By Marvin Steinberg, founder – Reach Goals
I’ve witnessed first-hand the transformational power of setting goals for success in both my professional and personal life. I had my life planned out from a young age, or so I thought I did. I was on track to become a young sports star in table tennis. Wealth, success, and recognition of my talent were all within my reach.
However, it was within seconds that they fell out of my reach when I suffered a permanent injury. This injury meant I could no longer play table tennis and chase my dreams of becoming a star athlete. I was so disappointed and found myself feeling hopeless, directionless, and unsure of what to do next.
I didn’t know what to work towards in life or what mattered to me at that moment. It felt like everything had been taken away from me in a flash. This was the hardest time of my life, a true crisis period where my dreams had been shattered. Eventually, my drive and motivation took over, and I refused to give up and let this darkness become my reality.
I turned to anything that could help me and eventually, made a life-altering discovery, and that was the immense potential of setting and pursuing clear goals. This revelation marked a turning point in my life as I began to set goals and take concrete steps towards achieving them. One of these goals was to become a millionaire, which I managed to achieve.
Understanding the transformational power of setting goals, I wanted to help others who felt a bit lost or as though their dreams were impossible to achieve. I founded Reach Goals, designed to help individuals set and achieve their goals with the help of cutting-edge artificial intelligence technology. This app is a testament to my unwavering commitment to making personal development not only more accessible but enjoyable.
I strongly believe that the journey toward achieving a goal should be just as rewarding as when you cross the finish line. Goals became my lifeline to success and happiness, and they can do the same for every other person. Many people are under the impression that running a business is not so hard or that being a good leader is easy.
However, it’s important to remember that CEOs, Co-Founders, and Directors face their own individual challenges, and this career path comes with a stack of responsibilities and risks. The habit of goal setting can be transformative in all areas of a person’s life, but one where it is pivotal is leadership.
Running your own business is unpredictable and tough to manage; every decision is either a make or break. With all this in mind, plenty of enterprises do not succeed within the first few years of being established. It’s not just because business is a challenging venture; the likelihood is often that leaders aren’t setting clear goals.
Without goals, a business has no defined purpose or aspirations to strive for, and as a result, it remains stagnant and struggles to unlock meaningful accomplishments. Whether for a business professional or an everyday person, goals are our stepping stones to the result we hope to achieve.
Goal setting is a critical habit to becoming an effective leader and successful business owner or entrepreneur. It was the habit of goal setting that helped huge names in business like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Elon Musk find success. Goals give you insights on what to focus on, inspire your employees, and help you set realistic targets.
They can also offer you a set of criteria to assess whether your enterprise is succeeding. Setting well-defined and clear objectives helps you take control of your organization’s decisions and boosts the likelihood of you achieving those bigger aspirations that may have once felt out of reach. Ultimately, goals are key to growing your business and ensuring it thrives.
This is why they must become part of ongoing business operations and be incorporated into every business strategy. Goals are vital for both organizational and individual growth. They provide a sense of purpose, clear direction, and a means to measure progress. The habit of goal setting also helps leaders to foster a growth mindset, improve their overall performance, and boost motivation.
The words of management guru Peter Drucker reign true here: “What gets measured, gets managed”. Making a habit of goal setting can be the difference between a thriving enterprise and a stagnating one. Goals allow leaders to ensure their teams remain engaged, focused, and aligned with the company’s mission, vision, and aspirations.
However, goal setting is about much more than simply dreaming of a better future or outcome, you must take concrete steps and actively work towards achieving your goals. With this in mind, goal setting and achieving your aspirations is a real journey and not something that occurs with minimal attention. Despite the importance of setting goals, in a vast majority of cases, setting goals does not translate into success for leaders.
A study from The Economist reports that as many as 90 percent of businesses fail to meet their strategic goals. There are many different reasons why they fail to achieve their goals, but some of the most common ones are that they think too big, don’t set clear goals, or have nothing to keep them accountable. The importance of accountability in goal setting cannot be understated.
Without a reason or motivation, it is very easy to become distracted by other priorities and stop giving time to your goals. When accountability is present, organizations and individuals can identify and overcome obstacles, remain focused on their goals, and even celebrate their small victories.
A Harvard Business Study found that among one MBA class, the 3 percent of graduates who wrote down their goals and worked towards them earned significantly more (up to 10 times more) than the remaining 97 percent. Additionally, many people fail to achieve their goals because they do not know how to set clear ones. There are lots of different types of goals and frequently, a big goal contains lots of smaller habitual changes and steps.
Not all goals are daily small goals that can be accomplished within a day, most of the objectives people set are medium or long-term goals, which means remaining motivated and putting in effort every single day. There is a clear gap for many leaders between setting their well-intended goals and achieving them. Many things are contributing to this gap, like those mentioned above, but another big one is that some leaders believe simply setting a goal is enough.
They believe if they think about the goal frequently and have a real craving for it, their desired outcome will eventually manifest. There’s a big difference between the habit of goal setting and the habit of achieving goals. This is something that has the power to change people’s lives and help them become a better version of themselves. However, many do not know how to approach this area.
The significance of this is only more heightened in roles of leadership where leadership is deemed a vital component to achieving business goals. When you are setting goals for the organization and your team, make sure you are setting goals that are realistic and achievable. If they seem too big, consider breaking them down into smaller bite-sized actions.
Increase your accountability towards achieving your goals by setting up reminders to review and reflect on your progress. Make sure to celebrate those smaller bite-sized actions you did take and enjoy the journey of getting to the desired destination. Think about your goals regularly, write them down, and write about how you are progressing towards achieving them.
If there are limiting beliefs holding you back from achieving your goals, start making it concrete to yourself that you can achieve them through affirmations and visualization. Remember that goals are stepping stones to a happier life, and achieving them won’t happen overnight or simply by setting them. As Aristotle said, “Well begun is half done”, and setting goals is just half the journey of fulfilling them.
About the author: Marvin Steinberg, the founder of Reach Goals, emerged from his darkest days with an unwavering commitment to personal transformation through goal-setting. In the depths of his life crisis, Marvin recognized that clear goals could serve as a lifeline out of despair and into a fulfilling life.