Break these 10 laws and you will fail your goals

Human nature is such a beast! We all know very well that there are perfectly good reasons to have rules, structure and an overall rhythm in our life. These not only help us get things done well and in time but also give us some sense of security and safe-guard against the uncertainty of the future. And yet we are often tempted to ignore if not outright break them.

“Goal Buddy” is no exception. Its foundations are some basic goal setting rules. Without them, it would be anything but a system.

You shouldn’t waste a single moment! Start reading and learning, then just follow “The Ten Commandments of Goal Buddy”! And don’t worry! It’s not a crime if it happens so that you break one or two of them. However, there will be punishment still – your odds for success will go up in smoke and that will inevitably push your dreams further away.

Why do you need rules in the first place?

When it comes to your aspirations, which is such a personal thing, you might be skeptical about bringing it under some laws. Why do you have to abide by someone else’s “postulates” when you can create your own and do so according to what suits you best!

You are right to think so. Of course, there is always a catch – only if you had all the time in the world to try and experiment. Since you don’t have it, then you will need a “scaffolding” of sorts. Luckily for you, we can help you with that.

“Goal Buddy”

No rules, no system.

What makes our system such is that we worked hard in the span of many years to test, change and improve on its cornerstone principles. Once you fully embrace it you can save valuable time and we guarantee you considerable progress.

In this article, we are going to share with you the ten most important concepts. We do so by following the logical framework of “Goal Buddy” – we start with the vision, then the 90-day goals and finally are the weekly steps.

But first things first…

#1 You must have a long-term perspective!

The most basic thing to do is to formulate a vision for each aspect of your life. In doing so you will get a better idea what your direction must be.

The timeframe should be 25 years. On one hand, it becomes long-term and will allow you to fully realize your potential. On the other, a deadline makes it imperative for you to start acting right away with specific and concrete steps.

And let the vision be bold as well as challenging! Think hard what your true longing is about and how the life of your dreams might turn out to be in a couple of decades.

The key is that only the vision can give you the clearest idea of what you want.

#2 Achieve clarity!

The very first question you face is “Do I know what I really want?” Only a full understanding of this will allow you to get where you want to be.

“Alice in Wonderland” said it best – if you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there. And if we can paraphrase this a little bit –if you don’t know what you want, it is quite likely you will get something you don’t want at all. For good or bad many of us had to learn this the hard way.

For example, if you choose a college major without a sound rationale you will find yourself after a few years of hard work with a degree and nothing much else. You will end up with something which is of no use to you, not to mention the feeling of you being stuck in a dead end.

What are the roots of this internal conflict?

More often than not the reason is the piecemeal planning for your life.

Judge for yourself – when you set direction with a time limit of about 4-5 years it is usually aimed at something material, or something seemingly practical. This doesn’t necessarily correspond fully to your true ambitions in life or how you want to spend it.

The long-term vision overcomes the above-mentioned situation – it opens up a wide horizon in front of you. It will also give you focus and confidence in deciding what steps are the correct ones. Or to put it differently, clarity is a powerful tool!

#3 Limit the scope of your goals to 90 days!

And how exactly can you get it all moving up and forward?

Here is what you do! You set up a goal for each of your visions but limit the time frame for achieving it to 90 days. This period is short enough so that you don’t procrastinate but it is also long enough so that you find out if you are moving in the right direction.

The optimal deadline

If your goal is clear-cut and specific but it doesn’t fit in 90 days, then don’t give yourself a full year! Just split it up into few smaller sub-goals so that each can be accomplished within 3 months.

It’s been a cold-stone fact that the 3-month periods are much more effective than those with a 12 month cut off point. You can build upon the progress of each time period and it will be much more an effortless thing. There is yet another plus to this process: with just a few small but consecutive victories in the course of a year you get your spirits high up which, in turn, will generate more energy and self-confidence.

All of this creates the right conditions for a positive feedback which is the topic of the upcoming “commandment”…

#4 Have an evaluation every 90 days with the help of your Goal Buddy!

Don’t underestimate the importance of this even if it might seem to you a bit of an overkill! You must evaluate your goals every 3 months. Spend a few hours to analyze: find out what worked out well and what didn’t, improve on your strategy accordingly and change the direction if necessary.

The help of your Buddy is crucial here. They won’t serve you on a plate some ready-made solutions but will ask the right questions instead. And you will be taken immediately by how worthwhile this synergy is. It won’t be long before this teamwork will start paying off handsomely.

