Stop Procrastinating - Start Achieving Your Goals

It has been said that 60-80% of New Year's resolutions will be broken within the first two weeks. In other words, a lot of people have a hard time making the changes in their life they want to make. So you are not alone. Personally, I am not a huge advocate of New Year's resolutions because I believe in setting and achieving personal goals all year around. That being said, I wanted to share with you the top ten ways to increase the likelihood for success with achieving your goals.

1. Stick to 1 or 2 important goals.

Having a laundry list of all the things you would like to change in your life can be overwhelming. Your chances for success are much higher if you stick to 1 or 2 of your most important goals. This allows you to concentrate all your energy and focus on these goals. Once you achieve those goals, you can always set 1 or 2 more.

2. Be realistic.

It's okay to think big and want the best, but it is more important to succeed, so be realistic. Ask yourself whether or not your goals are reasonable and possible. It is probably not realistic to set the goal of never yelling at your kids again. How will you feel about your resolution when your children test you on a very bad day and you yell? Certainly one can cut back on yelling and work to find alternative ways to deal with misbehavior, but an all or nothing attitude may set you up for failure, and feeling like you've failed can set you up for more failure. Instead, accept and honor your humanness.

3. Be specific.

Be as specific as possible when determining goals. Articulate how you will measure success and exactly what you are trying to achieve. Setting a goal to lose weight is too general. A better choice would be to set a specific and manageable goal. For example say, "I will lose 25 pounds by June 30, 2005." Be specific when answering the what, when and how.

4. Connect to your motivation for achieving your goal.

Why do you want to achieve this goal? Why now? Make sure your motivation comes from your heart, and not from your head. In other words, your goal should be something you really desire, and not something you know you SHOULD do. Really connect to why this is so important to you. Pay attention to whether or not you are being driven by fear or love. Beware of setting goals based on what someone else in your life thinks you should do. Your resolutions should come from your authentic self.

5. Examine your belief in your ability to achieve this goal.

What do you believe about your ability to achieve your goals? If you have tried to reach the same goal many times before without much success, your confidence could be wavering. You could be feeding yourself negative messages without even realizing it. Be conscious about positive thinking. Remind yourself that you are capable of doing anything you set your heart to. Tell yourself every day that you have the ability to take the steps it will take to reach your goal.

6. Create a detailed plan to achieve your goal.

Let's say your goal is to eliminate the clutter in your Home. But how will you start when the clutter is overwhelming? It may be helpful to break large goal