Psychologists Tell Us Simple and Effective Ways to Start Reaching Goals Today

According to studies, 92% of people do not reach their goals. But at the same time, there are many examples of people who have been successful and we hear about them often. The secret to your success lies in your ability to set clear goals.

Clear and correct goals are the first step to success. In fact, it is not difficult to do this. There are special methods that all of us who want to be successful should know.

Bright Side wants to show you the methods that will help you become one of the 8% successful who can always achieve everything they want.

SMART Goals

The goal-setting method called SMART helps make your goals clearer, helps you find the right words for them, and makes them specific, understandable, and achievable.

This technique has 5 criteria:

Specific:

Your goal must be specific, otherwise, how do you understand what actions you need to take to achieve it? Instead of “start playing sports,” specify by saying “start jogging in the morning” or “join a gym.”

Measurable:

In order to measure your success, quantify your goal as “lose 5 pounds” rather than just “lose weight.”

Achievable:

There is nothing wrong with dreaming big, but we set goals to achieve them, right? So instead of ‘earn 5x more’, change your goal to something more realistic, like ‘get a promotion at work and double my income’.

Relevant:

Your goal should match your plans and expectations. Suppose you want to meet a woman or a man who has the same interests as you. How can you do it? In fact, there are many options. You can start by taking cooking classes, attending dance classes, or going to the gym. If you set your priorities incorrectly, it is very likely that you will not achieve your goal.

Time-bound:

Your goals should have clear time limits. If you don’t set your goal of learning English up to level B1, chances are you’ll end up learning randomly without achieving the desired result.

The system of Brian Tracy

This Canadian-American motivational coach teaches people how to achieve their goals in 12 steps. The following are your secrets to success:

Get a burning desire to reach the goal. It will be your motivation on the road to success.

Convince yourself that the goal is achievable. If you don’t, you may give up when the going gets tough.

Write your goal. Otherwise, only one dream will remain.

Write the pros. You should make a list of the benefits you will receive after reaching your goal and review it periodically.

Find the point of the countdown. You should have a clear idea of ​​where you are starting and where the finish line is.

Set a deadline. Set the exact time you would like to reach your goal.

Make a list of possible obstacles. You must be aware of the difficulties you may encounter on the road to success.

Find out if you need additional information. If so, find out where you can go to get it.

Find people who can help you. It’s perfect when there are people you can trust, right?

Make a to-do list. It should be as detailed as possible.

Preview the result. It is another tool that helps maintain high levels of motivation.

Make the decision not to give up until you reach your goal.

The last point is the most important in any situation.

Goal Setting

Psychologists use this method to help their patients make difficult decisions. It is also perfect for setting your own goals. The algorithm is simple, just answer 5 questions:

1. What do I want to get?
2. How am I going to get it?
3. When am I going to get it?
4. What can help me get it?
5. What will happen when I reach the goal?

Let’s look at a specific example.

Example:

Let’s say you decided to learn French. Set the following goals:

1. I want to learn French from level zero to A2 on my own.

Now let’s determine what specific steps you need to take.

2. To learn French, I will do the following:

• learn the alphabet and reading rules;
• find and choose the most suitable individual study book;
• teach an exercise lesson from this book every day;
• start watching French movies and TV series, start listening to French radio stations;
• find people with whom I can practice my new language skills.

Let’s set the time limits.

3. Learning French will take a year:

• the alphabet and reading rules will take 2 days;
• looking for an individual study book will take a day;
• exercise and watch movies every day for a year;
• The process of finding a native speaker should start 3 months after starting your self-study.

Let’s determine the things that can help us achieve our goal. There may be external resources, such as outside help, and internal resources, which are our own efforts.

4. For learning the language I have both outer and inner resources.

My friend knows French and I can speak and communicate with her in French on social media. My internal resources are my drive and propensity to learn languages.

Now let’s move on to the final point, which should be the most important, because answering it will give you the motivation to move towards the desired result.

5. When I learn French, I can go to France to study and then find a job there.

An important detail in answering this question is that the answer must refer to you personally, not to other people. For example, responses like ‘my mom will be proud of me’ are not a good motivation, especially if it is the only result you want to achieve and if you do not see any other personal benefits after reaching the goal.

We believe that we can all motivate ourselves to be successful. How about you? Do you have your own method for success that works as well as the SMART method or the Brian Tracy method? Share your secrets in the comments!