3 Surprising Reasons You’re Not Hitting Your Goals

As an ambitious person, you’ve set a lot of goals for yourself. 

Career goals. Relationship goals. Financial goals. Fitness goals. 

You’re a rockstar when it comes to setting goals, but you don’t have a great track record when it comes to actually achieving them. 

Why is that?

You might think it’s because you’re lazy or unfocused. But the real reasons you’re not hitting your goals might surprise you. 

What’s really holding you back?

Here are three hidden factors that may be holding you back from hitting your goals.

You don’t really care about the goal.

If you find yourself setting the same goal over and over again and never making real progress on it, consider stopping to reevaluate whether you actually care about achieving it. 

You may have set a particular goal because you think you’re supposed to. (You’re supposed to get a master’s degree. You’re supposed to get married after dating for 3 years. You’re supposed to buy a house instead of renting an apartment.)

Or maybe you’ve been led to believe that you need to have certain things or reach certain milestones to be worthy of the life you want. (You need to become a mom to be a real woman. You need to have a respectable job to be taken seriously. You need to be thin to be beautiful.)

Believing that you need to have a certain result isn’t the same thing as caring about achieving a goal. In fact, going after a goal because you think you don’t have a choice can be extremely demotivating. 

Believing that you need to have a certain result isn’t the same thing as caring about achieving a goal.#lifeeditproject Click To Tweet

You don’t know where to start. 

Another thing that can get in the way of achieving your goals is plain old confusion. 

You know the end result that you want, but you can’t figure out how to get there. 

So, you spend endless hours looking for answers on Google and YouTube. You plug in reminders on your calendar to keep you on track. 

You even shared your goal with an encouraging friend or family member so that they could help hold you accountable. 

But you always end up getting stuck trying to figure out exactly what to do and how to do it. So, you put your goal on the backburner until you know what to do instead.

Yes, your goals should challenge you. But if they feel too big or too far away from where you are today, it can be hard to find the path to get there. 

Yes, your goals should challenge you. But if they feel too big or too far away from where you are today, it can be hard to find the path to get there. #lifeeditproject Click To Tweet

You don’t really believe you can do it.

What you think and believe about yourself (read: your mindset) always plays a role in your success. 

(This is no surprise coming from a mindset coach, right? 😏)

Even if you’ve picked a simple, realistic goal, if you don’t believe that it’s possible for you, your brain will tell you that trying is a waste of time and energy. 

Your brain will tell you that it’s safer NOT to try. And then guess what happens? You end up not really trying, missing your goal, and proving yourself right.  

It’s the self-fulfilling prophecy of self-sabotage.

Even if you’ve picked a simple, realistic goal, if you don’t believe that it’s possible for you, your brain will tell you that trying is a waste of time and energy. #lifeeditproject Click To Tweet

How to Make Real Progress With Your Goals

So how do you break out of this cycle and make real progress on your goals? 

(Hint: it involves doing something different from what you’ve been doing.)

Here are a few things you can try to help you get unstuck. 

• Get clear on what you want. Your desires help shape your motivation, so understanding what actually drives you can help you reach your goals. Understanding what you really want will help you choose the right goals and stay committed to them for the long haul. 
• Start from where you are. If you’re getting lost and overwhelmed by the size of your goal even though you really want it, narrowing your focus to your immediate next steps can help you build some momentum. Break that big goal into smaller goals until you find a beginning step that feels doable. Then take action!
• Hire a coach. You don’t have to figure everything out on your own. If you need support, accountability, encouragement, and a fresh perspective, consider hiring a life coach. The right coach will help you set the right goals, make a plan to tackle them, and help you build the mindset you need to be successful along the way.  

Are you ready to make progress and finally cross that goal off your list? If you hire me as your mindset coach, I can help. We’ll work together one on one to figure out what’s been holding you back and what you need to move forward. 

Take a look at my coaching packages to see the different ways we can work together, and book a free discovery call with me when you’re ready.