11 Steps to Achieve Your Goals
Let’s get to work and get into the step-by-step process of setting goals.
There are a number of steps involved, which are explained in detail here and more in my book, Goals: How to get the Most Out of Life.
Step 1—Write it Down
Step number one is you write down everything you want to be or do or have. You have to be before you can do, and you have to do before you can have. The reason you need to write it is simply because writing requires greater concentration, which moves what you write into your subconscious mind more firmly.
I have no way of proving my next statement, but I believe it is true. I’ve read enough to be convinced that my statement has a considerable amount of validity. I personally am convinced that the greatest benefit that comes from specifically setting goals is that it directs your left brain, which means you are freeing your right brain for the creativity it is designed to do. In freeing your right brain, your left brain is automatically directed toward the realistic goals of life—which is enormously valuable.
“The greatest benefit that comes from specifically setting goals is that it directs your left brain, which means you are freeing your right brain for the creativity it is designed to do.”
Write down everything you want to be or do or have. Put it all down in writing on a sheet of paper entitled “Wild Ideas.” Now just in case you’re sitting there thinking, Ziglar, it’ll take me three days to print down everything I want to be or do or have, let me assure you that by the end of one hour you will have printed 95 percent of everything you will put on that list at this time. Over the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours, you might add a few more things, but there won’t be very many.
Step 2—Ask Why
Then let the list sit for twenty-four to forty-eight hours. At the end of that time, review the list and write one word after each thing you wrote. Write the word “Why.” Why do you want to be, do, and have what you wrote? We will spend the rest of this blog post working on why you wrote those things. Are they real goals, real burning desires in your life? Or are they just whims? The real task is finding out what you really want—what will make a positive difference in your life.
Step 3—Eliminate
This may sound a bit negative, but we’re now going to start eliminating some of what you wrote. I might as well tell you what you already know—you can’t always have everything you want to be and do and have. If you can’t articulate in one sentence why you ought to be or do or have it, then that thing comes off the list.
For example, I was going over some of my objectives and wrote down some of the things that I want to do this year. First of all, I would like to take a couple of courses in Bible college. I’d like to have a lot more time with my wife, my children, and my grand- children. I would like to conduct more family seminars. I want to get my daily radio program functioning again. I want a daily newspaper column. I want to play golf five to six days a week. I would like to also be more active in cleaning up some of the programs and advertisements on television. I would like to work in the political arena and get qualified people elected to public office. I would like to spend more time fighting pornography. I want to spend more time with my staff. I want to write at least one book each year. I want to learn how to speak Spanish. I want to become socially involved with my neighbors. I want to read and research a minimum of three and preferably four hours each day. I want to spend at least an hour a day jogging and exercising and taking care of my health. I want to be active in my community civic and social clubs. I want to visit both Russia and China. And I would love to eat Braum’s French Chocolate Almond ice cream three times every day.
“Say no to the good so I can say yes to the best!”
Now to be realistic, not negative, I honestly don’t think I can do all those things—I have to say no to the good so I can say yes to the best! We have to determine and then work on the things on our list that are really significant.
“When you put too much emphasis on just one or two areas in life, you can become warped.”
Step 4—Balance
Now you need to balance the list. As you look at your list, determine if it relates to one of these seven areas in your life— physical, mental, spiritual, social, financial, career, or family. Then note that behind each goal on your list. Your goals might be only in one or two or three areas, and that’s okay. But let me stress that if you set only one or two goals and are not really serious, the odds are you won’t reach that goal even if you follow the procedure. If you happen to reach the goal, I’m not at all certain you’ll be very happy when you get there. When you put too much emphasis on just one or two areas in life, you can become warped; for example, you might have a higher standard of living, but where would your quality of life be?
Step 5—Explore
Step number five, we need to explore the basic seven questions.
Ask yourself these questions:
Will reaching this goal make me happier?
Will reaching this goal make me healthier?
Will reaching this goal make me more prosperous?
Will reaching this goal make me more secure?
Will reaching this goal make me more friends?
Will reaching this goal bring me peace of mind?
And if you have a family, will reaching this goal improve my family relationships?
If you cannot answer yes to at least one of those questions, you need to strike those goals off your list. Note: Do not black out or obliterate what you’ve written down because that goal may not be real for you right now, but a few years from now you might want to revisit it.
Step 6—Stretch
Number six—we need some goals that are a stretch, goals to make us reach. I love the story of “Gentleman Jim Corbett,” the former heavyweight champion of the world. He was out doing his roadwork one morning when he saw a fisherman pulling in big fish and little fish. Corbett noticed him very carefully, and he saw that the fisherman was keeping the little ones and throwing the big ones back into the water.
