To succeed at your goal means that (1) you set a goal and (2) you have accomplished tasks that comprise your goal. Examine the steps needed to succeed at your goal.

Define Your Goal and Write It Down

Let’s define your goal. A goal is a result that you intend to accomplish. That result may be broken down into tasks. Write down the goal, not the tasks. Seeing your goal in black and white actually begins the process of success. How you write it down is up to you. You may prefer (pen)cil and paper, or typed or digital apps. Regardless of your preference, write it down.

You may have more than one goal, and your goal may be short term or long term. Is your goal SMART, HARD, PACT, OKR or any other acronym you’ve heard? Guides to acronym goal setting can be found in many internet searches. This link explains them all succinctly if you would like to read more. 

Refine Your Goal to Actionable Tasks

If your goal is just one task, skip to the next step. However, your goal may be comprised of multiple actionable tasks. List those tasks that you need to accomplish the goal. As Alan Lakein wrote in his book How to Control Your Time and Your Life, make swiss cheese – punch holes in your goal as if it were a block of cheese. Break your goal down into actionable tasks.

For simplification, let’s practice success by beginning with one goal containing four tasks. For example, a goal to de-clutter/simplify clothing (specifically shirts) can be broken down into 4 tasks –

1. Identify the shirts you no longer want.
2. Pack up the shirts.
3. Select a destination to donate/give away.
4. Let them go.

Schedule The Tasks Needed To Accomplish Your Goal

The next step to achieve success is to decide when you will get the tasks completed. Here’s the big unknown. How do you know how long it will take you to complete each task? Incorrectly estimating the time it takes to complete the tasks can turn success into failure. Be sure you break the goal down into small 15 minute do-able actionable tasks – the smaller the tasks, the better. Make appointments with yourself as if you’re going to the movies. Block out chunks of time and schedule the tasks needed to accomplish your goal.

Take Action On It

As they say in Nike-sloganland, just do it. Take action to accomplish the tasks, for your goals, one by one. What are your goals? To learn something new? To simplify your life? To lose or gain weight? To exercise? To get your financial house in order? To succeed at these or any goal, break each down into doable, actionable tasks and schedule them in your calendar. Then, just do it.

Accountability Partners Help Achieve Success

No one succeeds on this alone. Having an accountability partner gives us the best chance to succeed at accomplishing our goals. That partner may be a good friend, a relative, or a professional. It’s valuable to have someone to bounce ideas around, who has a non-judgmental persona. Someone may also want to share their goals with you, and you can talk them over together. Schedule weekly or monthly brief conversations with your accountability partner to check in and report progress. An accountability partner can help motivate, manage expectations and help you with prioritizing.

Ultimately, success is up to you. There may be times that you don’t feel like working on your goals and then regret that decision. Stephen Covey in his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People emphasizes that “the essence of effective life management is to organize and execute around balanced priorities.” He believes that discipline is not the reason why most people can’t achieve that success. Covey says “The basic problem is that their priorities have not become deeply planted in their hearts and minds.” That is the essence of effective life/self management.

Looking for an accountability partner? You’ve come to the right place. Share your goals with me. We can achieve success together.