A fruitful life is a life spent setting and hitting targets or goals. For it would be a flat and thoroughly boring life if one never set any goals but just went on living each day as it comes. Goals are targets we set to help us reach certain levels, often greater than the current level we are in.

Although everyone has different reasons for setting goals, the underlying core of goal-setting is to become better versions of ourselves. Setting and achieving goals help us to grow into better people.

As important as goal-setting is, a lot of people do not set them, and they just float through life with no direction whatsoever. Other people set goals and start working on them, but then they leave the goals unachieved and go hunting for the next target. Once you have unachieved goals, you begin to develop guilt, anxiety, and low self-esteem.

Once these negative feelings creep into the picture, the human cannot help but feel overwhelmed by certain tasks and the solution would be to quit and find something new to start. However, to avoid this, you need to create a system that will help you stay on track and push you from the beginning to the end of a task. From when you begin a project to when the project comes to completion. A system is so strong that even people who have unachieved goals, unfinished tasks, or broken agreements with themselves can find a way to start and eventually complete tasks. Because a system is stronger as a habit, you will notice tremendous amounts of success once you form a system as a habit.

This system must cover certain key areas in your life for it to be effective and achieve its purpose. These aspects are your family life, personal life, social life, and career life. The system must cover all these aspects holistically as even success in all aspects but failure in one will lead to incomplete goals and an ineffective system.

The three steps in the system are:

– Conquer the battle within

– Taking action

– Maintaining success

Conquer the Battle Within

Battles, or what we see of them, are made manifest on the battlefield, but that’s never the point of origin. Battles start in the head and in the mind of the individual before being manifested on the field. Goal-setting and achieving are like fighting a battle. First, you have to find an enemy you would like to defeat which is the target you must hit, then you must prepare your soldiers or whatever forces you have. These forces are resources that can be used to conquer the battle.

The greatest resource, though, is a stable mind. If the mind is in a good mental state, the set goals will definitely be achieved. A sound mind will be able to help you shut down the compromising voices in your head. These voices are within, and if you give them a little chance then they may slowly dissuade you from taking any action and load you with doubts that you may soon grow to believe. They eat at you slowly and then overwhelm you with time.

The second resource after a sound mind in a heart that is not easily swayed by emotions. When you set goals, lots of emotions may crave your time and attention, but if you give in to them, then you will begin to feel drained and incapable of completing tasks that you have started.

The battle may be seen outwardly, but once you conquer the battle within, there is no doubt you will have enough willpower to conquer every other battle.

To win the holistic battle and conquer your personal life, family life, social life, and career life.

In order to win the battles of life, you need to find a balance between the most important aspects of your life, which as earlier stated include your personal life, family life, social life, and career life. One of the main reasons why people find it difficult to complete tasks and achieve their goals is due to the absence of a work-life balance.

And that is why this system has been provided: the system will help you balance all the important aspects of life.

Your personal life is yours and it is solely up to you to set goals and keep going until you complete them. Personal goals could include trying to become a better version of yourself by reading or working out to stimulate the mind or body respectively. You could set goals in areas like spirituality or trying to learn a new language- anything that would be beneficial to you as a person falls here.

Family life is perhaps the most important aspect of your life and one you should devote yourself fully to ensuring that it is well taken care of. Setting goals for the family could include trying to be a better spouse or parent, and taking better care of the home, in general, should be the topmost priority because when the home is happy, you will not have to fight battles on many fronts.

Setting goals socially could include going out to meet new friends or discarding old, harmful friends. Another social goal could be serving as the role of a mentor for people who are trying to embark on the journey that you have taken. If you have applied the system and it worked for you, teach it to others and show them what they need to do, and also importantly, what they shouldn’t do, if they want to be successful. 

In your career, you probably have ambitions to make it to the top of the ladder, but that would not be possible without setting and hitting your goals, whether it is personal goals, family goals, career goals, or social goals.

In these aspects mentioned above, you need to find the right balance and not neglect any aspect. Do not devote too much time to your career at the expense of your family, or give a lot of time to your personal life that it eats up your social life. Make sure you find the right balance so the scale is always neutral. This will help you to keep going and shut the voices in your head while gently taking care of the emotions that are competing for your heart as well.

If possible, make plans and allocate time and resources in appropriate proportions for all these aspects mentioned as a loss in one area could affect all the other areas.

