Why most Goal Setting Fails
Goal setting. What does that mean? Everyone understands having goals, even setting them, but what does it take to really achieve your goals? And are the goals you set really the goals you want and can achieve? Setting goals requires you to dig deeper into your own wants and needs, to really evaluate what’s important. I talk with my private clients every day and I have to admit I haven’t done a good enough job myself with my clients in helping them identify and define their goals. This is not a new subject, but one important to discuss and understand fully.
First your goals have to be yours. You have to set your own goals. When I worked for sales companies and my goals were set by the boss, they never worked and in this article you’ll find out why. You’ll also find out how to set attainable goals. When you understand how to set goals that are important only then will your goals drive you. Until then the goal will only be a ‘nice’ thought or a note on the wall.
Before I begin, I’d like to hear what your goals are and discuss them further. You can share yours with me at cthompson@canvassking.com.
One of my mentors and a guru of self development is the late Zig Ziglar and his teachings resonate with me because we share similar roots. His career started out selling pots and pans door to door. His research revealed there are 4 reasons why most people don’t set goals.
See if you identify with any of these
1. Most don’t set goals because their self image is so poor
2. Fear of ridicule
3. No goal setting modeling
4. Never taught how to set goals
Zig traveled the world teaching people how to be better and more successful. A question he asked of audiences was what they wanted in life and from all the audiences he determined that most people want the following 8 things.
- Be happy
- Be healthy
- Be prosperous
- Personally secure
- Friends
- Peace of mind
- Good family relationships
- Have hope for the future
It doesn’t matter a person’s gender, heritage or ethnicity it boils down to these 8 things and it’s a good starting point for our discussion. From these points you can determine what’s most important to you. Of course, in this article, I’m addressing it from the canvasser’s goal setting, though it applies in any area of your life.
With the first of the year approaching many managers’ or owners’ thoughts are focusing on what you’re going to do in sales and how much product you’re going to sell. I said earlier that my boss’ goals never worked for me because this is the usual model the boss used to set the goal.
The Pep-Talk
- Set a goal
- Write it down
- Put a deadline on it
- Develop the plan and work the plan
- Visualize the success
- Measure it
- Overcoming adversity
- Stay positive
Often at the end of this exercise the manager gave me a smile and a thumbs up and said, “Now go get em!” Have you ever had that conversation with a boss? I’m sure you have. To me this sounds and feels a lot more like a pep talk than a real exercise in goal setting.
I wish it were as simple as following the list I just wrote, but, I have bad news for you. For you to set real goals and truly achieve those goals, regardless if they’re personal or professional goals, it’s going to require you to make changes in your behavior and choices; and it’s going to require you to do some work emotionally and physically. I’m sorry to break the news, but achievement doesn’t come without effort. The man who climbs to the top of the mountain has to scale the side to reach the top. The college football player chosen as the Heisman recipient doesn’t achieve that goal without investing some blood, sweat and tears.
The battle of goal setting will be won in the 5-6 inches between your ears. I’ve written before that much of success is in having the right mindset. Unless you’re in the right frame of mind your body won’t be motivated to achieve. The same is true in goal setting, though it’s much easier to alter you mindset in setting goals. It’s important to understand how your mind works. Your subconscious mind drives your physical and conscious being based on how you program it and the programming is created in the words you say and hear. Typically goals are set in the present tense. “I want to make $1000 a week by making X appointments.”
The word ‘want’ is the wrong word. It defines where you are, in the present; right now you don’t have the thing you want and that it’s off in the future. It’s a hope, not a goal. In short, it suggests failure. Instead, put your goals in past terms as if you’ve already accomplished them. It tricks your mind that you’ve already accomplished it. You don’t have to believe in it for it to work; you only have to do it. It’s a subtle tweak on goal setting.
