7 Steps to Achieve Your Goals: A Guide from a Professional Coach

The New Year is always more than just a holiday. For many, it’s a time for reflection, dreaming, and planning. We all dream of making the coming year successful! However, wishing alone is not enough. It’s crucial to set specific goals and prioritize them. A clearly defined goal increases the chances of achievement. In this article, I will propose a Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) technique that helps set goals in a way that ensures their realization.

Why Plans Fail

Every New Year, we make grand plans, dream of changes, and aim for achievements. But often, when we review the year, we realize that much of what we planned remained on paper. Here’s why:

Lack of Specificity

Vague goals like “improve life” or “be healthier” do not provide a clear direction. Without specificity, it’s hard to understand what steps need to be taken. Clear, measurable goals help you focus and move forward.

Lack of Belief

If deep down you doubt your abilities, you subconsciously sabotage your own efforts. Belief in yourself and your desires helps overcome obstacles and keeps you from giving up.

Imposed Dreams

Often, we write down goals that we’ve seen in others. If a goal does not align with your true values, motivation quickly fades, and plans remain unrealized.

Lack of a Plan

A goal without a plan is just a wish. Without a clear action plan, it’s easy to get lost and postpone everything for later. A detailed plan with specific steps makes the path to the goal clear and achievable.

Influence of Surroundings

Your environment has a significant impact on your decisions. If the people around you do not support your aspirations or even discourage them, this can become a serious obstacle. It’s important to surround yourself with those who believe in you and inspire you.

A Powerful Technique: 7 Steps to Achievable Goals

Your dream is worth becoming a reality. Here are seven steps to make it happen:

1. Formulate the Goal in a Positive Manner

Your goal should not contain negations. It’s important to formulate the goal without the particle “not.” Words like quit, forget, stop, or refuse will also hinder the achievement of your desire. A simple example – “give up sweets” will bring even more sweets into your life.

2. Determine the Controllability of the Goal

Set goals whose realization depends on you. Of course, we all want faster peace and victory, but the result should be within your control.

Example of a goal that won’t work: “I want my husband to buy me a car.”

Instead, the goal should look like this: “I am the owner of a new Range Rover car.”

Next, you need to outline 5-7 actions you are willing to take to achieve the goal. For example:

Increase my monthly income to $5K
Be active at least 4 times a week on Instagram
Increase the value of my services
Launch a podcast
Offer an additional product to clients

3. Define Your Result Criteria

To ensure the goal’s realization meets your expectations, set clear result criteria. What is the result criteria? It’s what shows that this is the exact goal you wished for.

If we take the example of wanting a new car, without defined criteria, you might get the desired car under unfavorable conditions. To ensure the goal’s realization brings you happiness, answer these questions:

What will I hear when the goal is achieved?
What will I see when the goal is achieved?
What will I feel when the goal is achieved?

4. Set Deadlines

Imagine that the goal has already been achieved. Where are you? Who is with you? Maybe you imagine a specific date when the goal should be achieved.

5. Global Context

We all live in systems. These are family, friends, work, clubs, our interests, or projects. Any system strives for survival. A goal that does not fit into the system is unlikely to be quickly realized.

Therefore, answer the following questions:

What will become more accessible when the goal is achieved? (benefits of achieving the goal for you and your environment)
What am I willing to give up for the goal?
What systems am I willing to join to achieve the goal?

6. Availability of Resources

To cook a dish, ingredients are needed. To achieve any goal, resources are needed, including money, time, connections, information, and skills.

List all the resources you already have to achieve the desired result:

How much time is needed?
What amount of money?
Information?
Skills?
Contacts?

If resources are lacking, in a separate list, write – “How much am I willing to accept from the universe.”

7. First Steps

If you have outlined everything, you are already awesome and can thank yourself for your determination and efforts. It’s time to move to the first action!

What am I willing to do within the next 48 hours to achieve the goal? Have I mentioned how awesome you are? I sincerely wish you the realization of all your dreams in 2025!

About the Author

Tetyana Artemova is a professional coach certified by ICF standards, a mentor with experience in entrepreneurship. She helps clients with self-realization, self-worth, and inner support. Follow her on Instagram.