Here is a helpful tip:

Here are some questions you should ask yourself:

Make 4 goal lists for each of the core areas of life. Don’t forget to write down uncompleted goals that you want to achieve. If there are any distracting voices in your head, write them down and keep them aside. This trick has been known to help you stay focused and not be distracted by them.

Are your goals truly meaningful to you on a deep level? Are these goals realistic for your current season of life? Which of these goals have the greatest impact in the four areas of your life and which ones are not important? It is good to narrow this down because focusing on too many things leads to losing them all.

Rate your goals according to the above questions. Once you know which goals have the highest priorities in each area, choose one or two goals in each area and share them with an accountable partner who can help you to get your goals done such as your spouse or coworkers.

Taking Action

You have successfully set your goals and have dedicated yourself to completing them. Now it is time to spring into action to make your dreams a reality- to make those goals come true.

There are certain helpful things you should do before taking action, so you don’t just go in blind and live to regret the decision.

– The first thing you should do is to write the consequences of each task beside it. What will completing this goal do for you? This will keep you motivated for the journey ahead.

– You also need to give yourself a deadline as a goal without a deadline is simply a wish. A deadline is not meant to scare you off, but to serve as a reminder that you should get the task done so you can move on to the next challenge. Give yourself enough time so you can work at a reasonable pace to avoid overwhelming yourself by exerting too much effort. This will ruin the momentum you are building.

– A lot of people have no idea how tough showing up is. It may be tough, but you have made the commitment to stick with the goal until you finish so it would be best if you make showing up daily a habit. If you incorporate this habit into your system, you will be unstoppable. You can create this habit by breaking down the goal into smaller, relatable goals. Once you achieve these little goals, it gives you a boost of confidence that will keep you going until you finish the goal. If you keep showing up daily, it will destroy any laziness and get you on a roll.

You should make a list of tiny tasks that will accumulate to make the big goal. Look at the list and tick as you complete the tasks. This will boost you mentally and spur you to keep going. If you can do one, then you can do one more until you finish.

It is important to know that distractions are inevitable. These usually come in the form of other ideas or goals that you should achieve. The best solution is to find a way to quiet down these distracting voices. You can do that by writing the nagging tasks or goals as they come on the task or goal list so that you can focus on what’s truly important. You should focus on tasks that are urgent and important.

The YouTube video below will show you how you can categorize tasks using Notion. It will show you how to use tables to filter tasks based on several categories such as ASAP, next week, or someday in the future, etc. It will also tell you what to do and when to do it.

You can also use a technique known as the Pomodoro method which will help you to stay focused on a task, especially the most difficult and annoying tasks. The Pomodoro method is available on apps such as Befocused, Sapling, Costudy, and Study Bunny. They help you block out a specific period to complete a certain task and block all other tasks from interrupting you.

Maintaining Success

You may be on a roll since you set goals and you have achieved them, but the fall hurts more the higher you are. It is good to celebrate your achievements, but it would be detrimental to rest on your laurels. You need to withdraw and look at the bigger picture to avoid being overwhelmed.

It is common for people to be drunk on their past successes that they begin to feel infallible. They feel they can take on any challenge, and this ultimately leads to their doom. What you need to do is to step back, pause, and take a breather. As much as you should celebrate your successes, it should be to spur you on and not to make you relax and get too comfortable.

To be able to do this, you need to take your time to analyze some key things that have brought you thus far. Make it a habit to conduct a weekly review so that you can measure how far you have come and how far you still have to go.

Here are some helpful things to consider when conducting your review:

 – What overwhelms you now?

– What goals or tasks can I set for the coming week?

 – What goals or tasks have the highest priorities?

– What have I been able to accomplish in the past week?

– What did I do right that I can repeat or improve upon?

– What did I do wrong that I should avoid when aiming for the new week’s goals?

– Did anything arise unexpectedly that blocked my productivity?

– Did I give sufficient attention to all the areas?

– What tasks could I have delegated?

-What goal or task should be moved from the maybe/future list to the active list?

Honestly answer these questions (although there are many more) during your review and you will be able to complete your tasks and hit your goals. Then make corrections on new tasks by focusing on what truly matters and delegating what someone else could do to improve your productivity and save time.

If you want to complete goals instead of starting and not completing goals, then you need a solid system, and this has been provided for you. Study them and implement and you will be able to complete your goals.

Reference:

David Allen. Getting Things Done.

Carol S. Dweck. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success

Croswell, Paul W. Life Balance: A Life-Balance Approach To Reaching Your Goals and Changing Your Life