Boost yourself on: Goal-setting, actionability, motivation, self-belief

Foreword

Do you realize that you can have the best year ever? At the start of
every year, we set goals and make resolutions enthusiastically. However,
a few months into the year, our initial enthusiasm fizzles out, and our
plans get dropped on the sideways. There are many reasons for this,
and you are about to find them in this summary.

American speaker, podcaster, blogger, and New York best-selling author

Michael Hyatt believes everyone can determine how their year turns out.
In Your Best Year Ever, Hyatt shares a simple yet powerful approach to
setting and achieving goals. In addition, he provides some crucial steps
that you can adopt on your way to becoming the best version of yourself
this year.

“Resources are never — and I mean never—the main challenge in

achieving our dreams. In fact, if you already have everything you need to
achieve your goal, then your goal is probably too small.” ~ Michael Hyatt
1. The intricacies of goals and resolutions

To many, making resolutions is a yearly ritual. It requires you to identify

the areas of your life that need changes and affect them. As simple as
that, right? The only problem is that we often find ourselves back at our
elements doing those things we swore we would give up. When we fail,
our goals slowly become a distant reality. When there is no hope and
resilience to fuel these goals, they fade into oblivion, and in their place is
a burgeoning cynicism that poisons our capacity to believe.

As such, you must discover the right strategy to adopt in the face of
failure, to help you resist the realm of the ordinary so that you can have
the best year ever. While this may seem like an impossible task, the
author advises that you see beyond your self-destructive tendencies and
realize that having a fulfilling year is very much possible. All you need do
is to make one intentional decision and watch your life take shape.

Your life doesn’t revolve around a single aspect of your life.

Your work doesn’t wholly define you. So also, your family or relationships
do not connote the entirety of your life. Instead, your life is multifaceted.
According to Michael Hyatt, ten major domains determine who we are:

● Spiritual

● Intellectual

● Marital

● Parental

● Physical

● Emotional
● Social

● Vocational

● Avocational

● Financial

All these domains matter, as they relate to and affect each other. More
so, it would help if you understood that it is possible to improve every
one of them. By doing so, you will unlock the door to true happiness,
confidence, and fulfillment. As such, personal growth is one of the core
requirements for those interested in experiencing their best year ever.

This summary will help you understand why your reality is highly
dependent on what you believe and how you can change both. As a
result, you’ll set great goals that will help you move toward becoming
your best possible self.

2. Beliefs are the bedrocks of our reality

You must have heard the saying, “as a man thinketh, so he is.” These
words resonate with everyone, as we have come to view the world, other
people, and ourselves a certain way, which defines our personality.

But beliefs have a way of molding our destiny. In essence, our life
choices unconsciously align with beliefs, and the chances of having a
great year depend on whether we are wired to dwell on the positives or
obsessed about the negatives.

People who always fixate on limitations or incessantly analyze their

chances of success do not take risks. They tend to believe that there are
a lot of factors that could stifle their success, so it is better to play safe.
More so, they ignore opportunities because they believe that they do not
have the right skill sets. They give up on relationships because they
believe the notion that they do not deserve love. They are scared of
starting their own business because the economy is harsh.

“Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and
hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival.”
~ Winston S. Churchill

What separates these people from the overachieving bunch is that they
fail to imagine a reality that does not conform to myths and artificial laws
or restrictions. Instead of focusing on their capacity to find success in the
most unpromising of places, their subconscious tells them they are
incapable of maneuvering limitations. In other words, they develop a
thinking habit that fixates on the scarcity of possibilities.

The fake lifestyles that people often post on social media could plant the
seed of self-doubt and envy.

In a similar vein, people who have experienced past failures tend to

make their setbacks an invisible wall of pessimistic beliefs that stops
them from trying new things outside their comfort zone. Also,
conventional media outlets and social media can change how you view
the world and the people around you. The negativity-laden news and the
fake posts could make you feel depressed, anxious, and powerless.

Regardless of how you might have adopted a limited way of thinking,

you can choose to remold your thoughts and see through the imaginary
obstacles that have subjected you to an ordinary existence.
3. To change your life, you must work toward upgrading
your beliefs

Now that you know how critical your belief system is to your success,
you need to start reconfiguring it. First, you must avoid the trappings that
come with restricted beliefs. Remember that limiting thoughts are always
shortsighted visualizations of the present.

Once you grasp this notion, you will start to embrace the liberating truth
that each obstacle asks of you. Where you had earlier faced rejection
and opposition, you will begin to see that limitations drive a compelling
success story. Also, you should never base your failure or your inability
to take chances on the unavailability of resources.

“Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.”
~ Abraham Lincoln

For one, limited resources have never served as a deterrent to people

who have gone to transcend the norms. They see the inaccessibility of
resources as a motivator to try even harder. As such, one could argue
that the perceived lack of resources spurs humans to become creative.
Note that this assertion is not disputing the importance of resources to
your quest.

Do not let perceived resource deficiency stop you from pursuing great
opportunities that come your way.

The same is true for the common belief that we fail because of factors
that are beyond our control. Your apparent perception that you are
powerless could cripple your capacity to be successful. Instead, it is
advisable to work on your choices, remodel your belief system, and exert
dominance over those things you can control.
Here, Michael Hyatt highlights a viable procedural strategy, which you
can use to revise your beliefs. First, identify those limiting beliefs and
make sure you record them. Once you have recorded them, the next
step is to review the beliefs and their impacts on your life. Fourth,
reframe or reject them, then start revising these beliefs to fit a more
affirmative and empowering model.

For instance, if you had rooted your actions in a limiting belief that
suggests you are too old to start developing and learning, you could
revise it into a more optimistic view that says your wealth of experience
will help you to find creative ways to make learning easy. Lastly, you
should make sure that you continue speaking and thinking about this
revised belief until it becomes who you are.

4. The past has an impact on your future

When it comes to achieving your goal, redialing your beliefs is not the
only thing you can explore. You can also learn to use your experience as
an anchor for the reality you are chasing. Some have had their hopes
dashed and their dreams crushed. And if we don’t have the suitable
mechanism to channel these heart-wrenching experiences to a
rewarding future, then our chances of being successful are very slim.

According to Michael Hyatt, you can do this by adopting a

backward-thinking way of analyzing events. This concept entails that you
become aware of those things that might have led you to dump your
resolutions last year or that could have stopped you from achieving your
goals. Furthermore, learn from these undermining actions and decisions
so they do not feature in your current attempt to chase your dreams.
“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”
~ Søren Kierkegaard

A more potent way of going about this requires that you clearly state or
write down your projected goals for the last year. It would help if you
outlined even the most irrelevant goals or resolutions since your life
consists of several domains that work together to establish who you are.

Next, you should acknowledge all the factors that could have contributed
to your success or failure and learn from them. Lastly, adjust the
behavior and beliefs that stalled your personal growth.

Adopting this self-examining technique would help you get a broader

picture of where you were, where you are standing now, and the place
you want to be. Amid this soul-searching exercise, you will inevitably feel
regret. However, as noted earlier, every regret is an ideal road sign to
help us recognize mistakes that grounded our past progress.

While you are exploring your regrets, do not sideline gratitude.

Gratitude will help you sustain an optimistic and reinvigorated frame of

mind that could propel you to develop more zeal for your current
resolutions. Contrary to popular belief that gratitude could cripple
people’s thirst for more, it reminds people of how much they have got
going for them, eradicating any ounce of doubt that they deserve more
blessings.
5. Lay the building bricks for a fantastic future by setting
reasonable goals

You will have a better chance of reaching your goals if you set them in a
clever way. The most effective way to achieve this is to note down your
goals and work through them carefully.

A study revealed that simply writing down goals could boost the chances
of success by a massive 42%.

Writing down your goals and regularly checking in on them helps you to
see where you are going and look for potential problems that may come
your way. It will also help to motivate you and identify opportunities.
Then, you will be better placed to avoid any distractions that could move
you away from your intended path.

You must pick attainable goals, to begin with, by adopting a goal

formulation framework to serve as a guide. This framework is called
SMARTER goals:

● Specific: The viability of your goals depends on how clear they

are.
● Measurable: Before choosing your goals, you should ascertain
that they are measurable, that there is a way you can assess your
progress.
● Actionable: While indicating the specifics of your goals, you
should outline the actions and tasks they entail.
● Risky: People who play it safe would most likely remain in
mediocrity. Although it is good to adopt realistic goals, taking risks
would prevent you from setting the bar too low.
 ● Time-keyed: The chances of achieving a goal with no apparent
deadline are bleak. While choosing your goals, you should attach
deadlines, time triggers, or frequencies that would keep you on
your toes.
● Exciting: You cannot resist resolutions and goals if you do not find
them interesting.
● Relevant: Your goals must correlate with your lifestyle and current
circumstances.

6. You can counter the pressure to quit with intrinsic and

external motivation

Irrespective of how well you picked and timed your goals, it is inevitable
that you will find yourself contemplating an exit plan midway. The
tendency to back out is normal. Even those who have made history by
doing the inexplicable have suffered failure, obstacles, and reversals at
one time or another. What made them different was the way they rose to
the occasion. They found a way to find success against all odds.

