How to improve your chances of achieving your goals

What was the goals research about?

The research enlisted participants from around the world including the United States, Belgium, England, India, Australia and Japan. The participants worked in a variety of jobs including educators, healthcare professionals, lawyers, bankers, marketers and managers.

Each participant was randomly placed into one of five groups:

Group one was asked to simply think about the business-related goals they hoped to achieve and rate each goal by:

• difficulty and importance
• the level of skills and resources they had to accomplish the goal
• their commitment and motivation.

All the other groups were asked to write down their goals and then rate them as per group one.

Group three was also asked to write actions for each goal.

Group four was asked to write actions and also share those actions with a friend.

Group five did all of the above plus they wrote a weekly progress report and shared it with a friend.

Types of goals

The types of goals people set covered areas such as increasing their income, enhancing performance, enhancing life balance and getting organised. For example, listing and selling a house, hiring employees or completing a strategic plan.

What were the outcomes?

At the end of four weeks, each participant rated their progress towards achieving their goals.
Unsurprisingly, Group five achieved significantly more than all the other groups.
Group two – the people who simply wrote down their goals, achieved significantly more than Group one who didn’t write their goals.
And, Group four – the people who wrote action items and shared their goals with a friend, achieved even more.

What does it mean?

Overall, the research showed that by simply writing down your goals you are more likely to achieve them compared to someone who doesn’t write them down. You are even more likely to achieve them if you share them with someone – as this makes you accountable to other people and encourages you to achieve them.

Set your goals and seek advice

The way a Bridges financial planner can work with you is strikingly similar. A Bridges financial planner can:

• help you write down and record your goals by looking at your current financial situation and personal circumstances to see what opportunities you have
• build a plan with action items and measurable steps to keep you on track
• be there for you to share your progress and keep you accountable to achieve them.

To get started, go to the My Goals website.