According to a recent study by Harvard University, more than 95% of people quit and abandon their new year’s resolutions every year. "Most people tend to quit their resolutions mainly because of a lack of belief, importance, motivation, commitment and knowledge of exactly how to achieve their goals", says psychologist Dr. Peter Davis.

Successful Olympians on the other hand, tend to have a laser like focus, are determined and tend to have a plan on how to achieve their goals. This, despite many failures and setbacks on the roller coaster ride to the Olympic podium.  

Simon Whitfield, the Canadian Triathelon Gold Medalist Winner at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, came from 50 places back to win the gold medal.  When he was interviewed by the reporters after winning the race, he was asked... "How did you come from 50 places back to win?"  Simon said: “I just asked myself how much do I want this?  My coach and I had a plan and we followed it and here we are”.  

Whether you would like to achieve small short term or big long term goals, or you want to loose weight or to make more money or even to win more friends, you need an action plan (a road map) like Olympians to help you get to the finish line and beyond.  Here are 10 easy steps that you can use to achieve your goals. 

 Use the 5WH rule like journalists where applicable:

 Who, What, Where, When, Why And How 

Step 1 – You must have a burning desire/passion (fire in your belly) to achieve your goals

"Passionate desire with fire in your belly is fuel for success." Peter Ganesh

Like a car that needs fuel to keep going, you need to have a burning desire, passion and fire in your belly to achieve your goals. If your desire fades, so too will your ability to succeed. But, in the same way that you can refill the fuel tank of your car when it is empty, so too, you can refill your desire fuel tank.

One way to do this may be to ask yourself... (like Simon Whitfield) how much do I want this? Why do I want this? When do I want to achieve this by? You must give yourself a specific date or time. This will give you a clear and specific target to shoot at.

Editors and journalists use this technique everyday to get their stories published on television, radio, newspapers and magazines.

Every thousand miles starts with the first step according to a famous Chinese Saying. Stop procrastinating and putting things off and worrying of what you have and don’t have, what you can do and cannot do.  Try to keep your focus on what you have and forget about what you don’t have.  Ignore all fears right now, and like Nike says: “Just do it”. 

Step 2 - Write down your dreams/goals

"Everything written down, and monitored improves automatically" - Dr. B.F. Skinner (Psychologist)

Write down a wish list of goals that you wish to achieve if there were no barriers. Take about 5 minutes to do this task and try to remember when you were a kid asking Santa Claus for whatever you want, knowing that you are a good boy/girl and Santa will give you anything you want.  Make your dream as big as possible because there is a wonderful magic about big dreams.  Big dreams tend to excite our senses and help us to stay committed and motivated.  So, don’t be afraid to dream big.  Do not limit yourself because it doesn’t cost anything to dream big.  Let your imagination fly as high as you can. 

Separate your dreams in categories, for example, you may have financial dreams, social, family and health, etc. Or perhaps, you have simple short term goals, like cleaning out your closet or calling a friend or family member that you haven’t spoken to for a long time.  Whatever it is, separate these in categories.

 Step 3 – Prioritize your dreams/goals 

"Prioritize to keep your eyes on the prize" - The Olympian

List your top priorities for each category that you have listed above.  Take another five minutes for this task.  Do not spend too much time  thinking, worrying and procrastinating.  Just go with your gut feelings of what you feel is the most important in each category.

 Step 4 – Why is this goal important to you? 

Write down in great details as much as you can why this dream or goal is important to you. Will it bring pleasure or pain to you or to others that are important to you? Ask yourself what is the most important benefit for achieving this goal.  These reasons must be strong enough. You must be passionate about them because they will help you to stay motivated.

 Step 5 – Set deadlines for small manageable and achievable pieces at a time 

"Deadlines make us do our jobs faster and on time" Dan Rather -Broadcaster CBS

Write down specific target dates for achieving your goals by bits and pieces at a time. Know exactly when you will start and when you will finish each small task.  These could be hourly, daily, weekly, monthly or yearly target dates, depending on the goal that you are trying to achieve.   

Remember that goals without deadlines are like feathers flying in the wind.  They could end up anywhere.  What you need is a specific target to shoot at.  This will help you to focus your attention and your energies in a more powerful and precise way. 

A marksman shoots at a target   If he misses, then he gets an instant feedback of how much he missed by.  This gives him an idea of how much adjustment he needs to make, to get closer to hitting his target.  In the same way, you need to set specific target dates and deadlines in small pieces which will give you an awareness of where you are and how much adjustment you need to make to reach your goals.

Step 6 – Know what you can and cannot do

"Knowledge is power and awareness is wisdom" The Yogi

Knowledge and awareness of your strengths and weaknesses brings confidence. To get from point A to point B, you need to know what your options are and what you can and cannot  do.  Do your research and learn as much as possible about your options. The advantages and disadvantages of each option.

You need to also acknowledge and be aware of any fears and obstacles that may exist in your mind correctly or incorrectly. Do an honest self assessment of yourself to find out what you are good at and what you need to work on. You may also want to ask a friend, a family member what they think of your strengths and weaknesses.

