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To make a goal stick, you must really want it

ADD THAT TO SETTING SOMETHING MEANINGFUL, MEASUREABLE, ATTAINABLE

From my perspective, here’s the difference between those who set real goals and those who don’t.

Real goals must contain the following three things. They are meaningful, measurable and attainable. But in my experience, it goes much deeper than that and there is a fourth measurement that almost always gets overlooked.

It is so overlooked that if you Google goal-setting and read all you can, you’ll find this important key to successful goal-achievement virtually nowhere.

Yet, in my view it is more important than meaningful, measurable and attainable. It is the heart and soul of setting and reaching goals, and without it you are doomed.

I’m sure I’ve used the following analogy in one of my columns over the past year. However, it brings such clarity to the struggles we face with actually achieving our goals that it is worth repeating. As a person who spends six days a week in a gym somewhere and has for over 10 years, you can count on crowded health clubs at the beginning of every January. Sweat will pour off of those who have drawn the line on procrastination, self-avoidance, lack of balance and generally unhealthy behavior.

Goals have been set and January marks the beginning of a new way of life for many, as the health club industry swipes the credit cards of all the goal-setters across America. It is the time to exercise; eat right; and improve strength, body, diet and overall physical and mental health.

A commitment to the goal has been made, and it is officially time to work out.

Further evidence of this was discovered while I was traveling the week before Christmas. I was in my hotel room the night before an executive coaching session with a client and found myself battling insomnia at three in the morning, so I did what I always do and started channel surfing. I had access to 62 channels and at least a dozen of those channels had infomercials airing for the most popular in-home exercise equipment.

You know the kind of equipment that I’m talking about. The kind that you hang your next-day shirt and pants on before going to bed at night, or the kind that is banished to the spare bedroom or corner of the garage. We have all been through that one as the smart marketers capitalize on the hope that the New Year will bring a change of behavior.

So why is it that the health clubs are packed in January, but then they are empty in March? The reason the crowd gets “right-sized” and only the regulars and the few who broke through remain is very simple. Those who stick with their goals really want to and gain pleasure from exercise. They become addicted to the feeling they get from strenuous activity. They focus on the results that they are getting from the hard work and they love it. Their true intention is to work out and nothing will keep them from the gym.

On the other hand, there is the majority: those who set such terrific and sincere goals to make a real-life change and incorporate exercise time into their schedule, yet they somehow fall by the wayside after a few short workouts. They had such good intentions. What went wrong? Their goal is meaningful. To get in shape is a solid accomplishment and pays huge mental and physical dividends. Their goal is definitely measurable. How much weight will you lose? How far can you run? How much can you lift? How good do you feel? And getting in shape is certainly an attainable goal. So what happened?

The goal-setting process had the three important ingredients: Goals must be meaningful, measurable and attainable.

This is what happens. We don’t do what we don’t want to do for very long. If we really dislike exercising, view it as a time stealer or truly don’t see the payoff, we aren’t going to stay with it. If our goals are painful to a point that we practice avoidance, we will never hit the goal. If we find pleasure in the fight for the goal, and if we see a major payoff, we will stick with it. It is just that simple. We must love what we are after.

As I look back at my 17 2007 goals, I must admit some didn’t even hit my radar screen, because at the end of the day I really didn’t want to go after them.

I’m going to be smarter this year and incorporate the fourth most important ingredient into goal-setting: I will make sure that the goals I set are ones that I really want.

•••

Chuck Mache, president of Chuck Mache Communications, is a speaker, executive coach and consultant. His work is dedicated to helping companies and individuals break through to their next level and he is the bestselling author of the “The Four Kinds of Sales People: How and Why They Excel and How You Can Too.” Learn more and sign up for Chuck’s complimentary monthly newsletter at www

.chuckmache.com.

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