Thomas Edison once said, “a vision without execution is hallucination.” If you are anything like me, your life is packed with goals that, at times, seem not only endless but insurmountable. Achieving goals is not the problem. Learning the skillsets needed to achieve yours is. Putting the Man in manifestation will not only help alleviate some of life’s pressures. It will have you in short order crushing your goals like a pro. 

How To Achieve A Goal

What is a goal? In simple terms, it is something you hope to achieve. It seems easy enough on paper; however, the daily journey to goal land is like any destination. It is easier to get there with a map. During a speech in 1954, President Eisenhower said, “I have two kinds of problems, the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent.” Breaking his line of thinking down over time created what is now known as the Eisenhower Matrix. Do, Decide, Delegate, or Delete. These are the four boxes of the matrix. This simple yet powerful tool is designed to help you keep things in perspective. Pick a box, and drop what your priorities are into one of the four categories so you can quickly access the tasks at hand and crush them. 

Deciding what fits into these boxes is up to you, but here are some tips to help you get organized. Personally, I like to have a clear definition or end-state of what my goals really are and what the timeline to get them done is. Then I will start to build a to-do list that allows me to work backwards, planning out what it may take to get there so I can apply the maximum or minimum amount of effort needed to obliterate my goals. I have found using task apps helps keep all of this more simplified with the push of a few buttons. 

Do

I will ask myself, what is urgent? These are things that must be done today without fail. Understand that if these things are not done, then the rest of my timeline is negatively affected, potentially jeopardizing achieving my goals from the start. This is the area of goal land I like to call “my non-negotiable” zone. Meaning no matter what, I am not deviating from these things today. Part of goal manifestation is not allowing for outside distractions. In essence, it is only hurting me if it is not helping me. No is a powerful word. Learn to use it every day. Trust me; it is going to be ok. The people who you think you are letting down will still be there tomorrow, and so will their problems. And if they are not there. Then you just solved another problem. See how easy this is! 

Decide

What are some things I can do later? Yes, but not urgent enough to keep me from my goals for today. This can be anything simple such as a follow-up email or call you to need to make. If yes, it drops into this category without a second thought. 

Delegate

What am I talking about when I say delegate?  Typically, it is someone helping you achieve your goal with your vision in mind. You are trusting them. It is someone you know you can rely on. How often have you been let down by somebody you thought you could trust? I hate to spoon-feed you a mouthful of truth here, but that is not their fault. It is your fault for choosing them to help you in the first place. Finding the right people is of critical importance. Picking the right team is a goal unto itself. If you need some help deciding what to delegate, choose things that do not require your specific skillsets. That is relevant to the overall goal but not so important that it needs your personal attention. 

DELETE 

One of my personal favorites: The unimportant. This can be people, places, or things. It does not need to be a specific task or goal. It also does not mean you couldn’t get it done today, so now it is unimportant. I am talking about the things you think need your attention but are just distractions. Going out to meet your friends for lunch is a delete. Sleeping in an extra hour and skipping the gym is a delete. Clocking in at the rumor mill two hours a day is a delete. 

Your deletes are the reason you are not performing at your highest level. Goal crushing is all about stripping away the veneer of lies you’ve been telling yourself. Fix your priorities, stand firm with your desire to achieve your goals, and let nothing or no one stand in the way until you get there. Don’t be afraid to be unavailable if your friends or colleagues want to know where you are. Tell them you are too busy crushing your goals to be distracted. Will they like it? No. Will they respect it? Yes.