The 9 Action Steps To Achieve Any Goals

During the start of the year, everybody had their New Year’s Resolutions as they counted down for the new year.

• “I want to achieve this in 2021”
• “I want to be able to have X amount in 2021”
• “I am going to master investing in 2021”
• “I am going to get in the best shape of my life in 2021”

Guess what – as I am writing this, we are already close to October 2021. Time flies, doesn’t it?

While we are approaching the last quarter in 2021 – we have to ask ourselves this (sometimes uncomfortable) question:

“How are my 2021’s goals going so far?”

And let’s be honest with ourselves – if it has not gone exactly the way you planned it to be, it is time to redeem yourself and start sprinting for the last quarter of 2021. Please don’t wait until 2022 to plan your actions to achieve your goals – start today immediately after reading this.

To help you out, this article are my notes that I learned from someone who originally conducted this “goal-setting” workshop that originally costs companies over $25,000. So read it closely.

Phase 1 - Evaluation

Before we dive in to achieving your goals, we need to first evaluate where exactly we are at right now.

What Were Your Original Goals At The Start Of The Year?

To answer this question, you have to go back to January 2021 and find out what your original goals were. Hopefully, you have it archived somewhere where you can revisit from time to time.

For some of you, it could be the case where you didn’t even set any goals in the first place and that is likely the reason why 2021 didn’t go so well for you. Harsh words I know, but I write this bluntly because I care for your success.

You want to revisit your original goals in four categories:

• Health
• Wealth
• Relationships
• Self

To help you with this, I have included an explanation with each of them:

• Health – What is your ideal physical and mental well-being?
  
  
• Wealth – What is your ideal net worth for this year in dollars?
  
  
• Relationships – How much quality time did you want to spend with your loved ones in terms of hours per week?
  
  
• Self – How much time do you want to spend to enjoy yourself and recharge yourself in terms of hours per week?

To become a well-rounded person, these are the four areas you need to thoroughly evaluate. Some of us might be very good at self-care but at the expense of wealth. Some of us might be amazing at wealth but at the expense of relationships. You need to thoroughly look at your goals and evaluate which areas need more of your focus and attention.

Where are you right now?

Now, in the above section – we visited our original goals for 2021. Now, it is time to face the uncomfortable truth – where exactly am I right now?

• Health – How would you describe your current physical and mental well-being from a scale of 1 to 10?
  
  
• Wealth – How far away is your current net worth from the desired net worth in terms of dollars?
  
  
• Relationships – How much time do you spend with your loved ones in terms of hours per week?
  
  
• Self – How much time do you spend to enjoy yourself in terms of hours per week?

The first thing to take note is don’t try to sugarcoat it – the whole point of the exercise is to do a reality check so that we know where exactly we are in terms of our goals and identify areas that we can do better.

I get it, this can be incredibly uncomfortable. Because for some of us, it requires us to admit that the first three quarters of the year were not very well spent. But if you are reading this in September, it means that, at least, you have a fighting chance to take back control of your goals for 2021 and end it with a bang.

Before I go on and explain the strategies to help you achieve your goals – I need you to do yourself a favor. Take out a pen and paper and actually do the above exercise. Most people don’t value things that come free – but bear in mind that this costs $25,000 for companies. If we are unwilling to implement what we learned, then quite frankly, we deserve to be broke and unhappy.

If you have done the above exercise, then let’s proceed to the next phase - execution.

Phase 2 - The 9 Action Steps

There are a total of 9 things that we need to do for the next 90+ days or so, so that we can finish 2021 with a bang and celebrate the year. Without further ado, let’s dive in.

1) Identify 2 Things Per Area That Can Be Accomplished To Make 2021 End Excellent

The first step to redeem ourselves for the rest of 2021 is FOCUS.

I don’t want us to be focusing on a list of 20 goals. No. Instead in each area, identify two things that you know if accomplished will make 2021 end excellent. Do this for each of the areas – Health, Wealth, Relationships, Self.

