Goals are essential to achieve success because they keep us focused and motivated. Without goals we would aimlessly go down the path of life without any direction, ambition, or hope. Goals are not only something we aim to achieve, but are also markers that let us know we are doing the right things to get ourselves to places we want to be. Let’s look at some goal setting strategies to help us achieve success.

Know What You Want To Accomplish

The most important thing about goal setting for success is to know what you want to accomplish. Some people might think this is obvious and perhaps it is, but you’d be surprised by the number of people who have no clue as to what they want to do with their life. If you don’t know what it is you want to accomplish then there is no way you can begin to even think about setting goals. Thus knowing what you want to do is the most important element to goal setting.

Start Small

Every major goal consists of a series of smaller goals. For example, if your goal is to get a college degree there are things you will have to do to get it such as selecting a college, taking entrance examinations, enrolling, etc. These are all the smaller or short-term goals that will lead you to the main goal of receiving a college degree. And often smaller goals such as these consist of even smaller goals.

Once you know your primary goal you will want to make a list of the short-term goals you will need to accomplish to get to your main goal. A list like this is the first step to developing your plan and becomes like a road map directing you along your way. Without a plan or map it is easy for us to get lost or take the wrong turn on our journey.

Deadlines

All good plans operate on a timeline that has within specific deadlines to accomplish certain things. Big businesses always use timeline and deadlines, that’s one reason they are able to grow. Your goal too can be seen as a business venture. On your list of short-term goals you should specify, in realistic terms, the deadlines you wish to have each one completed within. But be realistic and flexible in defining these deadline dates, as things do happen in life that could delay the accomplishment of certain steps. Back to the college degree as an example, perhaps you are six units short of receiving your degree, but the classes you need to take won’t be available until the following semester. This is something out of your immediate control but does affect you completing your education by the deadline you had noted in your plan.

We have covered some simple steps to take in goal setting for success. As was mentioned, the key factor in any goal setting is to know what you want, make a plan, and then take the necessary steps to accomplish your goal.

Success is not something we are born with; it is something we make for ourselves. Success is also not about having knowledge as there are many knowledgeable people in the world who are not successful. Instead success is something of a mixture of our efforts, our knowledge, and our communications. And communications comes in two forms, verbal and non-verbal or body language. Successful people not only know how to verbally communicate effectively, but they also know the power of non-verbal language. Let’s look at some examples.

Eye Contact

Every successful person maintains eye contact with the person or audience they are talking to. When we maintain eye contact we are showing that we are interested in the other person and what they are saying. A fact about eye contact is that when are looking directly at the face of someone speaking we are usually in listening mode.

When a successful person is speaking their eye contact demonstrates their sincerity and trustworthiness. However, when you are speaking to a group of people your eye contact should bounce from one person to another of those who are listening. This shows not only your sincerity, but also that you are confident in what you are saying.

Listening

Some people may think that listening isn’t a type of non-verbal communication, but it most certainly is. To be begin with if you are listening that means you are not talking and this alone makes listening a non-verbal type of communication. But listening has body language components in it as well. As we noted previously when a successful person listens they maintain eye contact with the person who is speaking and this is body language that send the message to the speaker that you are interested in what the speaker has to say.

Also, when we listen we often project other body language that demonstrates our interest or disinterest. For example, our head, facial, and body movements speaks volumes about how interested we are in hearing what another person has to say. If you are moving your head from side to side, looking around, and you are fidgety chances are very good that you are not interested in listening to the other person.

Posture

Body posture is a body language that also says a lot about you. Successful people demonstrate a calm and confident body posture. When standing successful people stand erect and don’t slouch over, keeping their head and shoulders level. The feet are placed comfortably apart, generally eight to ten inches, and any body movement is done from the pelvis.

The hands and arms of the successful person are in a relaxed position, either loosely linked together at the front or comfortably resting at their sides, but never buried in pockets or crossed over in front of the chest. When speaking the successful person may move their hands about, but the movements are light and smooth with the palms up. Palms down indicate dominance and aggression.

We have covered some body language points that successful people use when they are communicating with others, however they are many more. These are presented to you to give a place to start in developing your own.

