LEARN TO ACHIEVE YOUR GOALS

Moving forward efficiently without pressure

Turn your aspirations into achievements with effective strategies and inner discipline.

Written by Chloé Lesage - October 2024

Reading time

Approx. 10 minutes

ACHIEVING YOUR GOALS: A QUEST FOR BALANCE BETWEEN PERSEVERANCE AND ALIGNMENT

This post invites you to explore how to define and achieve your goals in a way that's aligned with your inner essence. Success is measured not only by the achievement of set goals, but also by the way you move forward on your path, in harmony with your deepest values. He discusses the importance of mental clarity, emotional commitment and physical discipline in achieving success, while remaining true to yourself. Achieving your goals is an art, the art of balancing conscious effort and letting go, while cultivating a clear, serene vision.

Starting today, how about transforming your dreams into concrete goals, with a method aligned with your overall well-being? Are you ready to succeed consciously?

"Let's take a look!

HOW NOT TO GET LOST?

In a world where performance and success are often measured in numbers - revenue generated, company size or overall impact - it's easy to get lost along the way.

Many entrepreneurs, leaders or simply committed people end up asking themselves this agonizing question:

"Have I taken the wrong path?

Why can't I do it?

WHAT IS MY RESPONSIBILITY AND WHAT IS NOT?

But what does "successful" really mean?

Is it living off my business?

Is it to earn a five-figure salary?

Is it to radically transform the world?

For many, the answer is biased because it's based on objectives that, in reality, don't depend solely on me.

And therein lies one of the keys to true success:

the distinction between what is my responsibility and what is not.

SET REALISTIC GOALS

I often set myself goals without asking myself if they are really within my power.

Let's take the case of someone who wants to lose 20 kilos in a month.

This goal, while ambitious, is unrealistic and dangerous, because healthy weight loss depends on many factors, such as metabolism, type of diet, physical activity, and even hormonal elements that are not totally under my control.

If I set myself such a goal, I might feel demotivated as soon as I realize that I'm not moving fast enough or that my body isn't reacting as I'd imagined.

To make this goal realistic, it would be wiser for me to focus on concrete, achievable actions, such as:

Go to the gym three times a week.

Reduce your intake of sugar and processed foods at every meal.

Drink 2 liters of water a day.

Walk 10,000 steps a day.

These goals are specific, measurable and depend solely on the daily actions I can take. They are behaviors over which I can exercise direct control.

So, instead of focusing solely on the end result (losing 20 kilos), I concentrate on the means that can gradually get me there. In this way, I retain control over my progress, and each small victory (such as having exercised or followed my diet for a week) allows me to feel a sense of success, instead of focusing on what I haven't yet achieved.

REGAIN CONTROL

This change of perspective is not an admission of impotence.

On the contrary, it's an act of responsibility.

I focus on what I can change, giving my best to each action. For example, if I'm in sales, instead of setting myself the goal of selling a certain number of products (which also depends on the customer), I could choose to improve my sales pitch, take a training course to optimize my approach or perfect my active listening skills.

In this way, I regain control of my own performance.

I play my part to the full.

It's not an invitation to mediocrity or passivity, but a way of focusing on what I can really achieve.

THE POWER OF THE PRESENT MOMENT

Setting realistic goals doesn't mean giving up on my ambitions. It simply means recognizing that the road to success is made up of small steps.

Every action I take today, no matter how small, brings me closer to my aspirations. Like climbing a mountain, the summit can only be reached by putting one foot in front of the other.

A posture where effort destroys or a posture where effort builds? Two different postures, two different feelings for the same actions.

Having a clear vision of what I want to achieve is essential. But that vision shouldn't be a source of frustration. Failure to achieve it then becomes the stick with which to beat and overwhelm me.

It's through joy, enthusiasm and fun that I succeed. Using controllable goals as a compass and celebrating each implementation is the path to self-realization, gentleness, the opening up of possibilities, joy, the attraction of opportunities...

FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION

One of the most important lessons is that failure should never be seen as an end.

It's either a trial or a success.

Every obstacle is an opportunity to learn, to adjust my strategy and to progress differently.

Take Ticket for Change, for example, an organization desperate to obtain a train for its Tour de France of social initiatives. Unable to get it, they turned to a simpler solution: a bus. In this way, they achieved their objective, not by clinging to a rigid means, but by adapting their approach as they went along.

There's no question of failure. The intention is there, the means are there, and in the end, every achievement is a success.

True success is this:

move forward, reinvent myself, adjust my means, try, try again, be happy with what has already worked from the very beginning.

