Here’s Why You Are Not Winning At Your Goals

They say the hardest journey  is going from  I would like to, to I am. That is no understatement. Its factual, and anyone who’s tried to do anything would agree with this statement. Even the slightest change in our daily routines may sometimes prove difficult at best. You may not define yourself as a social media addict until you try going on a seven-day social media fast, or you may be shocked to discover how much time you have on your hands when you cut down on cellphone time.

Sometimes countless attempts at trying to reach a specific goal may prove effortless. But, there is a way to overcome this if you learn to look at the situation differently and understand why you are not winning as opposed to how to win.

You underestimate your opponent

What you need to realize about goal settings and achieving those goals, requires you to become a new person i.e. a person who achieves these types of goal. And what happens is, you don’t realize the strong hold, the “old” you, has on you. this is applicable whether you’re trying to lose weight, save more money, read more or just being more grateful and the likes. The older version of yourself is your biggest opponent and you may neglect working on that whilst trying to get to where you need to be.

You need to remember that, there are years and years of doing things a certain way and a specific wiring that needs to be undone. Your mindset, your actions, your thoughts, your perception. Most people who succeed at their goals always advocate transformation. Transformation of one self and one’s mind is the surest way to overcome those obstacles.

You are too trusting of your future self

This point is the number one reason procrastination ranks high on the list of why people don’t win at their goals. You trust yourself in the future way more than you should.  Take note of the fact that the best you, is the you today, that you is the person who becomes you in the future. You won’t make better decisions or take action tomorrow by some divine intervention, the future you, the you that will do that thing tomorrow, is a mere product of what you sow today.

The only reason you procrastinate on tasks and important assignments is because you trust that tomorrow you will automatically be a better person. This is a very common mistake we all make. You need to be more proactive and trust that you today is the only one who knows and can do what is best for you at this moment with what you know. The only person who will put down that muffin and exercise more is you today, the only person that will make the time for all their urgent tasks is you today, the only person that will finally take risks is you today. You have not met you in future so you don’t have any idea what that person is like. Don’t take the gamble of putting your whole life in their hands.

You have not changed the story in your mind

What do you think about being everything you want to be? you may have these dreams and goals and you set out to achieve these dreams and goals but you are not very proactive in going out to reach them? Why is that? this could boil down to the simple fact that you don’t believe you will ever be those things and do the things you want to do. What is the story that you tell yourself? What do you believe about yourself? Are you smart enough? Are you good enough? Do you think you are worthy enough or just enough at all to do the things you wanted to do?

Most people don’t achieve their goals simply because they do not think they deserve it. this may sound ludicrous considering they are the same people who dream them up. but many people are raised in families where they were told that these things were simply not for them or that they will never graduate and earn honest income. Some may have painful past experiences that have left permanent marks on their whole outlook in life. Changing the story in your mind involves being cognizant of your thoughts. The best way to do this is to catch your thoughts, writing them down on paper and seeing what your thought process is like because the best way to achieve your goals and dreams is by believing that you can.

Your source of inspiration

What drives you? what is motivating you? when you start to understand the why? The how becomes much easier. Lets say for example you want to be a multi-millionaire, why is that? it may sound so obvious why i.e. live a more comfortable life, buy bigger house, afford better healthcare, live a better life. But wanting those things is not enough to drive you and discipline you to the level you need to get. Simply wanting a three-floor mansion is not enough to wake you up on those cold winter nights. That’s because what exists in all of us is what I like to call the settler’s mentality.

The settler’s mentality is basically consoling yourself that what you have is enough. This mentality affects you subconsciously. When you justify laziness by thinking that your current situation is good enough and you are better than you were yesterday and way better off than a homeless person. Don’t get me wrong, I am for showing gratitude and being thankful but this is about not getting outside your comfort zone because it’s exactly that, comfortable. Comfortable enough that staying and dying wouldn’t be the absolute worst thing. so, your source of inspiration needs to be something way bigger than you and something better than itself.

You can dream of a mansion with ten bathrooms but someone else is dreaming of a mansion with twenty bathrooms. You need to find inspiration beyond the tangible. Some people who succeed in life say all they wanted was a chance to change the circumstances for everyone in their family and be able to provide them with access to education and job opportunities. No goal is better than the other but being able to make something personal and meaningful is a good start.

You apply short fixes to a long-term process

This one is obvious. You know people who go on fad diets, or try get rich quick schemes. Its unbelievable how many people still fall victim to this. When you set out to do something, you need to remember after ownership comes maintenance. It needs to be kept and repaired and refreshed. Sorry to break this to you but there is no gastric bypass to life. If you make a million you need to learn to either keep the million or grow the million. Trying to find the easiest shortest route to your destiny is more detrimental to yourself and your own life.

Its important and worth noting that, the dreams and goals you have were given to you alone and need to be kept and guarded with pride and dignity. Short cuts and cheating is not fair to yourself and everything you stand for. Winning is a mentality that needs to get renewed almost daily and that takes a lot of work.

You need to remember that nothing worth having will come easy. the important thing is to believe that you can achieve those things, to put in the hours and always persist no matter whats in front of you.