Planning for Future Successes
You are now well on your way to achieving your goals. After carefully carving out an action plan and working diligently towards your goals, you have achieved many a success on your way, with a few setbacks as well. However, as and when you reach a goal, remind yourself that this is a continuous process and that there is still so much more you can achieve for yourself.
It is also true that as you grow through life and have new experiences, your priorities and what are important to you will also change. While learning to paint was once a passion with you, you are now married and have kids. Your priority is probably the college degree that may bring you a promotion and higher pay with it. Your values may also change with time. While once you may have thought a grand sports car was worth possessing, you are now more aware of the environmental issues and would prefer a greener car. You need to thus regularly revise and modify your goals in keeping with your changing values and priorities. And the only way you can do that is by constantly giving yourself feedback regarding goals that you have achieved and goals that you have not achieved.
When you have achieved some of your goals, especially the hard ones or any of the long-term ones, you should most certainly take the time to celebrate and enjoy the sense of satisfaction that you get on having achieved them. At the same time, understand what exactly achieving this goal means to you, has it brought you the benefits or the value to your life that you thought it would and how does that affect the rest of your goals?
Learn From Your Failures
When you fail to reach a certain goal, do not be too disheartened. Use this opportunity to get some valuable feedback on where you went wrong and how you can change that when you start out the next time. Some of the reasons may be –
• You did not want the goal you aimed for badly enough. As a result most of your attempts to achieve it would have been half-hearted.
• Perhaps you lacked some of the skills, knowledge or techniques necessary in achieving your goal. Try and understand what these could be and then make suitable changes in your action plan so that acquiring the necessary skills and techniques form part of your goals.
• Perhaps you set the goal too high and felt discouraged midway.
• Or perhaps you just did not try hard enough.
If you use the setbacks you suffered to acquire feedback in this manner and then revise your goals accordingly, even failures will act as stepping-stones to your ultimate success. In fact, you will soon learn not to be unduly fazed by any temporary set back as that can be used as a positive learning experience to keep moving forward.
Learn From Your Successes
If you have been fortunate enough and managed to achieve some or many of your goals, it is even more important that you take the time to analyze what you did right and how you can improve on your performance. Try and use this feedback in the following manner-
• If you felt the goal was too easily achieved, maybe you need to raise the bar the next time around.
• On the other hand, if the goal was too tough and you felt dispirited very often while still managing to achieve it, perhaps you need to make your next goals a little easier.
• You may still feel that acquiring certain skills or improving on existing skills will help you achieve more goals. Again incorporate learning these skills and techniques in your action plan.
Remember setting and achieving goals is a continuous process and as your outlook on life changes, you should revise your goals to reflect these changes. If there are some goals that no longer hold any attraction for you, do not hesitate to let them go. Do not stick with them for the sake of nostalgia. You need to have a real desire to reach your goals because only then will you feel a real sense of satisfaction and a sense of achievement.
Sharing Your Success and Inspiring Others
As you go about trying to achieve your goals and your dreams, you may have many chances to share your success stories with others and to inspire them to aim for their goals too.
• Share your experiences, good and bad with others. Tell them what worked and what did not. Tell them about books they can read, people they can speak to. Point out other helpful resources that you found useful.
• Just as you may have had friends or a mentor to support you and guide you when you need help, there may be others who will benefit from your guidance. Make time for them and allow them to take advantage of your experiences.
• Set a good example. As more and more people watch you go about achieving your goals with grit and determination, they will be inspired to follow your lead. You would have thus successfully inspired many to aim to better their lives.
Goal setting and working to achieve the goals are continuous and lifelong processes. As you aim to lead a richer, fuller life you will find yourself feeling forever motivated and energized.
