Our goal series is just about to wrap up this month, but today’s topic is about Limiting Beliefs and Your Goals. Now, wait, what do limiting beliefs have to do with achieving my goals you ask?
A lot! Read on to find out.
Everyone has conscious or subconscious ideasthat can become limiting beliefs. These will often stop us from achieving our goals if we let them. See that? Everyone does! Sometimes these beliefs are instilled in us in childhood and sometimes we create them ourselves.
What is a Limiting Belief?
An example of a limiting belief that can get in your way of success is how you see yourself with money.
If you believe you will always struggle and always be poor, chances are you’ll set yourself up for failure. Your limiting belief that you’re poor and that you always will be poor becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
The same can be said about anything negative in your life that limits you – whether it’s a career, education, or personal such as being healthy and of normal weight. If you see yourself a certain way, it can be hard to change that view and let go of that belief.
The 8 Phrases
There are eight telling phrases that point to a limiting belief:
1. “It’s hopeless” – Anytime you use the word “never” is a clue that you’re focusing on a limiting belief. For example: “I’ll never have any money because you need money to make money.” How many times have you heard this one?
2. “I’m helpless” – When most people feel uneducated or helpless, they blame their circumstances instead of working to change them. “I can’t manage my money because I don’t know how” sounds insightful. But the part that’s missing is the feeling of helplessness. All you need to do is take a personal finance course or buy, read and practice the lessons in “Personal Finances for Dummies”.
3. “It’s useless” – The idea that nothing you do will make a difference is that you believe that any action you take won’t make a difference. “It doesn’t matter if I work out an hour a day, I won’t lose weight anyway.” How do you know? Have you tried to do anything for longer than a couple of weeks?
4. “It’s the universe” – Sometimes a limiting belief has to do with the idea that outside forces that you can’t control are at work keeping you down. You can’t find a job or get clients because the economy sucks, where you live is depressed, you don’t have the right clothing, and so forth. But if you do nothing in your power to change it because it’s destiny. You know that’s BS, right? “Everything happens for a reason” type of thinking can be very limiting and make you feel powerless.
5. “I’m worthless” – The idea that you’re not smart enough or good enough to do what you really want can be a very strong limiting belief system. For some reason, this seems to affect women more than men. You feel you’re not pretty enough, smart enough, or good enough to have something. So you don’t take the steps to achieve it, because you don’t feel that you deserve it.
6. “It’s genetic” – While there are certainly some instances where genetics play a huge role in a person’s life, the truth is that almost everything that is genetic can be fixed with the right mindset. The right training, exercise, and outlook will help you immensely. You’re not stuck with your genetics, but if you think you are, you may not try any of the things to pull yourself out of the rut you’re stuck in. So you need to get busy on yourself.
7. “I’ll fail” – The truth is the fear of failure is something most people have as a limiting belief. “I’m a bad public speaker so if I do it, I’ll be judged, and I’ll fail anyway so why try” is a common refrain. But, how can you set that belief in stone if you’ve not tried?
8. “I’m different” – The limiting belief about being different is that different isn’t necessarily bad. You don’t want to be who you are because you’re different and you’ll be looked at as different by other people. You’re afraid to be who you are. Because of that, you don’t even know who you are. And you’re too scared to find out due to fear of rejection and ending up alone.
If you ever hear any of these phrases go through your head, disconnect from them immediately! Turn them around to “why not me” instead of “why me.” Always ask “why not me” because the truth is, you’re not feeling anything different from anyone else who has made goals and achieved them.
The difference is in the doing, not the intelligence or talent. So there, that’s my 2 cents for this week’s article.
Is there anything I left out? If so, send me a message and let me know. I’ll be happy to do research on it and let you know the results.
One of the biggest mistakes people make when seeking to achieve a goal is to wait for inspiration and motivation. Today’s topic of discussion on our series on goals is all about How to Find Motivation to Achieve Your Goals. Imagine if everyone on this planet was waiting for motivation to get work done.
