“If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy, and inspires your hopes.” —Andrew Carnegie

Have you been someone who has several Goals in your Life and you are on your path to achieving those Goals? or have you been someone who is living life and accepting the Challenges as it comes?

There is no right or wrong way to live here. We all do have individual choices that we could make on the kind of life we want to lead. I’m a believer that “Life never happens by Chance, it always happens by Choice”.

If you are someone who is on your path to achieving your Goal or someone who is embarking your journey towards a Goal, the below are the some of the steps that I feel would be helpful in your Journey towards the Achievement of the Goal:

Know your Purpose:

Knowing the Purpose of the particular Goal you are trying to take up is the most important step and hence, the first. We need to have a strong reason behind anything we take up. Have you often heard this phrase: “Know your WHY”?- the explanation is here: A reason is a Purpose with which we don’t just start with but is pivotal to sustain our Motivation during the hard times that we might come across in the path. Heard of this quote “When You Feel Like Quitting Remember Why You Started”- it all boils down to the Purpose and the Reason that you are set out for. It could be any activity ranging from a small decision of daily Life to choosing your Career Path to even a Business Idea; having a clear “WHY” is the first step towards the Success.

It is never about the ‘How’ or ‘What’; it is always about the ‘Why’. Once the ‘Why’ is clear, the ‘How’ and ‘What’ will follow.

Set a Goal/Target:

Now, once the Purpose and the Reason are clear, set a Target and a Goal for yourself. Remember, without a Goal, we would be just kicking the ball all around the field without a direction and with that, every small milestone will seem like a huge Achievement. And when taking a Target, we must take an Ambitious target that pulls us out of the comfort zone. A target and a Goal that seems achievable is never going to motivate us to give our best. Take an Ambitious target and be ready to Pull up the Socks for the extravagant journey towards achieving the same.

Believe that you can achieve:

One of the things that certainly happens when you are after an ambitious target is that we feel doubtful of being able to achieve that. Yes, it Does! It is when it becomes inevitable for us to believe in ourselves. Believe that you can achieve the Goal though it might look impossible at the onset. 1 quote that has always stayed with me is “If you can Believe, you can Achieve”. However ambitious the Goal might be, however tough the journey looks, however long it might take to reach; if you can Believe in the Goal, you will achieve it no matter what! The question is “Have you believed enough?”

“If you think you can, You can. If you think you can’t, You can’t. You are right”- Henry Ford

Plan:

Make a note of every possible step that you might want to take to achieve the Goal you have taken and plan up the entire modus operandi. If we don’t have the plan, we are shooting in the dark. It doesn’t work out that way. Have you watched a scene in the Matrix movie wherein Neo starts running from a particular point in the railway station and finds himself again in the same spot? Don’t be surprised if the same happens to you and it’s because there was no Plan of Action. One of the most popular quotes by Benjamin Franklin is “By Failing to Prepare, you are Preparing to Fail”. Let’s not make this mistake. If need be, have someone as your Mentor and approach him/her on their guidance on how you could improve on your Plan.

Execute:

“The Journey of thousand miles begins with the first step” by Confucius is told for a reason. No amount of planning will help you succeed if you haven’t taken action and executed it. There might be many mental hindrances or obstacles that might obstruct the path of execution, but surpass it and just start with it. Every step taken towards the Goal will only increase your confidence in the achievement of the Goal. With increased confidence, you will do more; which again would boost your Confidence and it becomes a Cycle that would help you reach your goal. If you have an ambitious Goal and if you are keen to achieve it, be ready to put your complete Focus on achieving that one thing. Let nothing else distract you. A streamlined focus towards the Goal and you will slowly see the results materializing as you had imagined. If required, be ready to even burn your midnight oil. Go All for IT!

Measure & Evaluate:

It is not enough to plan once, we have to Measure the Progress and Evaluate it every single day. I remember a time when, as a Sales Team, when we were on an Ambitious target and we would sit down each night; measure and evaluate the progress, and plan for the steps to be taken the next day. When you are on your path to achieving the Goal, it might take a lot out of you and let it! It’s only then we get to know our true potential.

If you are into Sales and on your path to achieve your Sales Targets, platforms like Pipedrive that helps you stay focused by helping you manage the leads and deals would be very helpful.

Course Correction:

Not everything will go according to the plan. There will be many fluctuations and there might be many things that didn’t turn out as you had planned it to be. The sales cycle was getting longer or the Program that you were working on has got bugs, or you might have got certain unplanned priorities that consumed your time. During such moments, we do feel disheartened. But Don't Give Up! It is during those times, our real mettle gets tested! The plan might need some course corrections! Make those changes in the plan that are required and get back to the Action immediately. “When obstacles arise, you change your direction to reach your Goal, you do not change your decision to get there”- Zig Ziglar I hope that these steps help you in your sail towards the Goals if it does- I would be happy to know your experience in the comments below.