Reaching Goals - Who Decides?

Reaching your goals is key to living a fulfilling and successful life. Setting goals is a relatively easy thing to do but reaching them is not. January 1^st rocks around and with it too many new year’s resolutions to shake a stick at. I promise, you don’t need to be a world champ boxer to become a master at creating success in your life. Let me introduce you to the three Ps and the psychology behind them.

The three Ps are passion, power and purpose. Passion is an emotion so strong it feels like it could burst out of us at any moment. If we let it, passion can take over our minds and muscles; we feel ourselves leaping up and shouting with joy after the first win. Passion is the reason for the French crime ‘crime passionel’, the fury that would lead someone to commit murder. For better or worse, in that moment of passion, our focus is singular and our force great. The key is to take some time to understand what makes us the most passionate and use that to reach our goals.

Then there’s power. Power is the confidence and strength that we draw from within ourselves. Power can certainly come from passion but there is another source, too: believe in ourselves and our process, especially when overcoming setbacks. Power is not about dominating others or being in control, but about being aware of ourselves and our actions so we can create success.

Purpose is the reason you do something, the meaning or the significance. It is the thing that gives our passion and power direction. If reaching your goals has no purpose, why go to the trouble? When we have a clear sense of purpose, we can make decisions that are aligned with our values and vision for the future.

So how do the three Ps fit in with goal setting and reaching your goals?

To learn how to reach your goals, we need to look at the people whose job it is to study everything about goal setting and goal reaching in every-day life.

The psychologists studied people, lots and lots of people, until they had worked out what made some achieve their goals and others fail. From research came the goal-setting theory of motivation from Edwin A. Locke- ever heard of SMART goals? That was Edwin. Simpler still he found that those who set specific and difficult, yet achievable goals do better at reaching their goals than those who set easier, less defined goals. So, ensure your choice of goal aligns with your purpose and choose goals that demand power and passion.

Those who set specific and difficult, yet achievable goals do better at reaching their goals

Other psychologists have proven in separate studies that writing down your goals makes a huge difference to the likelihood you will achieve them, made greater if you tell a friend who supports you. Using memories about defining moments in your life, that shaped who you are might help you to choose a goal or design the best way for you to achieve it.

 So, if you are ready to reach your goals sit down first and plan it out. Decide on a goal which suits you and aligns with your passions and purpose in life. Write it down or tell a friend. Be specific. Don’t forget to make it hard enough, to be prepared to come back from setbacks, harnessing your power to do so. Before you know it, you’ll be reaching goals you never thought possible.

 And if you want someone to open up the world of passion, power and purpose in your team, contact me to find out more about how I can work with you.