Productivity would drop to nothing, and our economy would collapse. Since productivity has improved over the years, it’s not likely that it has anything to do with real motivation. People are still doing the things they have to do in order to achieve a goal. Aren’t you?
Goals or Motivation?
Sometimes their goals might be set by them or their employer. It doesn’t matter who set it – it’s set, and someone is going to get it done. Am I right? How sad that in some cases people fail at so many things simply by ignoring the fact that motivation isn’t really necessary; only doing is.
They sit around waiting for inspiration to come wondering why everyone else is doing better than them. They’re waiting for some spark of motivation that will never arrive.
You can avoid this issue by realizing the truth.
Motivation Doesn’t Exist But What’s the Intention?
You probably have heard of the myth of the starving artist who can’t paint or the writer with writer’s block. It’s interesting that these creative professions have the same myth. Like weight loss, that some secret motivation has to come to achieve success. Some mysterious spark of inspiration that will get you off your bottom doing what you need to get done. If How to Find Motivation to Achieve Your Goals isn’t possible, then why should you even try?
However, nothing could be further from the truth.
Doing, Not Thinking, Gets You Real Results
Time and again, the people who are truly successful in their own lifetimes, are not people who wait for a spark. They are people who get up out of bed every single day, rain or shine and do things that lead to an end result of success. The successful painter paints every single day and if they hate marketing they hire someone to do that for them.
The successful writer writes; the successful doctor – doctors. If you want to be successful at something, do it. Live it. You will succeed. How to Find Motivation to Achieve Your Goals is basically up to you!
Many people get blocked by thinking that someone is better than, smarter than, or any “than” than them. The truth is, successful people aren’t smarter. Take a look at the most famous actresses that you know. Without exception, they are simply people who do their craft every single day. More times than not, they are simply being themselves in front of the camera. They are doing it, not thinking about doing it, and not dreaming of doing it. They go to auditions, get rejected, and then get up the next day and do it again.
Learn about the acronym S.M.A.R.T which stands for “specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, and timely”. Every goal you set should meet that standard. After all, if you cannot be specific enough about what you want so that it can be measured, what is it really? You need to act on it in a realistic manner in a specific time frame. If you can’t it’s not really a goal. It’s a dream – perhaps a pipe dream!
Targets For Your Success
Envision Success
Some people think vision boards are a bunch of hocus pocus. But the truth is, being able to truly visualize yourself experiencing success will go far in helping you actually create success in your life. There are people who are good at seeing it in their mind and believing it, but others need more. Try making a vision board to see your dream down on paper so that you can then decide how to make your S.M.A.R.T. goals.
Follow a Schedule
It can’t be stated enough. Doers do. Successful people do. A “to-do” list isn’t going to cut it; you’re going to need to make a schedule and stick to it. If you want to write a 10,000 word eBook to sell to your target audience, you need to start at the endpoint. Then work your way back to today making a schedule that is realistic. You do this so you can follow it to get the work done when you said you wanted it done. Then let nothing stop you.
Experience Success
Set some smaller goals so that you can feel what success is like. If you’ve never once stuck to anything, you can’t know what success feels like and you have nothing to push you forward. People who experience success like to experience it again. The more success you experience, the more you’re going to realize that you can. It’s self-fulfilling.
Repeat Everything, That’s The Objective
Finally, keep doing it over and over again. With anything, you want to achieve, set the goal, track your success, and do something every single day toward achieving that goal. Again and again. It’s really that simple.
Motivation is a figment of the imagination, and not something that most people have. Most people get up in the morning by hitting the snooze button a few times, and most people do not feel especially happy about doing certain things. What they feel happy about is the end result, the deliverable.
Place your focus there and you will not need any motivation because you will be successful.
If you are looking for help with YOUR motivation, I offer 1×1 mentoring sessions that would help you kick your butt into action. Use this link to schedule a call, I would love to help you figure it out.
