We all want to be the best person we can possibly be.
This is why many of us make New Year's resolutions, so that we can try to better ourselves.
It doesn't matter if it is losing weight, reading more, or working harder; anything we can do to improve ourselves is making us a better person.
The problem however is when we fail at our goals.
We get discouraged and most of us fail to try again.
If you find this is you, then I have some good news for you.
You can reach your goals.
And even better, it isn't that difficult to do so when you have a process in place.
This is where many people fail when it comes to goal setting.
They set the goal, but never create a solid plan to achieve said goals.
Here now are three steps to help you reach your goals.
Step #1: Focus On One Thing At A Time Many times, we have a few goals we want to achieve.
Maybe we want to lose weight and we want to spend more quality time with our families.
While these are great goals, we can't do both at the same time right from the start.
This isn't saying that you can never do them both, it's just that at the start, you cannot.
I say this because we all have our routines and having such a drastic change to this routine is a set up for failure.
You need to take one thing at a time.
First, work on going to the gym a few times per week to get used to this being a part of your schedule.
Once you get used to going to the gym, then you can work in time to spend with your family on top of this.
As you progress, working the two into your new routine will become easier and easier.
Step #2: Take It Slow Don't rush things.
Going back to the goal of losing weight, there are two ways you are going to try to lose weight - being more active (going to the gym) and eating more healthy.
Just like I said above about focusing on one thing at a time, you need to do the same with individual goals as well.
Starting to go to the gym 3 times per week and completely changing your diet is going to lead to failure for many people.
It's just too much change.
Start off by only going to the gym or only eating healthy.
Once this becomes routine for you, where you don't have to think about it, you just do it, you can then introduce the other component into your life.
Step #3: Accept Failure This isn't to say accept failure and give up trying.
It's saying that know you will fail at times.
We're human, we fail.
It's what we do.
Don't beat yourself up when you.
Instead, take a step back, reflect on everything and see if you can figure out what went wrong and why it went wrong.
Once you do this, accept it and move on, knowing that you won't make that mistake again or you will be ready for that challenge next time it show up.
For example, I wanted to limit eating out.
I was saving up for a house and didn't want to spend money on fast food.
One Saturday I was out running errands and I became very hungry.
I ended up giving in and buying Burger King.
Instead of getting mad at myself, I looked at what happened: I stayed out a long time and became hungry.
How do I overcome this? I settled on packing snacks.
The next time I headed out for an afternoon of running errands, I had a few healthy snacks in my car.
When I got hungry, and I did, I simply ate my snacks.
This held me over until I returned home and could eat a meal.
Problem solved.
Final Thoughts When it comes to goals, most people fail at the planning stage, not at actually setting their goals.
If more of us paid attention to the importance of goal setting, then we would realize success more often.
Remember to take things slow, focus on one thing at a time and accept failure.
Doing these 3 things will set you up for success with your goals down the road.