First, they reframed their limitations and stuck to the plan, even when the
process did not exude perfection. Also, they developed a sense of
agency to remind them that they need to put in the work before
achieving success. Success requires an intentional attempt to chase
their goals. Lastly, they always had their “whys” at the back of their mind.
In other words, they taught themselves to remember why they started in
the first place.

Here, Michael Hyatt emphasizes the importance of equipping yourself

with the most compelling of “whys” as your source of motivation. As
such, when you face a solid reason to quit, you should counter it with
one or two reasons that would remind you of the emotional and
intellectual arguments backing your goal.

External or intrinsic sources could serve as your motivation. Your society,

religion, and family fall under the external motivation category. In
contrast, ambition, hope, and values fit nicely into the intrinsic category.
Design your motivation in a way that finds a balance between these two
variations of influences to make it effective.

Unlike the intrinsically influenced motivations, motivations that emanate

from external sources alone are not long-lasting.

While this is a given, you should master your motivations by visualizing

your end reward whenever you are stuck with self-doubt. Moreover, this
is why the previous chapter advises that you must choose goals that you
can measure. By doing so, you can use your incremental progress as a
reminder that you have come a long way, and that alone could motivate
you to fight the urge to quit.

More importantly, it is okay to recruit help by choosing friends who would

acknowledge your quest, motivate you, and call you to order when you
seem to lose your way.

7. Do not forget to walk the talk

It is a common belief that the most critical first step to success is starting.
Although this is true, the author pinpointed that starting is not the ideal
first requirement for success. Instead, it is beginning the most
manageable tasks that would most likely propel you to finish.
The small wins you get from the simplest tasks on your list will keep you
going when things get tough.

In essence, completing one or two actions could motivate you to take on

more gut-wrenching stages of your goal chasing process. Small wins, as
they say, accumulate into significant victories. Also, it would help if you
didn’t mask procrastination as an obsession for developing the perfect
plan. The more you spend in the planning phase, the farther you are
from achieving your goals.

However, when planning, you could incorporate what Michael Hyatt calls
“Activation Trigger” as a form of a contingency plan, which would stifle
scenarios that could spur you to abandon your goals. For example, you
could implement an automated system that dims the light in your room
when it is bedtime. This activation trigger will make sleeping early a
more feasible resolution.

Here, Michael Hyatt lists four phases that could help you choose the
right triggers:

● Take a timeout to brainstorm the appropriate catalyst for different

scenarios.

● Tweak these triggers to conform to the uniqueness of your lifestyle

or goal requirements.

● You should anticipate obstacles that could undermine your triggers

and determine responses to help you sidestep them.

● Experiment with various triggers until you find the one that works
for you.
To make this approach more viable, you should constantly review your
goals, apparent progress, motivations, and failures. You should do this
daily, weekly, and quarterly.

Did you know? A recent study by renowned author and Harvard

Business School Professor Teresa Amabile found that small wins make
bigger goals much easier to achieve because they help boost motivation
and self-confidence.

Conclusion

It is possible to falter in your quest to achieve your New Year’s

resolutions and still have a fulfilling year. The trick is knowing what to do
when you fail and incorporating the right strategies to ink your goals into
your subconscious and make them a habit.

Many people have the assumption that they do not have what it takes to
succeed. Eventually, that belief becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy that
hampers their efforts to achieve any reasonable goal in life. To give
yourself an advantage in life, you must rid yourself of self-limiting beliefs
and develop the right mindset. Be sure to think positively and avoid
seeing yourself as someone who doesn’t know the right people or have
the proper education and skill sets to succeed.

Apart from having the right mindset, fulfillment is also dependent on how
well you learn from past mistakes. When trying to achieve a previously
attempted goal, take the time to examine what went wrong the last time
and why. Congratulate yourself on the things that went right, and then go
ahead and analyze the differences between your expectations and the
results. Acknowledge all the factors that might have contributed to your
failure to achieve the goal and learn from them.

Finally, remember that although it’s essential to set exciting goals, you
must be careful not to set your expectations so high that they become
unrealistic. People often set themselves up for failure by trying to
achieve goals that even the world’s greatest genius couldn’t attain. The
key to positioning yourself for accomplishment is to strive for a target
within your reach, but one that also requires a reasonable amount of
effort to hit.

Try this:

● Choose goals that excite you, ones that resonate with your
lifestyle.

● Be sure to choose deadlines that challenge you but that are still
within reach.

● Pick a goal that helps you move closer towards the ultimate aim
you have for your life: small milestones will help you get there.