7 Ways to Radically Fail at Goal Attainment

There are those who say that the best offense is a good defense, and when it comes to goal attainment, there is some truth to that statement.

By realizing the type of road blocks that may stand in the way of you attaining your goals, you will arm yourself against falling prey to those circumstances if and when they cross your path.

Take a look at this list of 7 ways to fail at goal attainment, recognize that you may have partaken in these concepts in the past, and then make a resolve to never again allow them to stand in the way of your success!

1) Lose touch with your Reasons

Whenever you first decided that you wanted to accomplish your goal, you had a pretty strong reason. Maybe it was a personal reason, or maybe you were driven by a strong desire to do something for other people. In either case, that initial desire is what put you on the path to goal attainment to begin with.

As is often the case, the emotions that we feel about any given set of circumstances tend to fade or level out if we are not constantly reminded of those circumstances. We become complacent and lose touch with the strong burning desires that caused us to want success to begin with.

It doesn’t matter what your goal is, or why you want to attain it. What matters is that you constantly – several times a day – remind yourself of why you want that goal. If you don’t, then complacency will become common place and your dreams will remain a far off speck on the horizon that you are never quite able to reach.

2) Change your Focus

Much like losing touch with reasons for goal attainment, people have a tendency to start focusing on different goals as time passes during their journey. As experience is gained and resources are uncovered, rather than staying focused on exactly the same goal, we tend to modify our goal based on all of the new information that we have collected.

By continuing to shift our focus away from one goal (or version of a goal), we are doing the equivalent of driving on the highway, yet constantly changing our mind about where we actually want to go.

There is certainly nothing wrong with applying new experiences and resources towards attaining our goals, but our focus must still remain on the same goal over the long-term in order for us to actually attain it.

3) Don’t measure your Progress

This goal setting blunder is so common that it is amazing that people even still do it. They set out to attain a certain goal, and although they keep a firm eye fixed on whether or not they have accomplished that goal, they almost completely ignore the small steps that make up the journey.

Unless you are able to accomplish your goal through some miraculous twist of fate that lands your dreams directly in your lap without you really needing to do anything, then accomplishing your goals is going to take several (hundred? thousand?) tiny steps.

If you do not measure your progress to see if the steps you are taking are leading you in the right direction, then how will you know if you are making any headway? You can measure all manner of goals, from financial and weight loss goals, to personal, social, or relationship goals. There is always a way to measure your progress!

4) Expect instant Satisfaction

Once again referring to the aforementioned multiple steps that it will take to get to your goal, believing that you are going to instantly see results is nothing less than unrealistic.

Can you instantly feel better about your progress and your state of mind about your goal attainment? Should you maintain an attitude of success long before you actually see any measurable results? Is it possible to create success with your lofty expectations?

Yes, yes, and yes.

However, thinking that you will instantly manifest millionaire or elite athlete status just because you decided to work towards that goal will only set you up for disappointment and setbacks. Create success in your mind, nurture it daily, and it will come into your reality. However, until that time, respect that the process may take some time.

5) Compare your results to Others

Who cares what other people are doing? Their lives are so incredibly different than yours – despite seeming similarities – that you could not repeat someone else’s success no matter how hard you tried.

You may be able to use similar methods to those used by other people, and you may be able to emulate other people’s successful patterns, but comparing your success to that of other people will only give you cause to second-guess your own motives and success habits.

Keep your nose to the grindstone and do the mental and physical work that will take you directly to your goals, and don’t worry about what anyone else is doing.

6) Act like your former Self

“If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.”

I think that phrase should be a family mantra all around the world. It could be said before meals, as a bed time prayer, or even as a chant during meditation. It’s that powerful.

• If your goal is to become the CEO of a multi-million dollar corporation, then you can’t use the same work ethics and practices that you used when you were making minimum wage.
• If your goal is to lose 50 pounds and become a lean, sexy, confident person, then you can’t keep up the same dietary and/or exercise habits that you had when you were 50 pounds overweight.
• If your goal is to have a fulfilling long-term relationship, then you can’t follow the same personal patterns that you have been following during all of your years of relationships that didn’t work out.

This concept is pretty simple. Now just get up and go do it.

7) Give up too Soon

I saved this one for last because I think that it is more powerful than all of the other reasons. I think that this one blunder costs more people their hopes and dreams than anything else.

The bottom line is that achieving great things requires consistent effort that is applied over the long-term.

Even if it were possible for you to somehow attain success with only a short-term effort, you would not value your success enough to hold onto it. In addition, you would not have learned how to replicate your success for the attainment of future goals.

If you want to radically succeed at goal attainment (as opposed to radically failing), then do something that is worth doing for months, years, or even decades, and never, never, never give up!