I will give you some examples:

Health:

• I want to lose 5kg by the end of 2021
• I want to be able to run a mile in 7 minutes

Wealth:

• I want to be able to launch a product on Amazon by the end of 2021.
• I want to hit $200,000 in my portfolio by the end of 2021.

Relationship

• I want to spend at least 30 minutes every day with my loved ones during weekdays
• I want to buy them a good meal at least once every month

Self

• I want to sleep at least 7 hours every day
• I want to watch Netflix from time to time without compromising my other goals

2. Schedule Your Action Plan In The Calendar

The next step is to break down your goals into weekly and daily action steps – what do you need to do to achieve the two goals in each area.

Please block out time in your calendar to execute these action steps.

If we are willing to block out time to have meeting with our colleagues or boss or clients, then please do the same for your personal goals as well.

You know as well as I do that if things are not scheduled in the calendar, it does not get done. If your calendar has been empty for the past three quarters – this could be the reason why goals are not achieved.

For example, if you want to lose 5kg by the end of 2021 like me, then make sure that you schedule your exercise routine in your calendar.

Now, open up your calendar and take a good hard look at it – are there currently anything scheduled for the purpose of achieving your goals? If not – this is your next action step.

3. Envision Your Success In Each Area

Your brain doesn’t really like words – it loves images.

So, for each goal, you need to answer this question:

“What image does success in this goal look like?”

For example, if you want to hit your first $100,000 in your investment portfolio, then envision you opening your brokerage account and you see six-figures in your portfolio.

And you want to do this for each of the goal.

What I do is called a vision board and I will photoshop these images of my goals. For example, if you want to get six pack abs, then by all means, photoshop yourself with six pack abs. These images have a profound effect on goal setting because now your brain can visualize how success looks like.

If you don’t know how to photoshop – you can always get someone on Fiverr or Upwork to help you do it. In fact, this might be better because you are paying them for that service. When you pay money, you now have a vested interest in your goal, and you improve your chances of success considerably.

4. Understand “Why You Care” About These Goals

The only true way to stay true to your goals is to understand why you care about achieving these goals in the first place. If you cannot find your “why”, then trust me – you are going to give up within the next few days.

For example, the reason why Ed Mylet got into his fitness routine was because a doctor told him that he has a serious heart problem. More importantly, the doctor gave him a “why”. He said to him, “If you continue down this road, you can forget about attending your daughter’s wedding. You will be dead before that happens.”. His daughter was still very young at that point of time.

Isn’t that powerful?

Because of this powerful “why”, Ed Mylet wakes up every morning and execute his health routine. You need to find the same “why” to attach to your goals.

The best reasons are very often the ones we associated to our loved ones.

5. Change Your Identity

You need to ask yourself this profound question, “Who do I need to become to achieve these goals?”

I learned this from Tony Robbin’s mentor, Jim Rohn – you can google him to get some of his books.

It is not the million dollars in the bank that makes you a millionaire, but rather it is the person you have grown into that will make you a millionaire.

Here’s a quote to get you thinking:

“Make a goal to become a millionaire, but not for the money – but rather because of the person you will become. This way, even if you were to lose that million, you can easily build back those million dollars anyways.”

If you have been studying successful people, you know as well as I do that no matter what failures you throw at them, they will still be successful in the end. Why? Because it is the person that they have grown into.

On the contrary, what we realise is that when people struck the lottery and win a million dollars – it is only a matter of time that they lose all that money. Simply because, on the inside, they are still not a millionaire.

Always remember that your inner will reflect your outer, and your outer will reflect your inner. If you have not developed yourself to become a millionaire, then your bank account will reflect that reality, one way or another.

Similarly, if you are already developing yourself to become a millionaire, your bank account will also slowly reflect that.

So, ask yourself this – who do you have to become to achieve the goals that you have set for yourself. Here are some examples.

• To achieve my health goals, I need to become a more disciplined person.
• To achieve my relationship goals, I need to become a better spouse/father/mother/son/daughter.
• To achieve my wealth goals, I need to become a better investor.

