Okay let’s be honest here. Who here has ever set goals in the beginning of the year and already didn’t follow through by the time February arrives? Yep. Been there, done that!
So why was that so difficult? Why were we not able to achieve it? There are several reasons.
4 Reasons Why You’re Not Achieving Your Goals
1) The goal was never really important to you in the first place
I once set a goal to run 10k by the end of the year. I started practicing weekly running 1k, 2k, and 3k incrementally. About 8 months in, I only got to 4k maximum even though I was still running consistently.
Why did I not accomplish my goal? I realized I never wanted to run 10k in the first place. The number was never that important to me. I set the goal so that I could feel motivated to run consistently and keep my body healthy.
Also, I set that number in the first place really just so I could brag about it to others… which also leads to the next reason.
2) The goal was created for a external reward and not internal motivation
“Where the heart is willing, it will find a thousand ways; where it is unwilling, it will find a thousand excuses.” – Arlen Price
If the goal you set is merely for “pleasing others,” or what you think your parents, your peers, and the society want you to accomplish, you will have a hard time reaching the goal. And even if you do accomplish your goal, you won’t really feel fulfilled doing it.
Time is so sacred, and we only have this one life. Why are we wasting so much time, hard work, and energy trying to reach a goal that will just make us end up feeling empty inside?
>Related Post: How to Be More With Less – Story of the Mexican Fisherman
Maybe after reading to this point, you’re thinking: “But I REALLY DO want to achieve this goal and it’s really important to me. Why can’t I just follow through and accomplish it?” These may be why…
3) You do not have clarity
Did you wake up every day and remind yourself what you your goal is? Did you write out a list of reasons why you MUST reach your goal, and review it every night before you sleep?
Often, life happens and our goal gets shoved amongst all our other duties and obligations.
Your friend is hosting a birthday party and you need to shop for gifts and clothes, you’re going on a weekend spa trip with your family, you’re engulfed by work… etc. Soon, you won’t even remember what goal you set in the beginning of the year.
If you TRULY want to accomplish your goal, you WILL MAKE IT A HABIT to set clarity to align and connect with your goal and your WHYs every single day.
“ Unhappiness is not knowing what we want, and killing ourselves to get it.” – Don Herold
>Related Post: How to Set Goals with Intention
4) You do not know your priority
Maybe you set too many goals for yourself. Maybe you want to be good at everything and achieve everything all at once. The result of this often will be: 1) overwhelm, and then leading to 2) the “fek it” mentality. Then you give up.
My friend, you’re not superhuman.
Did you know that multitasking can actually decrease productivity? This same concept applies to goal setting as well. You cannot multitask and try to work on too many goals at once. It’s just not efficient, not productive, and totally unsustainable…
Instead, figure out your #1 most important goal of the year.
It’s okay to have other smaller goals that you want to work on. But it’s crucial that you must only have ONE (yes, ONE) goal that is your top priority and one that will make the biggest impact in your life at the moment if you accomplish it.
Would you want to spend 20% of your time and energy on 5 goals that may not be very important and merely accomplishing 1 or 2 out of the 5, OR would you spend 100% of your effort on one most important goal, accomplish it, and feel super proud of yourself at the end of the year?
I hope this article made you think and review about any goal you’re currently setting, and what you can do to adjust your priorities and truly accomplish a goal that’s meaningful for you.
Cheers,
Do you struggle with reaching your goals? Did any one of these reasons stand out for you?
Shirley Huang is a Certified Life Coach, Podcast Host, and online educator. She provides weekly resources to help people become leaders in their life, while loving themselves and having fun a long the way. Check out her Life Coaching Programs here.
These are very good reasons and it’s so common! I’ve totally been there with not achieving goals too. I would say not having clarity around it and making a plan for it in my life is where I’ve stumbled in the past. Great post!
Having clarity is super powerful for developing the life you want to create for yourself. Thanks for reading Cristal 🙂
I totally agree that if you set goals that you “think” are important but are not actually aligned with your values, you either lose motivation or feel less fulfilled even if you achieve the goal. So now I always ask myself “why did I set this goal? Does it match my core values?” A great method that I use now for all of my goals is I don’t focus on the goal itself, but rather on the processes around it, and break it down to small bite-sized tasks that I can manage every day. And then I make small improvements on it. I gave up on a lot of goals in the past but this method is really working for me.
Love these questions! This is a great method to change up the perspective. Thanks for sharing Sabrina!