7 Tips to Dramatically Increase the Odds of Reaching Your Goals

How to Increase the Odds of Reaching Your Goals
While challenging for many teams, setting smart goals is the easy part when compared to the hard and ever-changing work of actually achieving them. Would you like to increase the odds of reaching your goals?

How Often Do You and Your Team Reach Their Goals?
How many times have you set an objective only to fail in reaching it? We all struggle with wanting to improve and yet not having the follow-through, the commitment, or the stamina to succeed with our plan. This holds true for both professional and personal goals.

Recent Research about How to Increase the Odds of Reaching Your Goals

• A recent ATD study found people have a sixty-five percent chance of completing their goal if they commit to reaching that goal to someone else.
• And if you have a specific time and place to be held accountable to proving you have reached your goal with the person you have committed to, your odds of reaching your goals increase by thirty percentage points – to an amazing 95%.

How to Increase the Odds of Reaching Your Goals in 7 Easy Steps
By definition, any high performance goal worth fighting for can be a challenge to reach. So much can get in the way! But if you are determined and follow the eight tips below, the odds of reaching your goal dramatically improve.

These steps to success are based on what we know about human behavior. They provide a strategy to change habits and increase the odds of reaching your goals:

1. Be Ruthlessly Clear about Your Target Goal and Why It Matters
   Identify what you want to achieve that is meaningful to you, your boss, and your team in the next ninety days. Make it just possible – a stretch but a realistic one.

   Let’s say you want to increase your client base by 10%. If you now have 30 active clients, you will need to add three in the next 90 days. This is a relevant and reasonable goal as long as you create a plan and set aside the time to reach it.

2. Break the Goal Down Into Smaller Pieces
   Take the 90-day time period and break it down into months, weeks, and days.  Uncouple the goal into reasonable, relevant, and achievable targets and chunks of work that will lead you to your final destination.

   For example, to add three new clients to your current list, you will need to add an average of one per month.  Then identify the leading indicators and activities most connected to adding one new client per month.

   An example would be visiting three new prospects per week.  Then identify the leading indicators and activities most connected getting three new client visits per week such as reaching out to five current satisfied clients for referrals per day.

   The trick is to break these steps down until they are so clear and easy to accomplish that you feel little resistance to doing them.

3. Set Up a Supportive Environment
   Make sure that your workplace environment supports your efforts to focus without interruption during the time you have set aside. It is all too easy to get distracted by other phone calls or constant email traffic.

   Focus on the most important and let the other stuff wait.

4. Share Your Goal with Others
   This is where the research comes in handy.  Put practices in place to regularly monitor and share your progress with your key stakeholders.

   Not only does performance transparency provide a bit of extra  pressure and willpower when you need it, but your stakeholders also understand how you are doing and can help when needed.

5. Envision How Reaching the Goal Will Make You Feel
   Yes, adding those extra clients will no doubt increase your revenue, and that’s a great incentive. But knowing how your greater contribution to the team can make you feel will help even more.

   Imagine how proud you will be of your contribution, how good it will feel to succeed in the eyes of your co-workers, and the feeling of accomplishment as you have the opportunity to help even more clients than before.

6. Make Your Goal Part of the Way You Define Yourself
   As you approach the goal, think of yourself as a salesperson who is known for reaching out to new prospects and regularly adding them to your active client list.

   Intentionally identify as a successful rep with a reputation as someone who is always looking for and taking advantage of new opportunities.

7. Add Little Rewards Along the Way
   Each day that you follow your plan, give yourself a figurative pat on the back — maybe it’s a beer with friends at the end of the day or a bike ride through your favorite park to enjoy exercise and nature.

   Being able to look forward to these pleasures will help you stay on track.

The Bottom Line
Performance relies on your ability to consistently and effectively set and reach meaningful goals.  To improve your odds of success, follow these seven tips.

If you want to learn more about creating high performance as a leader, download How Much Should a Leader Push to Get the Most Out of their Team