How to Achieve a Goal

There is a system for achieving a goal like for any other thing. Many people fail due to inaction than for ineptitude. When there's a problem to be solved or a need to be met, it's only reasonable to device a means to get it solved (that is if we want it solved in the first place). In the whole process of devising a solution, plans are made and goals are set. However, setting goals alone will not help for efficient handling of a problem. Goals are not objective in nature; they don’t give a clear structure of how to solve a problem. For instance say, "I want to buy a new house." That's a goal, working with that alone won’t get job done as it's soon crowded out by commitments. Goals are important in problem solving or meeting needs but to achieve what we want our goals have to be effective not just important. Effective goals are born out of plans. Achieving any goal can be as easy as breaking the process into two lines of action.

1. Plan: He who fails to plan, plans to fail. Well, nobody really plans failure for him/herself but people only fail to do what is necessary not just to avoid failure but to succeed. Planning requires understanding the problem, the goal and the process. It allows you solve a problem before committing material resource into executing it. Planning could be mentally demanding, hence most people don't plan. When such have related problems that require a plan they create goals out of blue skies without a definite structure for achieving it. But it shouldn’t be so. Follow your goal with a plan, your plan helps you break goals into packets I like to call roles or objectives, these are more focused and precise to achieving a goal. This will help you narrow down to more important aspect of the problem and create concrete realistic steps to solving a problem. Goals only help you go in the direction of solving the problem while objectives create a clear structure on how to solve it.

2. Execute: this is where your effort and resources come to play but it’s also where the effectiveness of your plan is tested. With a good plan, this stage could be as easy as it could get. However most executions fail not necessarily because of a bad plan but from what I call the inability to act. Here is a method people usually apply in achieving a goal. They plan, they implement and try again when they fail. As much as this could seem like a general rule, one would be doing an endless cycle if the plan is a bad idea in the first place. If a project is not a good idea, yet you stick with it and persuade others to contribute resources and money, the costs of failure will be large; as whatever can fail will fail.

A goal can be achieved in two stages; planning for it and executing for it. In some cases we fail to achieve our goals because we failed to choose the right approach to achieve it. The success of a goal could solely rest on a good plan. At other times failure to achieve a goal could rest little to how good or bad a plan is but on our ability to act. Any goal is achievable if one sets one's minds to it and choose the right approach about it. Some things require patience and persistence even our goals. Breaking goals into objectives helps you analyze your progression as well as know when you finally get there.