Then, one day, perhaps even after a lifetime, something bigger than myself comes into play.

IN CONCLUSION: THE ONLY OPTION IS SUCCESS

There's no need to torture yourself because you haven't yet reached your ultimate goal.

To succeed, we need to understand that we have two options:

reach our goal or be on the way to achieving it.

Every step, every constraint encountered along the way can be transformed into an opportunity to act differently, to enrich our journey.

So, at the end of the day, ask yourself this question:

What do I need today to move forward?

Set goals that are up to you, do your best, and let success take its natural course.

SELF-COACHING QUIZ: TAKE STOCK OF YOUR PATH

Am I on the right track? What signs or indicators show me that I'm heading in the right direction?

Before I started, how did I feel about this project? How did I feel about starting this project?

Do I still feel joy and excitement today? What emotions are present when I think about this project?

Once completed, what will the project bring me? If the project goes ahead, what benefits will I derive from it?

How enthusiastic am I about this answer? Rate on a scale from 0 to 100% (100 being the best).

What indicators will show me that I've succeeded? How will I know when I've reached my objectives? What are the concrete proofs of my success?

Do my goals depend solely on me? Are my goals realistic and within my control, or do they depend on external factors?

What have I achieved so far? What results or progress have I already achieved?

What went wrong? What obstacles did I encounter?

How can these difficulties become opportunities? How can these obstacles teach me something or open new doors?

What is my next step? What is the next concrete action I can take to move towards my goal?

What do I need today to keep moving forward? What tools, resources, skills and means within my reach would be useful to me to keep the momentum going?

ANSWERS

Clarifying your chosen path

If the answers to the quiz show that there's a lot of doubt, heaviness or frustration, this may indicate that I need to re-evaluate my goals or the means I'm using to make sure they're in line with my personal values and aspirations.

If, on the contrary, I still feel joy, excitement and genuine enthusiasm for my project, it probably means I'm on the right track. I can take the victory selfie (and we want a good grin)

Reassessment of objectives

If my goals depend for the most part on external factors that I can't control (such as the behavior of others, or uncertain external outcomes), I can conclude that I need to review them. It would be beneficial to focus more on goals that depend on my own actions, as mentioned in the article. This realignment would enable me to avoid the feeling of failure.

If, on the other hand, my objectives depend perfectly on my actions, then I can do the happy dance (and we want the photo).

Recognizing success

If for the moment it's frustration that stands out, I realize that these are just trials waiting to happen, and that I can turn them into opportunities (yes! yes!). I focus on what's within my control, celebrate my victories, however partial, and work on building my confidence and sense of achievement.

If I can identify my intermediate successes and realize in each step that they are already successes, I can break out the champagne (and we want the brand).

Opportunities and obstacles

By identifying what I've lost or the obstacles, I can conclude that every constraint is an invitation to do things differently, as shown by the Ticket for Change example in the article. It just takes a little creativity (and detachment) to see things differently.

If I've seen that I've used every diffcult as a springboard, I can have a fancy dress party tonight (heroic pose mandatory)!

Focus on the next step

Wherever I am now, it's important to focus on the present action. My next step is what counts, so I can keep moving forward without becoming overwhelmed by the end goal.

If it's easy for me, I can write in the comments how I did it to inspire others (and we want jokes too)!

What conclusions can you draw?

If you're not satisfied with the result, perhaps some quality introspection is in order. A professional can help you save time.

Many thanks for your inspiring article, Chloé!

Your words remind us of the importance of persevering and believing in ourselves to achieve our goals.

Thanks to your enlightened advice, each of us is encouraged to define our own successes and move forward with determination on our life's path.

Chloé's bio

Chloé LESAGE
Leadership coach and project facilitator

Warrior at heart" is often the conclusion I get when I explain my life path. After a rocky start on this earth, I sought inner balance and expansion through a 15-year personal development journey in which I tested all conventional and atypical practices.
Because learning never stops, I'm constantly nourishing my thirst for understanding. As a person with high intellectual and emotional potential, I've learned to put my abilities at the service of life so that it becomes a gift.
My method is at the crossroads of who I am, the reappropriation of my 2-year training in personal development coaching and all my life experiences.
It's a practice that involves the body, the emotions and the spiritual dimension all at the same time. For me, it's out of the question to accompany someone for years on end, which would, in my opinion, lead to dependency. My job, however, is to create the conditions for reappropriating one's inner power, so as to achieve immediate results in materializing one's objectives.
Find out more about his career

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