Do you want to achieve your goals? Do you want to have the best year ever? Probably one of the biggest challenges that I talk to people about across the world is their inability to achieve their goals. Here are seven small tips which if you do them regularly and consistently, will help you achieve your goals and change your life.

1. Put your goals in writing. There is a ton of research that indicates that when you put pen to paper, chisel to a rock or ink to bark, you’re going to be phenomenally more successful by having to put your goals in writing. Many experts believe that one of the reasons for this is because of something called a reticular activating system (RAS). When you write down a goal you look at it and activate the part of your brain which becomes a guidance system for achieving your goals.
2. Answer the big question. I think it’s imperative to put your goals in writing and have goals for every area of your life. But what may even be more important is to understand the reason behind the goal. For example, if someone says they want to lose 27 pounds by a certain date that’s a great goal. My question after someone tells me what their goal is, is to ask them why achieving that goal is important. For example, if you want to lose weight the reason for achieving that goal could be for many reasons 1) to regain their health 2) to live a long happy life free of disease 3) to spend more time with their loved ones 4) to boost their self-esteem. Well, you get the idea, asking yourself the big goal question (why?) will make you much more motivated to want to achieve it.
3. Have an accountability partner. An accountability partner is someone in your life who you can share your goals with, and they can share their goals with you and hold each other accountable for achieving them. You should arrange regular check-ins when you talk to your accountability partner, and they can talk to you about their goals as well. It is tremendously motivating when you have a goal and to know that in one week, you’re going to be talking to your accountability partner to tell them what it is that you’ve achieved.
4. Display your goals. After you have written your goals, then post the goals where you can see them, and review them each day. This way you have a constant reminder of what the goal is and why it is important. Here is an additional idea: program your phone using your alarm function with the message about one of your goals. That way several times a day your phone will buzz, and when you look at the display, it will remind you what your goal is in writing.
5. Prioritize and calendarize. Once you have your goals set and they are in writing, simply take out your physical or electronic calendar and write in your key activities that you need to do on a daily and weekly basis to achieve your goals. When you do this, you are prioritizing what’s important, and you’re also putting it on your calendar and when we put items in our calendar are much less likely to forget to do it.
6. Change your belief system. One of the topics I talk to many people about as a motivational speaker is the idea that they set goals, but unfortunately, they don’t even believe themselves that they will achieve! It is tough for you to achieve a goal if you have already decided in your mind that you’re going to fail. You need to change your beliefs and realize you have the capability of achieving your goal. One way of doing this is to seek out other people who have achieved a similar goal and read about them or study videos about them to inspire you to reach your goals.
7. Think bigger. If you’re going to try to achieve goals in your life, please don’t set goals that are small and piddly. As the saying goes if you aim for the moon at least you will reach some stars. I think that the biggest limitation that most people have is their self-limitations on what they’re able to achieve. Take your goals that you have in writing and increase them tenfold or a hundredfold. The reality is that’s where you really should be.

As Mark Victor Hanson once said: “You control your future, your destiny. What you think about comes about. By recording your dreams and goals on paper, you set in motion the process of becoming the person you most want to be. Put your future in good hands – your own.”