How To Smash Your Targets In 2017 With 2017 upon us, now is the time to get your head in the only space that will enable you not to just do better than last year, but to smash your 2017 targets.
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With 2017 upon us, now is the time to get your head in the only space that will enable you not to just do better than last year, but to smash your 2017 targets. With so many people focusing on achieving their New Year's resolutions, the excitement picks up as soon as the clock strikes twelve, and inevitably, these well-intentioned resolutions end up falling by the wayside two weeks later. The reason this happens so often lies in the fact most people do not know how to set targets and goals. Yes, making resolutions or considering what you might like to see happen in your life next year is a positive thought, but, if the resolution isn't followed thorough with a fundamental attitude change, some proper planning, and a few serious habitual changes, your targets just won't be achieved.
There are a few important steps you can take when setting any personal or business goals that can help to actually achieve them. Following these simple steps will get you those results:
1. Stop lying to yourself Quit convincing yourself it is acceptable to fail or average. It is not now, nor will it ever be. If your time is spent justifying your own shortcomings you are wasting valuable time better spent focusing on your immediate success and making that happen.
2. Commit to your goals Too much time is spent making New Year's resolutions you can't keep. Why can't you keep them you ask? Because you're not committed. You have to commit. It cannot be negotiable under any circumstances. You have to ask yourself why you want to smash your targets? What is the actual purpose? If it's because your boss told you to, then it simply wont happen. If it's because you need it to happen more than anything else, then (and only then) it will drive you forward to make the difference between success and failure.
3. Raise your standards Your standards are what you work towards. You must aim high, raise them to the level of your ambition, accept nothing less. So many people with great hopes and wishes simply forget this essential point.
4. Keep clear-cut goals Clearly define your goals and make a detailed plan. Then work backwards from them being achieved. If your goal is to smash your target by 100% then work out what that figure is. Once you have done that then work out exactly what you have to do each and every day to achieve this. When you know what you need to do each and every day to achieve your goal in 12 months time for example, then its way easier to keep focused. Remember that nothing is impossible and if you truly want something bad enough, then there absolutely is a way to get it.
5. Visualize what you want to achieve Create a mood board to visualize your goals. Put your goals into pictures that inspire you. Have it up somewhere you can see every day, all the time. Put it up as your screensaver on your laptop and mobile, put your mood board on your fridge or on your wardrobe. Be clear on your goals and then visualize them.
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6. Improve your work ethic Increase your work ethic by 50%. I am not joking. People spend on average 5.4 hours a day on social media. Stop telling yourself there isn't enough time. There is always enough time for the things that matter to you the most. One of my favorite quotes came from Will Smith: "I will not be out-worked, period. You might have more talent than me and you might be smarter than me, but if we get on the treadmill together, there's one of two things that will happen: You're getting off first, or I'm going to die. It's really that simple."
7. No excuses Don't make excuses and quit. Stay away from the negatives. Focus on why you can do things, not why you cannot. If you're telling yourself on repeat why "x" target isn't achievable, you'll never hit it, let alone smash it. Stay positive.
8. Surround yourself with positivity Avoid negative people; they are like poison to your own success. You know who they are and how they make you feel. They suck your optimism out of you all of the time. Surround yourself with positive people and good energies. Feed off the positive people.
9. Take time to exercise Get up an hour early and exercise. I cannot tell you how much of a difference this will make to your productivity. Don't do it at lunchtime, nor in the evening, do it in the morning before work. Now I know some body builders may disagree, but most people are not body builders and the early morning high paced exercise with fire up the brain and then energy levels will double. Try it for the next 30 days. Everyday for 1 hour, then tell me it doesn't work. It does and it will, I promise.
10. Grow your skillset Work on your skills every single day. Take an hour to boost your technical, product or sales skills outside of work. This level of commitment will pay off ten-fold. We all work in industries that evolve. Be the expert and more prospects will come your way.
11. Inspire yourself Read one self-improvement book per month. These books not only give you tangible skills, but they inspire you. Some of my favorites are Gary Vaynerchuk's Jab Jab Jab Right Hook and Crush It, Tony Robbins' Get The Edge, Jim Collins' Good To Great, Grant Cardone's The 10x Rule, Jack Welch's Winning and Malcom Gladwell's The Tipping Point.