You must believe and expect your goals. You have to fight past your past experiences of having not achieved goals. With this new information you’ll be armed with the tools and knowledge to decide on and work toward your goals. We don’t really push ourselves hard enough for our goals, especially in today’s society of instant gratification. Because we’re battling a history of failed goals, when we identify new goals we subconsciously insert the word ‘how’. We don’t hear ourselves say or think it, but subconsciously we’re asking ourselves how we are going to achieve this new goal when we’ve failed at so many others in the past. Past failures are not a predictor of our future. We tend to be hardest on ourselves. This is not the time for the planning and strategy of ‘how’ to achieve your goals, which will come later. Know that your unproductive thoughts create your beliefs. They create:
Worry
Doubt
Uncertainty
Fear
The stronger your subconscious ‘How’ the greater your battle to achieve your goals. An easy way to eliminate the how is to ask yourself, when setting a goal, “Why do I really want this goal?” Can you answer that question honestly? “Everything you think about, believe in and expect is constantly being delivered to you.” You have to have faith that you can accomplish what you set.
“The light bulb went off for me.”
Here’s a question for you. Think of a time when you did have a goal that you wanted it so bad that you accomplished it. There was sufficient enough motivation there to keep driving you forward. When I think back on my own past goal setting and compare the goals I did and didn’t achieve, those that I did achieve I had a strong reason why I wanted them; and those I didn’t achieve, there wasn’t a strong reason why behind it.
The real motivation comes from the desire within you. I wish I could take credit for that wisdom, but I learned it from Napoleon Hill. Hill wrote the bible on success, Think and Grow Rich, which, if you haven’t read it you should. Have you ever noticed that the fundamental success principles stand the test of time? Hill’s Think and Grow Rich was published in 1937 and in it he wrote, “Desire is the starting point of all achievement. It’s not a hope; it’s not a wish, but a keen pulsating desire that transcends everything.” He determined this after interviewing 500 of the most successful business people in America (Rockefeller, Carnegie, Edison) at the time. If you asked any of today’s most successful people, Mark Cubin, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Donald Trump or Mark Zuckerburg, they too would voice that without a true desire they would not have reached their goals.
What’s your ‘real’ reason why to accomplish the goal you set?
We’re talking about making money canvassing. So let’s consider a financial goal. Say you want to make $1000 per week. What’s really below that goal? Why do you want to make that amount of money? The money itself isn’t a motivator. However, having the money to be able to buy a new car or pay off your credit card debt so you can buy a new home is a keen pulsating desire that transcends everything. Is it enough to get you off your butt and work? Money doesn’t motivate, but what you can do with the money can be a motivator. As a manager, keep in mind that what motivates you won’t necessarily motivate others.
Canvassing has to be one of the most mentally and emotionally challenging careers you can choose. It’s fraught with rejection and it can expose instantly where you stand with prospects. If you don’t have this stuff in place at the start it’ll reveal where you are and if you have what it takes to be successful. It’s vital for canvassing success.
What is your level of commitment? You’ll never get what you want; you’ll achieve what you’re committed to.
“The losers make promises they often break. Winners make commitments they always keep.” Dennis Waitely
Putting the game plan together
Consider goal setting now from the new canvasser’s position. When I train a new recruit I teach them how to learn each step of my system. For example I take them out and get them to perfect the first line of the introduction before they move on to the next step. Most want the canvasser to come away with a lead at the first door, but this sets up a failure mindset. I set small goals they can achieve and through the achievement they gain confidence and that confidence snowballs. Let’s face it, you can’t do the same things you’ve done in the past and expect different results.
From this article I want you to take away a new way of understanding of goal setting. We as humans have thousands of self thoughts a day. Most people’s self thoughts are negative so at the core of achieving your goals is changing your thoughts to more positive ones. Your belief system and success starts with your thoughts. You have to fight all the negative self thoughts.
For an extra bonus listen to the December 15, 2013 Silver Level Telecoaching live call for Tony Robbins’ Quadrant of Belief System that I shared for a model to follow for altering your own belief system.
Thank you for spending your time with me over the past year and it’s been an honor being your canvassing coach. In closing, I want to remind you to share your goals with me and have a safe and happy holiday season.
You can contact me at www.AskTheCanvassKing.com, or by email at cthompson@canvassking.com, or by phone at (216) 588-1337.