#5 Set up no more than five 90-day goals!

Don’t try too hard to get everything completed in one given time period! Otherwise, the outstanding effect of this principle can easily transform itself into a defect.

It has been known for a while that you accomplish more when working on just a few goals. With each additional one, you lower your chances to succeed.

You do have a 25-year vision, right? This will open the door for you to prioritize your focused efforts in different periods of time so that you don’t miss anything in the long run. You can set up no more than five goals per 3-month period. For us, the optimal number is THREE.

You are in full control only over your actions, not the result!

There is this interesting fact which is worth considering – what comes out of your actions is beyond your control. The reasoning behind words like “Do what you have to do and the hell with it” is quite understandable.

In the very beginning, we used the following definition – “90-day action goal”. This longer title was to emphasize the importance of an element of our system, namely the commitment to getting things done.

This brings us to this key concept:

#6 Carefully define your goals!

The meaning of “carefully” is that no matter what you do while pursuing something, you are the only master of your actions. You take full control over and responsibility for your own deeds. Don’t equate win or loss just with the outcome.

It’s worth to have a sound idea about what to expect out of your work at the end of the 90 days. But direct your attention on what you can do to make it happen instead of on what came out of it.

So far we were covering the theory. It’s time now to discuss the results and these are done with… work, of course. The second part of our law codex is about the successive small weekly steps that will get you little by little to the big dreams.

#7 “Think” about it only once a week!

This sounds a bit intimidating, doesn’t it? But it is a solid one. You need only 10-15 minutes each week to plan ahead. Here is what you will gain:

• An opportunity to prioritize your tasks so that you choose only those that will push you forward and will clear the path for a few others;
• Freed-up time of many hours in return for the invested minutes. You will be able to avoid the phenomenon of overthinking it, a.k.a. “analysis paralysis”.
• A chance to review what’s been achieved so far. You can get an idea about which of your actions were effective and which were not. This will allow you to make the necessary adjustments.

And there you go – do a brief but focused recap of the distance covered so far. Afterward, put the plans into motion like a fine-tuned machine with only one task – your weekly step!

#8 Complete only one weekly step for a given goal!

People love to forget about.

It is so for the simple fact of human nature that we easily get carried away. Once excited and energized by the success we become a bit too confident to take on more weekly steps. Sooner or later that costs dearly.

Here is a scenario. Let’s say you have 3 goals, for the first two you plan one step only but for the last you jump the gun with 5 steps. Such imbalance sets you up for a failure in at least one of your tasks. That can end in only one way – limiting believes and a feeling of helplessness.

What you need is just the opposite: one small victory every week. You do that consistently and you will be building up your confidence and self-respect, things that you need for your next win.

If you feel victorious you become one. When you visualize and feel this then you will most likely materialize it too.

#9 Talk to your Buddy each week!

If you are only able to do one thing at this point, let it be this one – find yourself a Goal Buddy and do talk about goal setting once a week. The outcome will be remarkable. It motivates you to think about it and will unlock a desire to make your long-term vision as clear as possible. You are ready to devise a strategy for action and then roll up your sleeves and start working on it. That’s the “Goal Buddy” system in its essence.

We have to admit we too are guilty of failing in this. Aren’t we all only human after all! It had happened in the past – we are on vacation and miss a meeting or two. It was exactly these missteps of ours that made us appreciate how consequential was to meet each other. Even if you didn’t have anything for the week you still talk to your friend. They might have something or need your input and assistance.

#10 Just have a quick look at your weekly steps!

Best you turn this into a habit. If you practice regularly the “daily visualization” of the weekly steps then this alone will be an accomplishment on its own merits.

We know it for sure and straight out of our past – having a quick look at the weekly steps makes a huge difference. Try it out! Keeping them in the back of your mind will uncover countless opportunities and new contacts that can only help in your journey to success.

And while approaching the end we want to suggest this one bonus for you. It can give you some extra help using “Goal Buddy”.

Learn the rules well before you can afford to break them!

Follow these golden goal setting rules strictly and you don’t have to repeat our mistakes. Take full advantage of our rich experience and this will make your life a bit easier! Be bold when charging forward! But if you are the free-spirited type or just feel like improvising then keep in mind the words of Pablo Picasso, “Learn the rules like a pro so you can break them like an artist!”

We sincerely wish you success! Don’t be long before you check out the rest of the interesting topics on our website!