To remove a fear in your mind, simply doubt it constantly. The more doubts you create the more it goes away.  Of course, the opposite is also true, the more you believe in something, the more confident you will become.

Model someone you admire. Try to find out as much as you can what they have done and how they did it.  For example, if you would like to make $100,000 a year in the next year, ask someone who is making $100,000 a year how they did it.  If you can’t find someone who does, there are many books, articles and even more of this type of information available on the internet today. You can do a search at  www.paylessyellowpages.com for all kind of goal setting motivational links. 

Awareness feedback comes from your own experiences in life. Tap into your own self and see what you have achieved in the past.  Make a list of your achievements and see what you can learn from your own experiences.

 Step 7 – Get a clear detailed “picture” of your dreams/goals along with some affirmations 

"Pictures and Images are the language of the sub-conscious mind...it's easier than will power" - Peter Ganesh

Start at the end. Say what? Yup, start with a clear picture of what you want at the end. For instance, if you would like to buy a new car by January 1^st of next year, know exactly the color, name, how many doors, and what the car would look like. Get a picture from a magazine or go down to the dealer and get a brochure. 

Cut out the best picture you can find and paste it up in a prominent place where you can see it often. This will help you to stimulate your senses and keep you excited and motivated. This is the target you are trying to shoot for. 

Try to remember this picture in your mind as often as you can on a daily basis, especially the first thing in the morning when you wake up and the last thing you think about when you go to bed at night. 

The reason for this is because this is the time when your subconscious mind is more susceptible to receiving and believing what it is that you want it to do.  Remember that images are the language of the subconscious mind, just like English people understand English, German people understand German, the subconscious mind understand images. 

Affirmation is also a very powerful and effective tool that you can use to help you achieve your goals.  Repeating  and believing in what you say and do to yourself, helps to give subliminal messages to your subconscious mind. 

Step 8 – Get a goals buddy  

Try to find a person  you can work with who is trying to achieve some goals as well.  This could be a family member, a friend or a co-worker.  This body system is a very effective tool because you help to motivate each other.  You can share your goals and your target dates with him/her and he/she will do the same with you.  Agree to follow-up with each other either on a weekly or monthly basis, whichever is more appropriate. 

 Step 9 – What are your beliefs, fears and obstacles

"Beliefs are like table tops...it needs legs to support it" - Anthony Robbins

What do you believe in?  Why do you have this belief? How do you know that your belief is correct? How do you know that your beliefs are incorrect? Is it based on faith or facts? What do you think is right?  What do you think is wrong?  Do you believe in a God or do you believe in the science of evolution?  Whatever your beliefs, it will help you to achieve your goals. 

For instance, if you believe in a God and that God had helped you in the past when you prayed, then continue to follow your beliefs.  If on the other hand you believe in the science of  evolution and there is no God, then this is also fine.   Whatever works for you, be bold and confident and stick to your beliefs.

 The important thing about beliefs is that in order for it to work for you, you must get rid of doubts. This is because the more doubts you have, the weaker your faith and conviction in your beliefs. This of course will lead to failure.  On the other hand, the stronger your beliefs, the stronger your conviction will be and the more chances you will have to succeed. In order to build your beliefs, find enough reasons to believe.

Some people accuse Christian and Muslim fundamentalists as being crazy, while others say that at least they believe in something and are prepared to die for their beliefs.  Both may be wrong or both may be right, but they both feel that they are right, even those of us who make the judgment about them.

So who is wrong and who is right? For the sake of our discussion here it does not matter. The point is that they believe in something so strongly that they are prepared to die for their beliefs. So too must be your beliefs in achieving your goals.

Scientists tell us that humans tend to do things that bring us pleasure and we shy away from things that bring us pain.  For instance, we will put on music that makes us feel happy but we will not put our hands on a hot burner on a stove because we know that we will get burn and this will bring us a lot of pain. The brain will always take the path of least resistance. So be aware of what brings you pain and what brings you pleasure. This will help you to keep moving towards your goals.

 Step 10 – Stay focused, committed, dedicated and motivated to execute your plan 

One of the best ways to stay focused, committed, dedicated and motivated to execute your plan is to go over your reasons in Step 4 and make sure that your reasons are strong enough. Make sure that your beliefs are strong enough and that you have a clear picture in your mind every day of exactly what you want.

See that picture in your mind and play it often like a movie especially in the morning when you wake up and at night when you go to bed. One of the real secrets of motivation is no secret at all.  For me it is very simple, it's the pleasures of the rewards at the end that keeps me motivated.

For Simon Whitfield, the Triathelon Gold Medalist winner at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, after being  50 places back, this simple question helped him:  “How much do I want this? ”

Take massive action right now, get off the couch, get on the road and show them what you can do...Start Now! Good Luck!

PS:

Change when you must, but never quit, because quitters can never win.

If you have questions  or would like to share an experience with Peter, send him an email here

Do you know someone with diabetes?

You can help them with diabetes resources at: The Peter Ganesh Diabetes Foundation