use for better sleep.
- How will you determine how much water is best for your body? CLICK HERE to find out how to calculate your specific water needs.
- What, and how much, foods will you eat and when for best results? CLICK HERE to listen to the Rockin’ Wellness Podcast episode #30 for the best foods to eat to fuel your body.
- What kind of exercise will you do and how much of it will you need to do to see the best results? CLICK HERE to listen to The Rockin’ Wellness Podcast episode #37 and learn some ways to develop and support your fitness routine.
- What kinds of supplements do you need to take to give you the best results? CLICK HERE to learn more about some of my favourite supplements.
Step 6: Create A Vision Board
A vision board is a visual depiction of your goals, dreams and intentions. This may be a collection of pictures or words that represent what you want to manifest and accomplish in your life.
Follow these three steps to create your vision board:
- Get a big sheet of poster board paper and place a picture of yourself in the middle of it.
- Write each ideal life statement, goal and/or intention on a sticky note or place a picture that depicts each statement, goal and/or intention, around your picture.
- Place your vision board by your bed, or anywhere you will see it often and look at daily. Visualize, feel and experience your life as if all of these things have already happened.
Take action and manifest your upgraded life today!
Step 7: Implementing Your Vision into Your Life
Ask yourself this simple question every day and before making any decision:
“Is what I am doing right now bringing me closer to the vision I have for my life (goals) or taking my further away?”
If your actions are taking you closer to your vision, then proceed. If not, then reconsider your decision and go back and review your values, vision and goals. Do this at least 50% of the time and watch your upgraded life unfold.
32 Rules To Live By To Accomplish Any Goal
Now that you have the steps to set and get clear on your goal and the action steps you need to take to ensure your success, let’s review the first 16 of 32 rules you need to live by to accomplish any goal you set for your life.
These rules come from the book, “The 10X Rule: The Only Difference Between Success And Failure,” by Grant Cardone who has recently become one of my mentors. The rules he speaks of in this book are geared to anyone looking to become more successful in their life, in business, in relationships, in health and the list goes on. As I go through these rules, I will speak to them as if you are accomplishing a health and wellness goal, since that is what I do in my coaching practice. I help people get clean on what they want for their health and well-being and help them accomplish these goals. However, these rules can be applied to any goal you set for yourself.
Rule #1: Have A Can-Do Attitude
When you keep a can-do attitude you believe that whatever it is you want to accomplish will actually happen. You release your past failures and don’t let them determine your future success. With this attitude you can bust through any obstacles and barriers that stand in your way because you know you will always find a solution to the problem and stay focused on your goal.
Rule #2: Believe You Will “Figure It Out”
As you can see this is very much related to rule number one. With a can-do attitude, it doesn’t matter what stands in your way because you know no matter what you will figure it out. You will find the ways necessary to ensure you will reach your goal. For example, if you are set on losing weight and getting in the best shape of your life but your gym gets shut down, you look for ways to stay fit at home. You don’t let anything stand in your way.
Rule #3: Focus On The Opportunity
Rather than looking at obstacles and barriers that stand in your way of success, look at them as opportunities for growth. Let’s say your gym gets shut down and you are now faced with the problem of where to work out. So, you decide to find ways to stay fit at home. You now have the opportunity to look into new, creative ways to work your body. Perhaps instead of using super heavy weights you start to focus more on calisthenics, which are more body weight focused activities. You may discover that this is a better way of training for your body. Or, you begin to set up you own home gym so you never have any excuse not to workout again.
Rule #4: Learn To Love Challenges.
Many people shy away from a challenge, however, successful people feel invigorated by them. Challenges will always arise. If a goal is important enough you can guarantee that a challenge, if not numerous challenges, will arise on your path to success. Rather than allowing challenges to take you out of the game, use challenges as a way to get fired up and re-inspired by your goals.
Rule #5: Seek To Solve Problems
Look at each step towards your success as a problem solving challenge. Let’s say you are unsure how to train a certain part of your body to get it to look that way you want, start researching what you need to do and learn all you can about it. Perhaps you’re unsure of how to cook foods that nourish your body and support your training. Start seeking out new recipes and learn what ingredients go best with others and create new, delicious dishes. Seek out these problems and get excited about solving them.
Rule #6: Persist Until You Are Successful
Basically, this rule means don’t ever give up. Never quit regardless of how many setbacks and challenges you come across. If you want your goals bad enough, you will maneuver around all obstacles and keep your eye on the prize. Let’s say you are rockin’ your workouts and you pull a muscle. Does this mean you put your hands up, get pissed off and quit? No, this means you look for new ways to get creative in your workouts and how you can heal and better support your body’s recovery process so it doesn’t happen again. Keep going until you have accomplished your goal. Quitting will never get you anywhere.
Rule #7: Take Risks.
It’s ok to take risk when you are accomplishing your goals. Risks taking may look a little different when you are working towards a health goal rather than a business goal but it’s important to take risks all the same. For example, let’s say you decide you need a challenge to keep you focused and motivated and someone suggests you enter a competitive event. You could think, I’ve never done that before I’d rather not make a fool out of myself. Or, you could take the risk, enter the competition and do the best you can regardless of how you do. You never know, you might just surprise yourself and it could be the best thing you’ve ever done.
