Why Goal-Setting Doesn't Work

While goal-setting is popular and common, it doesn’t seem to do the trick for everybody. Some people believe goal-setting is important for success and have incredible results to prove it. But, some are non-believers in its power, they’re convinced it’s not a strategy that works for them from their experience.

I believe that any significant and sustainable achievement rarely happens by chance. Sure, you may get lucky. But, you need a foolproof strategy to maximize that luck and ensure you get the most out of it. So, everyone needs goals. But why doesn’t it seem to work for some people?

Let’s look at 7 potential reasons why goal-setting doesn’t work:

Overwhelming Priorities

You have so much on your plate. You’re eager to do so many things that you failed to consider the time factor. There’s only so much you can successfully pull off in a week, month, or year even with little or no sleep (try to get enough sleep).

When your efforts are spread thin over different activities, you’re less likely to see much progress in any one thing. You’ll probably get exhausted and burned out and once you do, it may take some time to get back on track. Yes, there may be seasons where you have to multitask a lot and sleep fewer hours, but that shouldn’t be every other day.

So, what should you do? Write a list of all the goals you’re currently working towards. Arrange in the order of priorities from most important to least important. Select your focus for the week, month, or year. You don’t need to do everything at the same time.

Lack of Persistence

Setting strategic goals and mapping out plans to reach them is the easy part. It’s an important step, yes, but it isn’t cumbersome or time-consuming. Maintaining focus, consistency, and persistence in the daily efforts to reach your goals is usually where the bone of contention falls.

Have you ever started a diet or workout routine and fell off after the first few days? It could be due to a lack of discipline, forgetfulness, impatience to wait for results, giving in to distractions, and so on.

You need to develop resilience and persistence to reach your goals. Sometimes, certain goals may not work out for you and your plans may change. But, you need to develop the attitude of seeing things to completion within a specific time frame before striking it off and improvising your strategy.

Low or No Passion

Maybe the goal just isn’t important to you. Is it possible that you’ve not captured your pain points enough in your goals? Maybe you’re doing something solely because of pressure from friends, family expectations, fear of missing out, etc.

If your internal motivation isn’t strong enough, then no form of external factor will get you to move the needle consistently. Think about what you want for yourself, not what others will find acceptable, but what a reality you truly desire.

Unrealistic Goals

It’s not impossible to suddenly win the lottery or make millions of dollars. But, when working on things you can control, be as realistic as possible. What can you reasonably achieve within 6 or 12 months?

An unrealistic target may seem exciting at first, but your brain knows that it’s so far off the tangent so you’ll struggle to motivate yourself to get to work.

Use a goal-setting strategy that factors in feasibility. You can also do some research to find out the average time it takes someone to achieve the same or a similar goal.

Failure to Overcome Internal Resistance

Before you conquer anything externally, you must first conceive the win mentally. Believe that what you want is possible and you have all it takes (and can learn all it takes) to make it so.

We’ll always face internal resistance when pushing beyond our comfort zone into a new reality. We may find people who will sell us the idea that our dreams aren’t feasible. We may compare ourselves with others and suddenly not feel good enough for the life of our dreams.

Break free from the mental limitations holding you back. You must believe your goals are possible and within your reach. Then, you must be persistent in bringing it to pass.

Vague Goals

How do you know you’ve been clear and specific with your goals? When you know the exact tasks to perform daily or weekly to reach it.

If you’re not sure what’s on your goal checklist, then how do you expect to make any progress? After you’ve set out a main goal, craft a plan.

If you’re unsure of what your plan should look like, ask questions. Find people who are experienced in your area of interest. Formulate a plan with a list of realistic activities you can perform consistently in your current schedule.

No Tracking System

What can goal-setting do without a tracking system? Not much. This also being specific and strategic with your goals.

What metrics will you use to measure your success or progress? Is it when you’ve made 50% of your income? Is it when you can build and manage a website? Is it when you make a post on social media every other day? Is there a number target and a way to track your progress daily and weekly?

If your goal doesn’t factor in measurements, then it won’t be very effective since you can’t track your progress.

The Winning Goal-Setting Strategy

A winning goal strategy clearly states what you want, an estimate of how long it’ll take, and a checklist of steps to complete, including the metrics to measure along the way. Some goals may be hard to measure, but break them down until you find something you can track.

Example

Goal: I want to be a content creator

Plan: I will choose two platforms to create video content. I’ll work towards creating and uploading 50 unique videos in 6 months.

You can formulate daily and weekly tasks from this plan to meet your goal in 6 months.

Finally, Beloved Reader

Winners and successful people are those who set goals and dare to go for it. Yes, it may be difficult. Other times, you may not exactly hit your target. But, the more you try with a detailed plan, the more likely you are to get closer and closer and hey, you may even exceed your expectations. Don’t give up on your goals, instead analyze why they aren’t working and how you can improve them. You got this!