Being a fisherman himself, Corbett had never seen such conduct, so he ran over and asked the man, “I don’t understand. I’m a fisherman and I’ve never seen anybody keep the little ones and throw back the big ones. Why are you doing that?” The fisherman sadly shook his head. He said, “Man, I hate to do it, but I don’t have any choice. I have to throw the big ones back because all I have is just a little, itty-bitty frying pan at home.”
Now before you laugh too loudly, let me point out he’s talking about you and me. So many times we get the big goal, the big dream, the big idea, and no sooner do we get it than we say, “Oh no, Lord, don’t give me such a big one…all I have is just a little, itty-bitty frying pan. Besides, somebody else probably already thought about it, so just give me one of those little ones.”
“Go as far as you can see, and then when you get there, you will always be able to see farther.”
Step 7—Long-Range Goals
Friend, we have to have some big goals to make us stretch and use the ability inside us; some goals must be long-range. If there are detours along the way, that’s okay. Just readjust your direction. I hold on to the phrase, “Don’t change your objective; just change your direction to reach it.” This is after you have really set a definite goal or objective.
If you have a long-range goal, don’t forget that before you reach it there will be trouble in front of you. No matter the goal, things will happen in life that you can’t control. But you must treat those temporary setbacks like a pebble on the beach. If you don’t have long-range goals, setbacks will become as big as the whole ocean front. The rule is simple—go as far as you can see, and then when you get there, you will always be able to see farther.
You have to have some long-range goals, and you have to have some small, daily goals—the nitty gritty things of life. Everybody loves the big dream—the excitement of dreaming about a trip to Honolulu or a trip around the world, dreaming about building a mansion, dreaming about having the first million and then the second million, and so forth. But the reality is, in order for the big things to happen, you have to accomplish the little goals designated along the way. Also, some goals need to be ongoing.
Step 8—Ongoing Goals
What’s an ongoing goal? Building up your self-image is an ongoing goal because even after you’re an adult, even after you’re forty or fifty years of age, you can have a devastating experience. For example, people’s self-image can be destroyed when they have been on the job for thirty years and then new management summarily dismisses them. They can’t find employment for the next six months or a year or two years. The impact can be devastating. Or maybe their mate walks out on them. That can be a devastating blow to their self-image.
Our health is an ongoing goal. I routinely work on keeping a healthy body. Exercising is something I do on an ongoing basis. Spiritual goals are ongoing. Relationship goals are ongoing goals. And most people need ongoing financial goals.
Step 9—Negativity Check
Number seven is to check for negativity. Goals can be negative if they are too big. If a goal is out of reach, that’s one thing. But if it is out of sight, that’s something else. Unrealistic expectations are the very seedbed of depression. For example, after speaking in Detroit a number of years ago, a young man, twenty-four years of age, came to me all excited and said, “You got me really excited and I’m gonna make a million dollars this year!”
This was a young man whom I happened to know did not have the $2,500 for the franchise fee on the product that I was teaching and training for that particular company on that day. He had been working for four years, yet he was unable to save $2,500. But in the next twelve months he thinks he’s going to earn a million dollars. Now that’s crazy—his resumption had no foundation in fact or reason.
Your goal could also be negative if it is out of your field. Speaking about goals in Salt Lake City several years ago, a young man, thirty years of age, came to me after the session. He was about five feet seven inches tall and weighed about 210 pounds. He announced to me that his goal was to be the light heavyweight boxing champion of the world. I asked him how much experience he had.
“Well,” he said, “last Saturday my brother-in-law and I were out in the backyard boxing around and you can’t believe how easily I handled him!”
I asked, “How much experience have either of you had in boxing?” Well, neither of them had had any experience. Now that was a guy headed for the cemetery. He would get killed in the ring with a professional. There’s no question about it. That goal was completely out of his field. A goal can be negative if it is completely out of your field of interest or expertise.
The third reason a goal can be negative is if you have to depend on luck in order to get there. If it’s “pluck”—spirited and deter- mined courage—that’s required, you have a chance. But luck? No way.
Now remember, what we’re doing is keeping the main thing, the main thing. We’re gradually working on determining what we really want.
“What we’re doing is keeping the main thing, the main thing.”
Step 10—Ask Five Questions
Step number eight is to ask ourselves five questions. The first question: Is it really my goal? There are a lot of doctors, lawyers, preachers, plumbers, and all kinds of professions who are not as good as they could be because they did not pursue their own objectives. Their parents, grandparents, preachers, professors, or friends at some point may have said something like, “You know, you’re good at that! You should be a…” and somebody else basically ended up setting their goals.