The greatest way to get passionate about your work is to do something you truly love! In so doing, you’ll invigorate any job you do with passion and enthusiasm. If you love working with your hands and have a talent for working with wood or clay, consider becoming a carpenter, cabinetmaker or furniture maker. Even just making a simple chair, you can be a success. The passion you put into your work will shine through.

Strive to make any work you do something you can relate to. As an example, take writing. If you have a job to write a war story and it’s not something you can relate to; try to turn it into a subject you like. If you love romance stories, write a love story that’s set during a war. Thus the war becomes the backdrop of the story, not the focal point.

Next, there’s your work environment. If you need your room to be silent to work, find a quiet spot. On the other hand, if the lack of noise is positively deafening to you, turn on a radio with the right sort of music to play in the background.

Then there’s you workload. When faced with a large task, do you become nervous and begin to feel like defeat is right around the corner? Break the job down into smaller tasks that are easy to handle. Let’s say you’re going to have a store at an upcoming conference. Step one, find out what is needed to be at the conference. Find out what you’ll need to run the shop. Once you have that list, see about getting the items, and so on. The point is, each of these tasks is small and easy to handle.

The next point: making lists. There is no way to remember everything to do on any job; so, don’t even try! In so doing, you can organize your thoughts and focus your attention on each task. As you finish each job, check it off the list. In so doing, you’ll get a feeling of accomplishment, and this will stimulate you to work even harder.

When you have a difficult task, particularly one that requires creativity, it can be hard to get from the start point to the end. You don’t start out building a house on your own; you have to (pardon the pun) build up to it. So, start out learning the basics of construction: carpentry, plumbing etc and then build on that until you have the confidence to tackle truly large projects. You can see this in any other profession; something like writing. Stephen King started out with short stories, and then built up to writing weighty tomes of several thousand pages each!

According to Mary Poppins, in every job there is an element of fun; find it, and the job becomes easy; for you to do this, find the things that work for you to make work a pleasure. As outlined above, these are the starting points for you to find the secret to doing that. Succeed in that and every task will become a joy.

The fear of success is something that many of us have and, as suggested by most theories, it begins in childhood. For example, a child has excelled in something, say mathematics. The parents, siblings, friends, and others may, on the one hand, be proud of the child’s excellence, but yet at the same time be threatened by it. What can result is the child receiving a variety of mixed messages. The child receives praise for the achievement, yet is also told, in whatever way, that they can never reach the top. Its praise laced with discouragement and as the child receives more of this kind of information, from those around them, they develop a fear of success.

Another way we may have a fear of success has to do with feelings of inadequacy. Feelings of inadequacy also come from our childhood experiences but are more about ourselves than what we do. For example, the father who tells his son that he won’t amount to anything or the single mother who tells her child they are just like their irresponsible father is instilling the feeling of inadequacy in their children.

In our adult lives the fear of success can be compounded by our own thought processes in the form of denial. We may deny our own abilities and attribute our successes to luck, the help of others, or as a miracle, rather than giving ourselves credit for an accomplishment. For us, all these things, and more, create ambivalence about success. Fortunately, the fear of success can be overcome and here are some ways to do that.

Identify Underlying Beliefs

Our fear of success is grounded in our beliefs. The first step to overcoming our fear of success is to identify those beliefs that contribute to those fears. As you identify them write them down on a separate piece of paper.

Challenge The Beliefs

Now go down your list of beliefs and challenge them. What we mean by challenging them is to consider where they came from, their true validity, and their application to your current life. Also, note the opportunities you may have backed away from as a result of those beliefs.

Replace Destructive Beliefs With Constructive Ones

Once you have discovered what beliefs interfere with you being successful you can begin to discard them. But as you throw them away you’ll want to replace them with beliefs that support you being successful. For example, if you have the belief that you won’t amount to anything, replace that belief with one that says you will.

Increase Self-Esteem

The fear of success is most certainly a self-esteem issue. And because of this you will need to build your self-esteem. This can be done in various ways such as, surrounding your self with people who are positive and supportive. Also, focus on areas of your life that you can be easily successful in before taking on bigger challenges. As you succeed in these areas be sure to compliment and praise yourself.

Overcoming the fear of success takes a great deal of work and there are many other ways you can do this other than what we have mentioned here. In some instances it may be easier to ask a friend you trust to help you or even to seek professional guidance. Regardless of how you go about overcoming your fear of success you will only be successful if you invest the time and energy into it.