By Robin Buttler

We want to always paint a picture of goal setting as being something exciting, liberating, and positive. That is a proper way to describe it, of course. However, if working towards those goals isn’t done with a good plan covered in wisdom, common problems can occur.  Let’s take a look at some of the common problems in goal setting. 

Setting unrealistic goals 

• When setting goals, sometimes the bar can be set too high. We want to dream out loud, but sometimes our dreams are more animated than humanly possible to bring into actuality. Don’t let anyone stop your dreams, but don’t be disappointed or letdown when it’s time to sit down and truly assess what it will take for that to be your new normal.  Even if some of the leather or glitter have to be pushed aside for another day, you are STILL reaching for something that has been dormant for possibly a long time.  Every achievement is a cause for celebration. Dream out loud, as loudly as you can, but be sure that what you’re shouting is something that CAN be accomplished.  Keep it real.  

Focusing on too few areas 

• What’s your BIG picture? In the same way we can set our goals to an unrealistic height,  we can also rob ourselves of seeing the big picture.  We don’t focus on the short-term goals, but if we have no view of where we ultimately want to go, we have little motivation to make the small goals become reality. When taking the time to see that picture, we may identify some small things that are in our way; small obstacles that are nuisances.  Make a plan to remove those annoyances and watch the conflict of setting your desired goal begin to diminish.  

Underestimating the time it will take to accomplish a goal 

• Working too fast toward an achievement may cause you to miss something essential along the way. When we expect too much too quickly, we may experience a setback that brings us down. It’s like saying you’ll build a house from the ground up in a few weeks. You have to keep expectations realistic and make room for the unexpected.

Devastated by failure 

• Failure doesn’t always have to be a negative thing in our lives. Read that again. Most people don’t realize that failure can be one of the most positive forces in our lives. It can motivate us to be more creative instead of causing us to give up in frustration. A famous inventor once said he didn’t fail a thousand times before he succeeded. He only found a thousand ways it didn’t work first!

Setting “other people’s goals” instead of our own 

• We need to respect the boundaries of other people—especially those we love and those we work with each day. We have our dreams; they have theirs. We have our goals; they have their own. We can become partners, but only if we work hard to have compatible visions of the future. We can’t allow ourselves to try to live someone else’s dreams. We can be inspired by others, and we can inspire them, but each person has to own his own destiny, purpose, and goals.

Not reviewing progress

• It’s important to move our focus off past frustrations and achievements, but we need to learn from the past. If it weren’t for the small steps, we wouldn’t appreciate our progress. It’s small steps, not huge leaps, that get us to our destinies.

Setting “negative” goals 

• When we think negatively, we act negatively. We become obsessed with our failures, the people who have blocked our goals, and all we’ve lost in the process. Resentment poisons the hearts of those who develop negative goals of “getting back” at those who hurt them.

Setting too many goals 

• The old phrase, “Keep it simple” is still good advice. If our “to do” list is too large, we get frustrated and give up. We need to look at our list and prioritize what’s most important so we can avoid becoming overwhelmed.

Take the time to be sure you’ve considered all possibilities before setting your goal.  Assess the options and discover the opportunities and then GO FOR IT!! Overcome the problems and then make it happen!