Why Can’t Reach Goals?

I am sure every one of you, at some point in your life, had put a goal to achieve. This goal can be losing some weight, getting a promotion in your job, or gaining the necessary skills which will increase your chances in the business world.

I did that too. I am still putting some goals for myself. To give an example, I always set my goals at the beginning of each month. These goals are usually similar, while some of them may differ from month to month.

Recently, I checked those goals in the past and realized that some of them are exactly the same for many years, and I still find myself not satisfied to fulfill those goals. Actually, some of them are never applied by me, at all. I plan to go to the gym, write more frequently on Medium, and complete Coursera and Udemy courses at the beginning of every month. Unfortunately, these plans were never applied regularly. Even if I start to adopt them, it goes for just one or two weeks and then I lose my determination to maintain those activities. In other words, they never become my real habits as though I wish them to be.

I am sure that you may encounter the same situation and disappointment. But why can’t we reach our goals? I think that is because we are having difficulty getting out of our comfort zone, and we have a habit of procrastinating.

The concept of a comfort zone refers to a psychological safe space where individuals operate regularly without experiencing excessive stress or anxiety. It is totally normal to resist change where we are in our comfort zone. However, growth happens outside of our comfort zone. If we want real change and growth, we must first find a way to push ourselves to take the first step. To achieve this, it is crucial to have a meaning behind those goals which will give us the motivation to start.

After getting out of our comfort zone, here comes the procrastination habit. Many of us may put off tasks until the last minute because of fear of failure, fear of success, lack of motivation, poor time management skills, low self-esteem, distractions, and perfectionism. Procrastination may stem from various reasons; so, you should first find the main reason why you procrastinate. Maybe you are a perfectionist, and you want everything to be flawless. This may prevent you from doing the stuff. Maybe you are bad at time management, or you are afraid of being a failure. All is okay. Remember, if you keep straining yourself for those reasons, you will regret it when you turn 80. Life is not worth fear. Just tell yourself one thing: You don’t lose from trying. But if you don’t try, you can’t gain anything.

Now all you have to do is find the real reason why you procrastinate and try to get out of your comfort zone, push yourself a little bit harder. Set clearer and smarter goals. You should set more specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goals. After this step, you can try to break tasks down and start with small steps. Don’t try to be perfect from the beginning, don’t overthink, just do it. When the first move begins, the rest will come and you will be better every single day.