Goal Setting and Planning Steps for Achievement

Reaching your personal goals in life can be frustration and unrewarding. I have always believed you should aim high, having a solid belief in yourself and what you are doing; however, too many times we give ourselves these unrealistic goals with little to no stepping stones to achieve them.

So we know what we want to accomplish, but what really is a realistic goal? I'm going to lose 20 pounds, stop smoking and start exercising more. I want to be healthy and be more conscience of my eating habits. I'm going to plan my wedding while I'm working full time and writting my thesis. I'm going to repaint the livingroom, scrub all the ceilings and still cook a holiday meal for the entire family. I've going to wash 14 loads of clothes today, clean my house and watch my grandson. Does this sound like you? I have to admit, it all sounds really ambitions. I mean these are all good goals, but isn't this too much at one time?

One of the stepping stones to achieving our goals is to remember we are human, we have busy lives and nothing slows down in todays world. It's just speeding up. So, are these goals unrealistic to achieve all at the same time? Yes. They are. We in general put too much pressure on ourselves, which leads to disappointment and the feelings of being defeated. Then we get depressed because there is the feeling of failure. But have we? Have we really failed because we haven't reached that goal. No, we haven't.

There isn't any failure in the overall goal set, it was failure to plan the steps needed to get there. What we need to do for any plan of action is have a mapped course to guide us in our achievement. Just like taking baby steps when climbing a ladder.

Realistic planning is the key for success in any venture we put before ourselves. Mapping out short term goals and planning events and tasks so they aren't so overwhelming. Don't be discouraged when sidelining a task to acheive a greater goal. Each accomplishment can stand on it's own merit. The need to accomplish many tasks toward the goal is not always neccessary.