There are occasions when two guys graduate from school together and one gets a job first at the nearby factory or with a company, and he tells the other guy, “I have a great job with benefits that are out of this world. It’s a nice environment to work in, too. You should apply.” And a lot of times, with no more thought than that, the other guy makes a career choice. Then five and sometimes ten years later, they are both still there—and stopping by the bar too frequently on the way home. They’re bored to death with what they’re doing. They took the first job that came along. Figure out your goal, then pursue it.
The second question: Is this goal morally right and fair to everyone concerned? The idea of abusing others and walking over them, taking advantage of them to achieve your objectives simply is not valid in this competitive world of ours today. We have to work in cooperation with others. Remember, even the Lone Ranger had a buddy, and he worked with his buddy. Your goal must be morally right and fair to everyone concerned.
Number three—ask yourself, Will this goal take me closer to or further from my major objective? Every decision you make should be weighed against how much closer you will be to achieving your goal. That includes every purchase as well.
One summer my wife and I went to Japan to look at their schools and factories. Then we stopped in Hong Kong to do our bit for the local economy, then we flew on to Malaysia where I had a seminar, then on we traveled to New Zealand and Australia where I had six seminars.
“Will this goal take me closer to or further from my major objective?”
Before the trip, our son, who was a senior in college at that time but would graduate before we made the trip, told us he’d like to go along with us. I said, “Well, son, have you asked your- self the two questions? Have you asked if it is morally right and fair to everyone concerned?”
“Since you’ll have to pay for it, Dad, that’s a question you’re going to have to answer.”
I said, “That’s fair enough. Now how about question number two. Will it take me closer to or further from my major objective in life?”
My son’s major objective was to become a PGA touring pro. We think he has the ability. His pro thinks he’s got the swing. I think he has the temperament. But that’s still a big step, and the odds are prohibitive—but that’s his major objective. So I added, “Will it take you closer to or further from your major objective when you are off the practice course for one solid month and delay your career?”
He said, “I don’t think I’ll go.”
Well, we weren’t going to take him anyway, but it was so much better for him to make that decision for himself than for me to say, “No, you can’t go.” He’s much happier with the outcome because he made the decision.
The fourth question: Can I emotionally commit myself to start and finish this project? Friend, unless you get emotionally involved with your commitment to the project or goal, nothing is really going to happen. We’re not logical people; we are emotional people. We must seriously consider if we can or cannot emotionally commit ourselves to start and finish each project that will get us to our goal.
And the last question: Can I see myself reaching this goal? When my goal was to lose weight, I had a picture of a guy wearing jockey shorts hanging on my bathroom mirror. I saw that picture about ten thousand times during that ten-month period of time. Every time I went into the bathroom, there he was. I had a clear vision of exactly how I wanted to look. Now that’s important. You need to be able to visualize.
“Take inventory of where you are.”
Step 11—Choose Top 4
The ninth step in the process is to work your list down to just four goals of what you want to do, be, and have. Most people can really only give complete effort to about four goals at the same time. You might still have ten or fifteen things on your list, but you need to focus on no more than four. Look carefully over the list again. Maybe one you can’t really get started on now. Maybe another one isn’t quite as important as another one. Work it down until you get to seven or eight.
Now here’s the way you work the list of goals all the way down to four.
Step One: When going through this process, first of all you need to take inventory of where you are. For example, on Thursday afternoon at 5:20 when I get aboard an aircraft headed to St. Louis, if the captain of the aircraft thinks that we’re in Houston, I’m not going to make it to St. Louis. The pilot needs to know we’re in Dallas, Texas, if the passengers are going to end up in St. Louis. Likewise, you need to know where you are if you’re going to reach your objective. You need to work through the whole goal process.
Step Two: Next in this process, step two is to write down the goal. Now I’m going to share with you the exact process I went through in my weight-loss situation. I first identified my goal, which was to weigh 165 pounds and have a 34-inch waistline. July 1, 1974 was the date when I expected to reach that objective. I identified it and I wrote it down. Normally you can’t put the time on a lot of your goals until you’ve gone through the entire process. I only put the date on it after I had gone through the process, but that was the objective that I had.
Step Three: What are the benefits from reaching this goal? One of the major reasons people can’t quit smoking or drinking or lose weight or whatever is because they emphasize the negative. The most important thing you can do in this goal-setting process is to emphasize, “What’s in it for me?” That might sound selfish, but it is your goal that you’re working for. And remember, you’ve asked the proper question beforehand—is it morally right and fair to everyone concerned? So, it’s not a question of you looking after yourself to the detriment of everybody else.
