Achieving Your 100 percent

‘Ring out the old, ring in the new,

Ring, happy bells, across the snow:

The year is going, let him go;

Ring out the false, ring in the true.’

~Lord Alfred Tennyson

And here we are - in 2022!

2022 could mean different things for different people. We could either compare it to the year gone by and breathe a sigh of relief. Or we could be excited for the year to begin as it unfolds new mile stones of adventure and success.?

Recently I heard my daughter and her friends discuss their New Years reflections and aspirations. After much fun and some intense reasonings, the girls reasoned ‘what’s the point of having New Years resolutions when we will end up breaking them anyways - let’s just do it for fun’. I was quietly led to wonder if there’s a way to achieve one hundred percent of those little and large New Years goals we set out for ourselves to achieve almost every single year.?

Few of us have a fair idea of what we desire to achieve by the end of 2022. But how many of us are able to get there actually? You’ll be surprised to learn that 80 percent of new year goals made every year are failure by the time calendar reads February! (source: The American Society of Training and Development, ‘ASTD’)

So is there is a proven method that works for achieving goals to a 100 percent - be it New Years resolution or life goal in general??

The answer is Yes. According to The American Society of Training and Development, there are 6 proven steps that could potentially bring you closer to your dream goal and steer you to your dream life. Read on.?

1.GOAL IDENTIFICATION?

Statistics claim that ten percent of goal achievement rests merely on the idea of having a definite goal. Are you aware that 42% of people do not have a clear idea of WHAT is it that they want to achieve this year or ever, at a given point in time. You could start by envisioning your goal. Clearer the better. Make it as specific and tangible as you can. SMART Goals. Find out what you want and how not having it, impacts your life. Every time you get a feeling as though you’re missing something in life, do write it down. Writing brings clarity like none else.?

2.DECISION?

Next Fifteen percent depends upon the decision to achieve the goal. If you decide upon something, there’s no stopping. ‘Decide’ is a Latin word that means ‘to cut off’. It literally means to disassociate from any thing that comes between commitment and it’s decider. So quarter of your battle is won if you have a goal in mind and you decide to pursue it. For this to happen stress on the importance of owning the end result. Ask yourself what life cost are you paying if you don’t have what you aim to achieve. According to??Tony Robbins, a real decision is measured by the fact that you’ve taken a new action. If there’s no action, you haven’t truly decided.

3. TIME FRAME

When you seal a time cap on your goal your chances of goal achievement enhance by 40 percent. By WHEN do you plan to achieve your New Years resolution/ a particular life goal? A fixed time frame helps in scheduling and chunking action plans which form the basis of execution. Importance of putting an end date to goal planing can not be understated. A goal is, but a dream with deadline.?

4. STRATEGY

Next organic step would be strategy. By the time you have a clear strategy and action plan worked to the minutest detail you are half way through. You must have a consistent and doable action strategy to sustain your decision. You need to master scheduling. Concentrate your power and??focus singularly on end result. Keep in mind that DONE is better than PERFECT sometimes. Do add REVIEW to your strategy to see if it’s working for you. Take honest periodic reviews for deviation checks which in turn help in effective planning.?

5. COMMITMENT?

After all the herculean planning, it’s time for a commitment. A promise to yourself that you will honor your commitment. Easy way to stay on track is to reward yourself for every action point completed - big or small. Being casual can be easy here but it doesn’t work if you want to get there. You must live and breathe each day to see finality of your dream turning into reality. You are 65 percent closer to achieving your goal by the time you have committed to your goal.?

6. ACCOUNTABILITY?

Once you have committed to your action steps, it’s finally time to ACT. With the sincerest of your intentions there are chances that you may fumble and fall and get demotivated to continue on your journey to glory. This is the time to set accountability into action. Have a coach or a trusted friend(who is non judgmental, works as neutral observer, has no pre biases and has your interest as paramount in his/ her mind) as your accounting buddy. Remember, you have set rules of accountability with this person and you’re both working to bring out your best version. You could do it yourself as well but having accounting partner/ coach has proven to increase chances of success by 95 percent.?

Seems you’re almost there!?

What about the last 5 percent? Well this is the most critical part of goal setting. This critical five percentile depends upon leveraging your internal resources. Your own BELIEF SYSTEM. Your mindset decides whether you’re a winner or loser. Either ways you end up proving it right.?

Remember - Life will pay you whatever price you ask of it.

When your whys are stronger your how’s become easy and organic. When life throws you off, a strong reason can help you recover from setbacks and keep you going. It’s important to work on building and keeping up the momentum. Keeping up the momentum comes only when you’re in a state of constant inspiration, constant passion. Your chosen goal must be important and inspiring enough to keep your desire to achieve it burning bright. Most goals fail because people who choose these goals, do not find them important and urgent enough to achieve. It doesn’t matter for them whether the goals are achieved or not.?

In the end, as Tony Robbins puts it, “It’s not about the goal. It’s about growing to become the person that can accomplish that goal.”