Have you set a goal that you haven’t achieved? Whilst it can feel great to set goals the fact is you won’t always achieve everything on your list. Keep on reading to find out what to do when you don’t achieve your goal.
Firstly, I want to congratulations you for setting a goal in the first place. So many people have ‘one-day’ dreams that they never turn into goals and never make any attempt to achieve. You are not in the majority. You took the time to be intentional about your future and set a goal. Thank yourself for that!
One of the downsides of setting a goal is that sometimes you don’t achieve it. If you are a go-getter or ambitious woman this can be hard to deal with (trust me, I have been there), but the key thing to do is to learn from the experience and move forward. Here is how I recommend you do that.
Separate ‘failing’ from being a ‘failure’
Just because you have failed to achieve your goal doesn’t mean you should brand yourself as a failure. Back in July 2018 I felt like a massive failure myself and I shared why What to do when you feel like a failure. I shared how I hadn’t achieved some of my major goals it is made me feel like a failure. However, it is important to be able to separate failing from being a failure. Unfortunately, as a society, we see failure as a negative thing, which is why it can be so dangerous to start classing yourself as a failure. The fact is that everyone fails and failure is good. In fact, in business, there is a philosophy called fail fast where the emphasis is on failing fast so you can learn and move on. The same theory can be applied to life too.
Reflect on why you didn’t achieve it?
Once you have managed to see that failing doesn’t mean you are a failure it is time to take an objective look at what happened. Take a step back, and try to remove your emotions from the situation. Ask your honestly “Why did you not achieve your goal?”
Not achieving a goal is usually down to:
- The goal was out of your control
- You weren’t committed enough to the goal and didn’t take the necessary actions you needed in order to achieve the goal
- You were committed and you took action but you still didn’t achieve the goal.
Being honest about why you didn’t achieve your goal is key to being able to learn what to do next.
If your goal was out of your control then this should help you to be careful when setting goals in the future. You should set goals based on what you can control.
If you weren’t committed and didn’t do the necessary action then you’ll need to ask yourself: Why weren’t you committed? Why didn’t you take the necessary actions? Did you not make the time? Were you afraid?
If you were committed and took what you felt was the necessary actions then you’ll need to revisit your action plan. Maybe what you felt was necessary to achieve the goal wasn’t correct. Understanding that is important incase you decide to still pursue that goal.
Decide whether you still want to achieve the goal?
Now that you have worked out why you didn’t achieve the goal it is time to decide whether you still want to achieve the goal? Very often when people fail to achieve their goal it will be that they haven’t met the deadline that they’ve set themselves. Having clear timing on your goals is a key part of setting SMART goals (Find out how to set SMART goals here). However, we can be overambitious with our timings.
So you’ll need to consider whether this goal is still important to you. If it isn’t then it is time to let go of any guilt or shame you may feel and move on. If the goal isn’t important to you anymore than there really is no point wasting any more of your precious energy thinking about it. However, if you decide the goal is still important to you and you do want to achieve it then you’ll need to move onto the final step.
What can you do differently going forward?
If you are approaching a goal for a second time you should now have more insight to help ensure you achieve the goal this time.
Did you forget about your goal last time? If so you can do more to ensure that your goal stays front of mind. Learn how to keep your goals front of mind here.
Did you have a clear goal but no action plan? Now you can use the lessons from your previous approach and create a new action plan. Learn how to turn a goal into an action plan here.
Did you set an unrealistic time frame? Ensure that this time you set your time frame after you’ve created your action plan.
Did you lack accountability? Learn how to use accountability to achieve your goals here – Learn how to use accountability to achieve your goals here.
There you have it! Know you know what to do when you don’t achieve your goals.
I really hope this has made you feel better about not achieving your goals and if you decide to move forward and try again I hope you feel better prepared this time.
In the comments below I would love to know what you believe was the reason for you not achieving your goal.
