If you want to reach your goals this year, pay close attention.
What I’m about to share has made a huge difference in my life and gotten me out of the ghetto of my own mind so I could start living my dreams.
If you set goals like everybody else, you are NOT going to reach a single one this year.
Why?
Because most people don’t understand that “goals” and “outcomes” are NOT the same.
How To Tell The Difference
A lot of people get confused about the difference between Goals and Outcomes.
Look at it this way.
If I say…
I want to get a new job making $120,000 per year.
Is that an outcome or a goal?
That’s an outcome because it’s focused on a result you produce.
Compare that to…
I will attend an industry event and connect with 3 new people every month either through phone or coffee meet up.
That’s a goal because it’s wrapped around one of the very few things you can control in this life…
Your actions.
In this life, you can only control two things:
- What you think;
- What you do.
Everything else is outside of your control.
You can’t control the government, the weather, the economy, other people, or any external circumstance.
This is something I want you to remember…
You can always control the goal.
You can’t control the outcome.
Taking specific actions is your goal, not the outcome those actions lead to.
How To Apply This In Real Life
There is a simple 3 phase process I go through to keep my life under control and achieve what I want.
- Write out ONE primary outcome;
- Write down the actions I must take to produce that outcome;
- Decide how I’m going to take those actions on a daily, weekly, monthly basis and get them on my schedule.
Phase 1 – Choose ONE Primary Outcome
In this first step, you should write out ONE outcome for each major area of focus in your life, such as: financially, spiritually, family, health, etc.
Two tips on this:
- Do NOT list every possible outcome in every aspect of your life.
- Instead, write down ONE outcome in each area thats most important to you. Focus is key!
- Phrase your outcome in the positive, NOT the negative.
- If you say, “I really need to lose these 50 pounds.”, you’ll never lose those 50 pounds.
- Phrase your outcome as what you want in the present tense, such as “I am living at my ideal weight of 190 pounds.”
Phase 2 – Actions To Produce The Outcome
My next step is to focus on the actions I need to take to produce that outcome. This is often a rather large list of all the things I need to do in order to accomplish that ONE outcome.
If we take “I am living at my ideal weight of 190 pounds” as the outcome. I would come up with lots of actions like:
- Buy exercise shoes;
- Find a place to exercise;
- Hire a coach;
- Exercise every day;
- Walk every day;
- Sleep well;
- Get my heart rate up.
Even though we have identified all the actions we must take to achieve our ONE outcome, we are not done yet. There’s one more step.
Phase 3 – Sequencing & Scheduling
While “I live at my ideal weight of 190 pounds” is a great outcome and we know what actions we need to take to produce that outcome…
We DON’T want to sit there with a list of 100 action items you’ll get to later.
Instead, we focus again on writing out the ONE big action that would make the most impact.
For example, when I wanted to start this blog, my goal was a specific, daily action, “Wake up every morning at 6:30 and write for a minimum of 30 minutes.”
Setting my goal as a daily action I could control how much content I put out.
That’s what built the momentum.
That’s what went on my calendar as a DAILY action.
That’s what got me unstuck and finally able to get this blog up and running after having the idea for years in my head.
What is the ONE action you can take daily that will make your outcome a sure thing?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Bilal is an internationally renowned coach for aspiring CA’s and CPA’s.
Bilal believes that CA’s are individuals with grit, perseverance and sound business and financial knowledge.
Yet he finds many not achieving their dreams and goals. He created this website to help young CA’s maximise their potential and fast-track their careers.
You might be interested to visit his LinkedIn page https://www.linkedin.com/in/bilalnoorgat/ to learn more about his background.
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