In order to set powerful goals that are achievable, take some time to research the dreams you have to find out if they’re even doable. You want to challenge yourself some but don’t make the goals so hard that you experience failure. Continuing with our Goal Series today’s topic is on how to set powerful goals you can achieve.
Goal Criteria
To ensure maximum success, make sure that your goals meet the following criteria:
Match Your Core Values
The more any goal fits into one of the four main areas of life – Family, Financial, Physical, or Personal – the more likely you are to be able to set a realistic goal that you can achieve. If a goal for some reason doesn’t fit into one of your core values, it’s not likely you’ll experience much success.
Be 100 Percent in Control
While goals that rely on others aren’t wrong, they are harder to achieve. Any goal that you control 100 percent is a goal that you can reach. Do ensure that you’re not letting fear get in your way or blaming fate for your failures, though. Self-limiting beliefs can get in your way on this one. Be realistic about whether you have control or not and give yourself more credit. For example, if you think you don’t have control over your financial future because “that’s just how it is,” you are mistaken. You need to eliminate this line of thinking.
Be Able to Envision the Goal
If you can’t see the end result, it will be very difficult to move forward toward achieving the goal. If you need to draw a picture, make a vision board, or take a day off to fantasize, just do it.
You need to see how it will all fit together in the big picture of your life. You need to see the end to be able to truly achieve it.
Every goal you make needs to be very specific in nature. If you really want to be sure to reach the goal, you have to know when you reached it. Instead of saying “I want to start a business,” state exactly what type of business you want to start. Who will be your clients? There is other information that makes the goal more concrete.
2) Be Measurable
At what point have you achieved the goal? If you can’t give a number or something that is measurable, then you won’t have a real goal. Let’s use the business example above. You might include that you want to earn x amount of dollars each week by a certain date. And then how and why you are going to do it.
3) Be Actionable
To achieve any goal there have to be steps that you can take to get there. Like using a map to reach a destination that you want to go to on vacation. You need to draw a map to your vision of success with the steps and paths you’ll take along the way. Put not only what but when, and how you’ll accomplish the step.
4) Be Realistic
You don’t want to write a goal that is too hard to achieve or worse, impossible. Be sure that it’s scientifically possible to do it by researching everything realistically. For example, you’re not likely going to start a business today and earn six figures by tomorrow or even the first year in business. Look at the research and determine what is doable and how you’ll do it.
5) Be Timely
Every goal has to have a time limit otherwise you may never achieve it. Start with the end and work your way back to today. By creating a list of things to do each day, you’ll be able to finally reach the end result. But, do set a time limit. You can adjust as you get into the project if it works to be more realistic. But resist the urge to change the time because you’re not sticking to your task lists. This right here is powerful!
In Conclusion
If you use this method to create powerful goals that you can achieve, you will not experience a lot of failures. You can always adjust your timeline and your goals as you learn more. The important thing is to give each goal a lot of thought, consideration, and study before setting it.
I hope you’re enjoying this series on goal setting. Today’s article on How to Set Powerful Goals You Can Achieve is just one of the many articles in this series.
Today’s topic is Setting S.M.A.R.T. Business Goals. You have probably come across many articles, books, and audios that stress the importance of setting goals. Hopefully, you have taken the time to sit down and write out goals for yourself. But are you writing S.M.A.R.T. goals? S.M.A.R.T. goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-Related. I’m starting a new series of Setting Goals so the first one is Setting S.M.A.R.T. Business Goals. So get your pencils sharpened and your notebook ready because you are going to want to take notes for this series. Make sure you download the free e-book about goal setting also. You can locate it here ->>> Setting S.M.A.R.T. Business Goals
Specific Goals
Specific Goals are written out clearly and have a set time frame. When you write out your goals, state what you want, and give it a deadline. A simple goal of “earning money by working from home” becomes much more motivational if you phrase it as “earning $500 per month on a regular basis within sixty days”. Once you know what your plan is, it will be easier to achieve it.