What were my benefits for losing weight? First of all, the odds are strong that I’m going to look better. The second benefit, everything else being equal, I will live longer. The third benefit, I will have more energy and will feel better. The fourth benefit, I will undoubtedly be sick less. Historically speaking, those benefits worked out to be 100 percent true. Except when I had a couple of surgeries, which had nothing to do with my diet and exercise, I had gone fifteen years without missing one day of work. When you take care of your physical health, good things are going to happen that are in your best interests.
Step Four: What are the obstacles and mountains I have to climb to reach this goal? What do I have to do to lose this weight? Well, I’ve always been on a see-food diet. That means when I’d see food, I’d eat it. But I really was a light eater—meaning when it got light out, I started eating. I never saw food I didn’t like—I made friends with all of it. The only things I don’t like are green olives, anchovies, pimento cheese, and caviar. And I could eat a well-balanced meal without any one of those, I guarantee you.
So what were my obstacles? One obstacle is that I like food. Another obstacle is that my schedule is very irregular and I want to eat at odd times. When I present a three or four-hour seminar, I burn a lot of energy. When I finish a seminar, I really want to eat a big meal, but instead I eat a piece of fruit. I had to deal with the obstacles in front of me; those were two of them. Another obstacle was my tendency to eat entirely too fast. I’m a shovel eater—I just shovel it in.
Step Five: What other skills or knowledge is required to reach this goal of losing weight? All I really needed to know is about diet and exercise. I only needed to know two things, so I wrote that down—diet and exercise.
“Many times we need somebody to work with and teach us.”
Step Six: Who are the individuals, groups, companies, and organizations to work with to reach this goal? First of all I had to work with my wife. I had to coordinate my eating and my jogging to fit within the family plan. Second, I had to work with my administrative assistant as she’s the one who schedules my activities. I’m frequently invited to dinner when I present semi- nars and I accept only if I have time between the seminar and the dinner to jog.
Now when you start talking about people who work with you to reach your goal, let me remind you that somebody taught Albert Einstein that two plus two is four. Let me also remind you that somebody taught Joe Lewis how to hold his guard up. Some- body taught Mozart the scale. Somebody taught Sir Edmund Hillary how to climb the little hill before he ever got to Mount Everest. Many times we need somebody to work with and teach us.
Step Seven: What was my plan of action to reach this goal? This is the step that really gets into the nitty gritty. This is where we really find out if we are serious about reaching the goal. What was my plan of action? First, I decided because of my love for breads and sweets, I wasn’t going to eliminate them completely from my diet. So, I became a once-a-week eater of desserts. Every Sunday after church I would make a beeline for the Braum’s French Chocolate Almond place.
Now as you probably well know, some ice cream scoopers are better scoopers than other scoopers. So I’d wait in line until a good scooper came up, and then I’d turn around and say, “I’ll take a double dip of that good ole Braum’s French Chocolate Almond ice cream.” I couldn’t wait until Sunday afternoon to go to the ice cream place. That was part of my plan of action.
The other part of my plan of action was to travel with a grapefruit. That’s not the best traveling companion you can find, but I discovered that a large grapefruit has only about 110 calories. Eating it would take the edge off of my appetite and I would go to bed at least reasonably satisfied.
The third part of my action plan was to put my fork down after every bite. I would reach over and pick up a fork-full of food, put it in my mouth, and then place the fork onto my plate. I forced myself to think about every bite of food. This step slowed down my eating dramatically. Then as soon as I finished eating, I would go to the bathroom and brush my teeth, signaling to myself that the meal was over.
Another plan of action I had was to eliminate the bread and dessert from airplane meals. In those days I was eating about six meals each week on an airplane. When the tray with the entrée, bread, and dessert was brought to me, I would immediately pick up the bread and the dessert and give it back to the flight attendant who brought it to me. Problem solved.
It’s All in the Details
You might think that is an awful lot of detail and you’re not sure you want to know that much about my plan of action, but let me tell you, when you go through the whole process and you start developing your plan of action, you will discover that some goals need that level of detail—and that other goals are simply not practical for you at this time. Doesn’t it make more sense to eliminate a goal after working on it for an hour and a half than it is to strive with it for six months and then give up in frustration?
“A goal properly set is halfway reached.”
I want to get you zeroed in on what is important right now for you to work on that will let you accomplish your objectives. Then the details are absolutely critical.
I can look you right in the eye and tell you that since December 1, 1986, with the exception of three days last June and one day last February, I have worked on my goals every single day. I can tell you where I’ve been, what I’ve been doing, what I’ve been working on, and what I’ve accomplished.
I’ve always been fairly conscientious about my goals; I’ve been working toward them for years. I can tell you without any mental reservation, when you start doing it this way, when each evening you take certain steps, once you have those goals set, I can tell you that you can accomplish dramatically more than you’ve been accomplishing in the past.
Remember, friend, a goal properly set is halfway reached.
