How You Can Set and Achieve Goals CONSISTENTLY

92% of people don't achieve their goals every year. I was one of them for years. I'd set goals with the best of intentions every year, and every year at the end of the year I wouldn't achieve my goals. The feeling of frustration, defeat, and hopelessness got worse every year. It didn't make sense why I wasn't achieving my goals, which only compounded the feelings I was already having.

Fortunately, I stumbled on a different concept that builds on traditional goal-setting frameworks and it piqued my interest. Specifically what grabbed my attention was that wasn't complicated and just seemed like common sense. I tried it for the first time in 2013 and everything changed.

I became the #1 rep at Salesforce and in a matter of 3 years, I went from SDR to running Sales for a startup that ended up having a successful acquisition. Since then I've continued to grow both personally and professionally and I attribute much of that success to this framework.

Know before reading that this is not a quick process. It's not complicated, but it is challenging so if you're not committed to transforming something in your life then this may not be for you.

Think of this as a guide to help you set goals in a way that you've never done before. It's critical that you go in order and don't skip steps. If you skip steps you are only going to be setting yourself up for failure.

1. Purpose

If you're not clear on what your purpose is for your life then you will end up setting goals that aren't anchored properly. Poor anchors come loose, so you won't stick to the plans for the goals. 

Questions to help you get clear on your purpose: 

- If I look back on my life what will I want to say about my life and how I lived it? 

- What will I want people to say about me and how I lived my life? (aka legacy)

- What do I stand for and why? 

- For the answers, I gave above? Are they for the right reasons? 

- If I didn't care about what other people think would that change my answers?

PRO TIP - Go out of your way to put yourself in an environment that helps you be in a peak state. Below is a picture of us doing ours for 2023 in an environment that helps us get in the right mindset.

2. Purpose > Vision

Once you're clear on what you represent and what you want your legacy to be, you have to paint a vivid picture of what that looks like. This helps emotions start to grab a hold of this process which adds rocket fuel to you.

Questions to help you paint your picture: 

- What does a perfect day look like for me? 

- Where am I on this perfect day? 

- Who am I spending time with on this perfect day? 

- What am I doing during this perfect day? 

- How do I feel going through this perfect day? 

PRO TIP - This is most effective with your eyes closed so you can literally SEE and FEEL your way through these questions, and don't forget to write down what you're experiencing. If you're not having emotions during the visualization then it may be the wrong visual or you're putting things in there for the wrong reasons. 

3. Purpose > Vision > Musts

Should've could've would've. People don't achieve their "shoulds". People achieve their MUSTs. Write down all of the things you want to achieve then identify which are your MUSTs. Another word for musts is "non-negotiables".

Write them down what you want for each of these areas: 

- Relationships (family, friends, and spouse) 

- Finances

- Career

- Health

- Spirituality

- Home/Living situation

- Life experiences

PRO TIP - Have fun with this and make the lists LONG and think BIG. If you're not writing things that sound ridiculous then you're not thinking big enough. Block 15 mins for each category and just write. Don't start cutting down the list until the list is complete. 

4. Purpose > Vision > Musts > Milestones

People overestimate what they can accomplish in a year, but underestimate what they can accomplish in a decade. Now that you have your musts, it's time to chunk out the timeframes associated with accomplishing them. This is where traditional goal-setting frameworks like S.M.A.R.T. can be beneficial to aid in this process.

Timeframes I recommend if you're new to this: 

- 1 month

- 3 months

- 6 months

- 12 months

- 24 months

- 36 months

PRO TIP - Things change constantly which will impact your journey. Thinking more than 3 years out with specific milestones for things you want to accomplish is difficult to set and stick to. Also, make sure your milestones compound into each other. What you accomplish in your first month should be giving you momentum to your 3, 6, 12, etc month milestones. 

5. Purpose > Vision > Musts > Milestones > Rituals

What you accomplish comes down to what you do every day. These are your rituals. Ask yourself what daily rituals you need in order to achieve your milestones.

3 questions to ask: 

- What rituals do I already have that I can build on? 

- What rituals do I need to start doing? 

- What rituals do I have that are blockers for me? 

PRO TIP - Start small and don't pick more than 2 things to change at a time. You're changing how you operate which is difficult to do. Do 1 thing differently then stack the next one. 

6. Purpose > Vision > Musts > Milestones > Rituals > Reflect

After everything is worked out, it's time to reflect on everything one more time to ensure it's in alignment. The top-down and bottom-up reflections should be in alignment. 

Questions to ask: 

- Will my Rituals deliver the Milestones?  

- Are my Milestones aligned with my Musts? 

- Do my Musts deliver on my Vision? 

- Is my Vision in lockstep with my Purpose? 

PRO TIP - This sounds self-explanatory, but you'll be surprised by doing the final reflection that things creep in that can negatively impact the foundation of the framework.  Don't skip this!

7. Purpose > Vision > Musts > Milestones > Rituals > Reflect > Execute

You’ve put in the work to set yourself up for success. Now it’s time for the rubber to meet the road and you make it happen. Set up systems of accountability to make sure you deliver. 

Systems for accountability: 

• Your Spouse
• Your Friends
• Your Peers
• A Mentor
• Visuals for yourself (my vision board below)

PRO TIP - The more systems the better. Communicate and give people permission to call you out when you’re starting to fall off course. Having the goals outlined visually in a place where you see them every day will reinforce and remind you for self-accountability. Establish a monthly "goals night" with you and one of your accountability systems where you both share progress made in the past month.

SUPER PRO TIP - Celebrate your progress. I struggled with this myself and learned that was a hidden factor in why I wasn't achieving goals. Celebrate the victories no matter how small they are. You're working hard to transform your life. It's a journey and you must celebrate the milestones in it if you're going to have consistent success.

Think of the steps as a pyramid that stack on top of each other as foundational layers. If you skip any step you will be missing foundational elements to help guide you through the next steps which is why it's critical to go in order.

FINAL THOUGHTS - This is a lot of work and it will not be easy to do this the first time you go through this exercise. I recommend spending a weekend with someone else who is doing this as well and doing it together.

MY ASK OF YOU - If you found value in this I ask you do 1 of 3 things.

1. Do it. You only have one shot at this thing called life. What's the worst that happens? You grow and achieve more goals than you are now?
2. Share this with a colleague, friend, or loved one that you care deeply about and want to see achieve their goals.
3. Go to my LinkedIn Profile (link below) and hit the "follow" button and click on the bell so you'll be notified when I post other content.

Thank you for giving me your most precious commodity. Your time.

Now go kick some ass!