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It’s time to get real.
Never give up can be TERRIBLE advice when it comes to goal setting.
Why you might ask?
Setting goals is how you achieve success. Right?
It’s a way to stay focused and monitor progress.
So, what’s the big deal then?
The Real Way to Achieve Goals Revealed
When goal setting, you are trying to guess if you can or cannot accomplish something with a clear point of success. You are, in essence, guesstimating what you will be able to do within a certain time frame.
And during that time, sometimes people tend to overestimate their abilities or the time needed to accomplish this goal which can leave you feeling miserable.
Before. You. Even. Begin.
Don’t believe me?
How Unattainable Goals Leave You Dead in the Water and Stressed Out
Research shows that those who disengaged from an unattainable goal and reengaged to attainable goals were found to have higher subjective well being and lower stress levels than those who didn’t break away and kept trying to reach the unattainable goal.
So how do you know if a goal is unobtainable?
The funny thing is, sometimes you don’t know until you actually try. Though I think some general warning signs are obvious. Here are the “red flags” of an unattainable goal.
3 Red Flags That Your Goal is Unattainable
1. Thinking willpower will help you push through a tough goal.
(The Little Engine That Could was overrated.)
2. Completely abandoning ship.
(Consider switching gears to alternative goals.)
3. You’re considering using software to keep track.
(It’s overkill and you’re making things harder than they need to be.)
Again, if the goal is just unrealistic coming out of the gate, you set yourself up to fail.
I want to know what you think. Do you have any “red flags” to know you are in over your head with a goal?
Also, if you made it this far, you may also like Goal Setting the Right Way Part I & Part II.
If one of your goals is to not waste food, read below.
“I like your blog. I especially like this latest one on how you use your receipt on your fridge. Brilliant!”-Sylvia Martinez of SMartinez Media, former Editor-in-Chief at Latina Magazine
Great advice! As a depressive, I always have to set small goals. Otherwise, I overshoot, get overwhelmed, feel ashamed/guilty/self-hating and thereby waste all sorts of energy that could be going into a new effort (on a much smaller scale).
Glad you liked it. I do the same. I find I get more done if I do less. It’s easy to beat up on yourself if it doesn’t work. The research supports that.