Have you ever moved a big rock? I mean a figurative rock, not a real one. If you've ever reached a goal, especially a particularly difficult goal then the answer is probably yes. Life has a way of throwing road blocks in our way, big rocks I call them, and sometimes they are insurmountable, or may seem that way. They get in the way of our journey, our goals, and therefore our life. Goals are common to most of us and as such so is success and failure and the attainment of a goal, the success or failure in achieving it, depends on many things. Agreed?
One of the important factors in the journey towards achieving a goal is evaluation. I believe that through evaluation one can discover if their chosen path is correct at various points along the way and that the required actions are being performed efficiently and thoroughly to actually attain the goal.
I can recall many times after starting out on a goal-related journey I've discovered, through evaluation, that my needs had changed and the goal was no longer completely relevant. Imagine my disappointment, or other such implications, of not changing course mid-journey or adapting and amending my actions only to then attain a goal that was no longer the correct or appropriate one! So, evaluation of the goal, the activities and actions and of self is critical in my opinion. It will also help to address those big rocks we I mentioned earlier.
One of the biggest of the big rocks is a self-imposed one though, and one which could derail the goal-journey even before it starts rolling; Attitude.
In my experience attitude, a poor attitude more to the point, has most-often been the cause of failing to attain a goal. Think about a tennis player who has a bad attitude and trains poorly because of it; Not going to win any Grand Slams right? Same for everyone when it comes to goals and attaining them. A poor attitude will result in poor performance. It's quite simple. I have seen intelligent, highly-skilled people apply poor attitudes and fail miserably; On the flip-side also many average people with great attitudes excel. Attitude. It's not quite everything, but without the right attitude everything else suffers, including the ultimate goal, the ability to reach it. Image source
There's a few ways to improve attitude which I'll list below but I feel the overarching way to ensure the right attitude is to know WHY the goal is important in the first place. An example would be the goal of eating better, drinking less alcohol, stopping smoking, losing weight and getting in good physical shape. What's the WHY here? Well, it could be not dying right? A pretty compelling WHY I'd say. Someone facing death may work hard to keep attitude straight right?
Anyway, once the WHY has been embraced here's a couple of other tricks to help keep attitude on-point throughout a goal-oriented journey, and pretty much always I guess too.
- Be resolute with your actions (Have a strong sense of purpose and avoid aimless tasks that won't lead you towards your goal)
- Reach beyond your limits daily. Success is like stretching your body, the more you do it, the easier it becomes. Many small wins will pump you up and push you forward.
- Don't "expect" results from your actions, it can lead to disappointment. Just act!
- Learn from failures rather than becoming dejected because of them. Each failure brings you closer to the desired result. Making that shift in thought can keep the wheels turning. Evaluate remember? Adapt and overcome.
- Surround yourself with positive influencers, people whose attitude is positive and productive. That little thing in your noggin called a brain will naturally imitate behaviours of others around you. It's called a mirror neuron. Shun negativity like the plague. This is an important one.
- Don't take yourself so seriously all the time. Laugh at yourself. You are human and have human frailties. Laugh at them, at yourself and be happier with the understanding that you cannot be perfect. It takes the pressure off.
- Control the controllable things. There's no point wasting energy on the things you cannot control. That will have you dead in the water, feeling dejected and lost.
- Be humble and kind to others and yourself. Have a gratitude attitude. Smile at others, say thank you and remember all those things in your life you have to be grateful for.
Ok, so that's my list. There's others of course however these are the key factors for maintaining a healthy and productive attitude. These things will help in most situations from a work and personal relationship perspective to a self-relationship perspective. Keeping the right attitude is a key element of achieving goals, along with a few other things, and in my opinion should be the number one focus for anyone driving towards a goal, a specific one, or general one like "I want to have a good life," sort of goal." Success starts with attitude.