Sir Winston Churchill, a former British Prime Minister, “once said that success is not final, and failure is not fatal. Instead, it’s the courage to continue that counts.” It’s a fact that achieving any significant goal is difficult. It requires energy and dedication, and you need to know your strengths and weaknesses.
In this article, we will discuss things that can stop you from reaching your goals. If you know what has been preventing you from achieving your business goals, you can figure out how to work around them. Here are five common reasons that are holding you from smashing all your business goals:
#1. You Set Unattainable Goals
It’s exciting to set goals! You could have big dreams. But if you aim too high, then you most likely will not achieve your goals. You will also drain your mental, physical and emotional energy and end up feeling like a loser.
So that’s why a business owner should set feasible goals. For example, let’s say you started a small restaurant that generates an average of $7000 per month in the last six months. And suddenly, you say in the next six months, your restaurant will generate $1000000. This very well sounds like an uphill task. The likelihood of reaching such a goal is small, and you will most likely end up disappointed.
#2. You Have Doubts
When you doubt your abilities and don’t believe in yourself, you will accomplish very little. For example, whenever you set a goal, you never stop imagining all the things that could go wrong. You ask yourself, “What if I don’t succeed?” Having doubts and not believing in your potential will hold you back from success.
Most successful business owners like Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffet, Richard Branson, Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, and many others have strong confidence in their products and services. For that reason, they invest millions of dollars into their companies. If these successful business owners didn’t believe in their businesses, they wouldn’t have made the bold move of investing their money, time, and effort. So whenever you set goals, ensure you believe in your ability to accomplish them.
#3. You Fear Success
Believe it or not, many people are scared of success. We all fear the unknown. Besides, nothing more can prevent a young entrepreneur from achieving his goals than fear of failure. Perhaps that’s the reason you haven’t been able to reach your business goals. You’re probably scared of success too! You wish to become a marketing executive in your company. But then you find it scary to speak to people about your ideas.
Or you have these big dreams of becoming a big-time real estate agent. You not only think of this all the time, but you feel it. But it’s sure scary too! One common sign that you fear success is when you begin to procrastinate. This action hardly helps you to achieve your goals because you feel you don’t deserve success. According to Denis Waitley: “Procrastination refers to the fear of success. People procrastinate because they are scared of the success they know will result in moving ahead now. Because success is heavy, carries a responsibility with it, it is much easier to procrastinate and live on the ‘someday I’ll…’ philosophy.”
#4. Your Goals Are Too Vague
A famous saying goes like this: “In the absence of clearly defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily acts of trivia.” Most times, you set goals that are not specific and clear. Setting vague goals will do you little or no favor in pursuit of your business vision. For example, you could say you want to make money or have more cash in your bank account. Although these ideas are great, if you fail to map out how you will increase your income and savings, you may not achieve them.
More importantly, when you set specific goals, you will know what you want to do and how to make it happen. So instead of wishing for more cash in your account, try asking yourself what product or services will interest your customer base. Then you work towards marketing such products or services towards them.
Also, ensure you utilize the SMART techniques to make your goals more powerful. SMART stands for:
- S – Specific (or Significant).
- M – Measurable (or Meaningful).
- A – Attainable (or Action-Oriented).
- R – Relevant (or Rewarding).
- T – Time-bound (or Trackable).
#5. Your Goals Are Not Motivating
Tony Robbins once said: “People aren’t lazy. They just have impotent goals – that’s, goals that don’t inspire them.” If your goals aren’t exciting, you may lack the motivation to see them through. It’s easy to lose interest in a project that you find dull and uninspiring. So ensure you engage in tasks that are engaging, fun, and rewarding to do.
That way, you would always have the zeal to take action and go the extra mile to complete your tasks. Attach strong emotional sentiment to your goals. Then you will have a powerful driving force to motivate you. Solid and emotional reasons could be what you need to fuel your motivation. And when you’re inspired, no matter the challenges you face, you will keep persisting until you accomplish your goals.
Final Words
In the words of Michael Jordan: “When you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.” It could be disappointing when you fail to achieve your goals, discouraging you from setting other primary business goals. So rather than feeling disappointed when you didn’t attain them, take your time to reflect and analyze why you didn’t achieve your business objectives. That way, you would learn and grow from your overall experience. Don’t give up too soon when you face setbacks or challenges. Instead, look for a way around your challenges and work towards getting what you want in life. Achieving your business goals or attaining success in your various endeavors in life is tricky. You must understand this requires a great deal of hard work. So unless you’re willing to keep going during tough times, you will never achieve your goals.