Measurable Goals
It is important to have Measurable Goals, as they will help you track your progress. If a goal is not measurable, it will be very hard to define when you have actually achieved it. In the example above, by defining how much income you want to earn and giving it a time frame, you will know instantly when those sixty days are over if you have achieved the goal.
Attainable Goals
An Attainable Goal is a goal you know you can achieve. Don’t be fooled by the word “attainable”. It can still be a challenging goal and require effort to achieve, but it does need to be something you can do. For instance, if your goal is to learn to build websites and you have absolutely no experience, your goal shouldn’t be to build a huge, portal website in a week. An attainable goal would be giving yourself a month to learn the software and build a small, but functioning website. Otherwise, you will be putting pressure on yourself. If you are constantly setting unattainable goals, you may end up doubting yourself and become so afraid of failure that you start procrastinating on easy tasks. Make sure you’re on target to reach these goals.
Realistic Goals
While it is great to shoot for the stars when you are setting your goals, they also need to be Realistic Goals. Using the first example, the goal wasn’t to earn $500 within a week. Instead, the goal was to earn $500 per month within sixty days. If you are new to working from home, it may take some time for your business to be profitable. Instead of setting one huge goal, break the goal down into manageable “mini-goals”.
Time-Related Goals
You may have noticed that the example goals were Time-Related. There is an old saying that “a goal without a deadline is just a wish”. Having a defined timeline will keep you motivated. If you have an open-ended goal, it will be easier to procrastinate, and therefore, harder to accomplish. However, knowing you need to accomplish something in a set period of time will spur you into action.
What are YOUR S.M.A.R.T. Goals? Use this handy sheet to create yours. Worksheet
gabrielle_cc / Pixabay
Your Intentions
Setting S.M.A.R.T. Goals is really important to your business. It’s just like a roadmap to help you follow where you want your business to go. Don’t just make things up on the fly, let me tell you now, it doesn’t work. Sit down today and work on the worksheet to plan your goals. You’ll be glad you did!
If you’d like help setting up your goals, you can contact me to set up an appointment to discuss. Go here —> Discovery Call to schedule an appointment.
There are plenty of business owners who have made their businesses successful through the effective use of goals. The better they become at implementing those goals, the more successful the businesses seem to become. And it is something that people get better at with practice. Why not use these successful experiences to help with your business? Resources to help with your business goals are the topic of discussion for today.
Learn More About Business Goals
The first resource is yourself. Resources found online can be a tremendous help when trying to learn about setting goals. Check YouTube.com for videos on the subject. Be aware that not every video will contain good information. And not every video creator has the expertise to offer. Take each video with a grain of salt.
Udemy and Amazon are also good resources for training on business goals. It takes more effort to get on these platforms, so it is likely to contain trainers/authors with a higher level of expertise. Both platforms allow users to rate the trainers which you can use as a basis for your decision.
Read Profiles of Successful Business Leaders
Many successful business leaders share how they became successful. You will find a common theme among these leaders in the area of setting goals. They may go about different ways to do this. That’s what makes these profiles valuable to use when trying to create your own. If you can find profiles of people within the same industry as you, that is a bonus. But, it is not completely necessary if you can’t.
Industry or Trade Groups
While you’ll see a lot of your competitors on these groups, most are willing to share stories of techniques they have used in their businesses. The information they give is usually relevant to your business as you typically join groups within your industry. LinkedIn.com is becoming a trade group of sorts with the groups that are contained within. Be sure to check this out. You can check mine out here. LinkedIn
Forums and Blogs
People look to forums and blogs for answers to their questions. There are bound to be forums that are within your industry or niche. You can ask for tips about the goals or your business on these forums. You will get much better results when you are active on the forum.
Outside Groups
Resources such as Meetup.com could be used to help with formulating your business goals. Find meetups with business owners in your area who are willing to share information on the topic.
I hope this information is useful for you and your business.