Rule #8: Be Unreasonable.
This rule doesn’t mean you act crazy or do stupid things it just means that you must be willing to do what it takes to accomplish your goal. Do the things that others aren’t. For example, if losing weight is your goal but you have a full-time job and a family to look after you might just need to get up at, what others might think, an unreasonable time of day to get your workouts in. You may need to choose to go to bed early rather than staying up and partying. You do what it takes because it’s that important to you.
Rule #9: Be Dangerous
This rule doesn’t mean you put yourself in harms way on purpose, it means that you are willing to get out of your comfort zone and do things you never thought you’d ever do. If you think sprinting on a treadmill is dangerous and you’re scared to do it, then learn how to do it! If you hold yourself back for fear of getting hurt you will not reach your goals. Go for it, get uncomfortable and watch all of the amazing things you accomplish.
Rule #10: Create Wealth
The term wealth means many different things to people. However, wealth is defined as a plentiful supply of a particular desirable thing. This may be money, relationships or health. If you want to accomplish your goal you must think about it in terms of wealth. This means, if you want to have optimal health then think like you are rich in health. Move your attention from conserving your health to accomplishing an abundance of optimal health as if you are already at your healthiest and fittest you can be.
Rule #11: Readily Take Action
People who are successful at accomplishing their goals take action every single day no matter what. Rather than sitting around talking about what you are going to do, get out and do it. Don’t wait for Monday, or the perfect time, to workout and eat healthy, just make a decision and take action right now. Now is always the perfect time to take action.
Rule #12: Always Say Yes
It’s important to say yes in life. Say yes when you feel scared, say yes when you don’t feel like doing it say yes to accomplishing your goals no matter what. For example, lets say you are tired from a long week and a friend says, “hey, let’s go out for a bike ride.” Rather than saying, “no, I’m too tired.” Get up and say yes! Get out into the fresh air, have some fun times with your friend and enjoy the ride. Say yes to yourself every time because you never know the experience you may have and even the smallest actions can make a huge impact in your life.
Rule #13: Habitually Commit
This rule is related to going all in! When you want to successfully accomplish a goal you must commit to activities. Commit to taking one step at a time and doing whatever it takes to get there. Stop talking about what you are going to do and do it. Stop making excuses for why you can’t or why it hasn’t worked in the past and just commit to accomplishing your goal. I have found from personal experience that it’s harder to make excuses than it is to just take action and commit to getting things done.
Rule #14: Go All The Way
Only those two go all the way, and see things through until they’ve reached their ultimate goals, experience the rewards that accomplishment has to offer. Let’s say you train super hard to stand on a competitive stage. You work your butt off for four months, and you get close, but decide to quit just before the event date. Do you think you will reap the same rewards as the person who worked hard and stood on that stage? Yes, I’m sure you could say that you came close to your goal but it’s not the same as actually reaching your target. I can speak to this from experience. That’s exactly what I did. I got close to standing on the stage but when it came time to compete on the stage I quit. I allowed fear to get the better of me and take me out of the game. I fell short of accomplishing my ultimate goal and I’ve never been able to feel the full satisfaction of accomplishing that goal even though I came close. So, fully commit and go all the way. It’s never fun to fall short.
Rule #15: Focus On The Now
The worst thing you can do is spend time in the past. The past is no longer relevant. Yes, some events that happened to you in the past define who you are in the present but past failures and experiences no longer matter. What matters is what’s going on now in the present moment. Of course it’s important to have your sights set on what you want to accomplish in the future but it’s what you do today, right now, that will determine if and when you reach you final goal. For example, if you want to lose weight and you choose to eat an entire bag of chips, is this taking you closer to or further away from your goal? It’s up to you to stay in the present moment and make choices now that will effect your future success.
Rule #16: Demonstrate Courage
Courage is the ability to do something that frightens you. To feel the fear and do it anyway. Fear is not a bad thing. Every successful person, athlete or anyone who’s worked towards a big goal has felt fear. It’s how you respond to the fear that determines the outcome. If you feel fear and quit, you will never accomplish your goal. If you feel fear and lean into it, you will notice how that fear starts to dissipate with every step you take. What you once thought was scary or hard soon becomes you new comfort zone. From there, then you can find new fears to overcome and do things that scare you everyday to reach your final goal. For example, if going to the gym scares you, and you choose to go anyway, soon you will find you might actually enjoy going every day. You might even develop new friendships and feel like it is your second home and you’ll wonder why you didn’t do it sooner.
There you have it, the first 16 rules to live by to accomplish any goal. We have gone over a lot so far so we are going to take a break. I encourage you to go back to beginning of this article and if you haven’t already, do the actives and answer the questions I have outlined. Get clear on what you want to accomplish in your life, set SMART goals and intentions that inspire you, discover your why and make it so strong that it keeps you motivated enough to break through fear and obstacles that may stand in your way and set the actions steps required to accomplish your goals.
I will see you back here next week to go over the next 16 rules to live by when accomplishing your goals. In the meantime, please visit the show notes page at www.RJOWellness.com/podcast/episode-49 to listen to the audio version of this article.
Until next time my friends,
Keep rockin’ your wellness!
Rachel Joy Olsen, BSc., MBA
Health, Wellness & Spiritual Life Coach