A goal without a plan is just a wish! Have you heard this quote before? At this time of the year while we are in a full court press toward Christmas Day, many are thinking about what have they accomplished in 2014.

Consider the following:

• 95% of people who set weight loss goals will regain that weight
• 1 out of 7 change their lifestyle habits after a heart attack
• 25% of New Year’s resolutions are abandoned after 1 week
• 60% of New Year’s resolutions fail after 6 months
• People will make the same New Year’s resolution 10 times without success

I would suggest that traditional methods of goal setting is not working and lands in failure most of the time. So don’t feel bad because your goal setting effort is not working – you are using a method that is out-dated and broken.

I want to impress upon you first of all to consider the following 5 mistakes in setting goals. This will give clarity why some goals are destined to fail before you start. Simply stated our goal setting is based upon faulty premises and not solid thinking. Here are the 5 mistakes that you can make in goal settings:

Mistake #1 – Set your goal based upon what you know you can do. 

• This is usually based upon what you have already done in the past. With this mind-set we stop playing to win and start playing to not loose.
• At some point in life you have to get outside of your own “knowing” and enlarge your circle of understanding.
• Nobody wakes up in the morning and declares to the world: “I want to be average today!”
• CAUTION: The world does not care about how big your goals are. You will get “sucker punched!”

Mistake #2 – Set your goals based upon what you think you can do!

• The problem here is that by the time you set your goals based upon your comprehension of the circumstances, the circumstances have changed. Your goals become irrelevant and outdated!
• The whole world is in a state of change. Life is either blossoming or decaying.
• If you are not in touch with this reality your goals may attempt to give life into a decaying market. Understand the world around you.
• CAUTION: When your plan fails, you may find it hard to admit the mistake and you will tend to lower the expectations. You can over-obsess the plan and forget the goals!

Mistake #3 – Set your goals based upon knowing how to do something

• If you declare that you do not know how to do something, you may quite because of the opinion of others. In this case OPINIONS WIN!!
• Setting goals based upon knowing how to do something is not goal setting at all. It is a “TO-DO-LIST.”
• Admit this to yourself: “I do not know how to do anything until I have done it the first time!”
• CAUTION: Suspend the right to know how to do anything!

Mistake #4 –  Questioning whether you are worthy of the goal

• Critical mistake!
• You do not ask whether you are worthy of the goal. You ask whether the goal is worth me trading my life for?
• Re-evaluating our life from time to time is not a dress rehearsal on life as though there is something else. This is the show – every minute of every day of every year. There are no dress rehearsals! Make TODAY COUNT!
• CAUTION: There are no rewind buttons on life!

Mistake #5 – You believe that the purpose of the goal is the goal

• The purpose of any goal is not the acquisition of things as a result of the goal achieved.
• The purpose of any goal in life is to BECOME! Grow into and become God’s maximum expression of your created talents and abilities every day and in every place.
• The purpose of goal setting is to discover first what you LOVE! This leads to a life of MEANING! This leads to fulfilling your PURPOSE!
• CAUTION: God does not make LOOSER’S!

OK, now that I have that off of my chest – I am guilty on all counts. However, I made some significant changes in my life a number of years ago to set meaningful goals based upon what I love and not what I want to GET!

Leave a comment or voice message. I would be interested in your thoughts.