Once you shift that identity, achieving your goals is only a matter of time. Remember, your outer reflects the inner, and your inner reflects the outer.

6. Identify The Obstacles

As you pursue these goals, there will be obstacles that you have to overcome, otherwise, it will throw you out of your momentum.

It is much better to figure out what are these obstacles and how to deal with them – failure to do so can catch you off guard and you end up not achieving any of these goals.

For example, if your goal is to exercise every single day for 30 minutes but what if your boss wanted you to work overtime on that day? That’s an obstacle, isn’t it?

But here’s the thing – please don’t be a person who push responsibility. Don’t ever say things like,

“Oh, I cannot achieve my health goals, because my boss keeps asking me to do overtime – I where got time to exercise?”

“Oh it’s raining so heavily today – I can’t go out for a run!”

Let me remind you – to achieve your goals, you need to become the person.

Winners will always find a way, and losers will always find an excuse.

If you cannot run for 30 minutes on that day, then do a shorter exercise instead. One way I like to accomplish this is by doing burpees for 10 minutes – and this can be just as intense as a run.

So, you need to identify all these obstacles upfront so that you know how to deal with it as these obstacles come up.

7. Declare Your Goals

As human beings, we are afraid of embarrassment – this is what make this step so powerful.

Take any two of your goals and declare your goals to your family, friend or even on social media. In fact, take the two goals that you think are the hardest to achieve – and declare it to them that you will achieve by the end of 2021.

By doing this, your friends and family are now watching your every action step to see how you intend to achieve these goals. You are now under the scrutiny of everyone.

And each day if you are not moving towards your goals, guess what – they are going to remind you 🙂

“I thought you say you want to do X – why are you watching NetFlix?”

“I thought you said you want to do Y – how come I don’t see you exercising?”

Like I said, this is the most powerful step – creating a declaration and all eyes will be on you.

8. Start Irreversible steps NOW

Ask yourselves what are the first step that you can do in the next 24 hours of reading this that is IRREVERSIBLE!

For example, if you want to treat your family for a good meal, take out your phone and text them “Dinner is on me tonight. Treat you all to something nice.”

Once you have text this – you have now made a promise and you are forced to execute, otherwise you are nothing but an uncommitted liar.

This is an example of an irreversible step.

Another example for fitness – let’s say you say you are going to start to go to the gym. Okay, go ahead and apply for a gym membership right now. By doing this, you force yourself to become committed.

This is another example of an irreversible step.

Another example for wealth – let’s say you say you are going to start building your first six-figures portfolio. Transfer money into your brokerage account right NOW. While this step is still reversible, most of us will not transfer it back to our bank account since it is a bit of a hassle. But the point I am trying to make is – take the small steps NOW to gain momentum!

9. Determine Your Rewards If You Achieve Your Goals

This is the best part – rewarding yourselves if you do achieve your goals.

This is what gives us something to look forward to when we achieve our goals.

This could be buying yourself a nice lobster meal.

This could be treating yourself to a staycation (if that’s possible).

This could be upgrading your lifestyle – buying a new TV, car, or house.

It is always important to have some self-love and reward yourself for achieving your goals. This will be what give you the momentum for 2022 onwards as well. So, I really hope that you end 2021 with a bang and start 2022 and achieve even bigger goals!

Rewards are so important that I cannot emphasize enough so that you associate positive emotions to achieving your goals and that is what makes you want to do even more 🙂

The Bottom Line

In other words, these are the nine action steps that you need to do for you to achieve your goals. A summary as follows:

1. Identify 2 Things Per Area To Accomplish
2. Schedule Your Action Plan
3. Create A Vision Board
4. Understand "Why You Care" about these goals
5. Change Your Identity
6. Declare Your Goals To Public
7. Start Irreversible Steps NOW
8. Determine Your Rewards

If the first three quarters of 2021 was not great for you – this is what makes the next 90 days ever so important. Please execute these nine steps and end 2021 an EXCELLENT year.

Wishing you all the best for your final sprint,

Gin