When I think back to all of the times I have failed to reach my goals, targets, and ambitions – and there are many such occasions – I can see one reoccurring problem. The lack of a strong foundation from which to springboard to achievement. Often we embark upon a task without first doing the necessary groundwork in order to increase our chances of success. It is these tasks which fail 9 out of 10 times. What we must do is learn, gather information, and perform prerequisite tasks to provide the strong foundations we can then lean on to reach our goals.
When I recently built my own strong foundation
An example we can use to illustrate this point is this very website! As ever, things sometimes change over time including what our plans are. This site – originally planned as just a blog where I can talk about myself and what interests me – has now evolved into more of a “self-help” blog. A site where people can come to learn about mindfulness, ways to be happy, and general lifestyle tips. That isn’t to say I don’t still talk about myself. I do – a lot.
But when thinking about the new direction of this website I must pause to reflect on what this means. If I aim to help people with what I write, not only must the information I pass on be of quality but I must actually know it! This site cannot last long if I run out topics to discuss. But more importantly, it cannot last if I do not have a solid understanding of what I speak about. Who am I to try and impart such advice anyway?
Without securing the strong foundation of knowledge necessary to allow this site to prosper, it will instead flounder.
That is why I have to go back to basics and educate myself. In fact, I have just enrolled in 3 different courses to help not only improve my knowledge base but to also add credence to what I write with qualifications that can back it up.
The new courses I have embarked on are (accredited) diplomas in Mindfulness, Life Coaching, and Yoga!
The last one, yoga, is particularly useful as it is something I want to do a lot more of. If you read a previous post of mine you’ll know I’m now getting back into it. I’m actually doing a 30-day yoga challenge at the moment – I finished day two earlier, but I can’t fit it in daily so I’ll just do it as I can.
With the backing of these three diplomas, I will build a stronger foundation which this website can sit on.
There is of course more to building a successful website then just these three courses. I will endeavour to continuously develop my knowledge across the relevant fields and also learn more about running and maintaining a flourishing website. I actually have a couple of guests who will be posting articles soon on this site which I am really excited about! In turn, I’ll be sharing some of my work with them for their sites.
Build a strong foundation to match your ambition
Motivational quotes and songs can only get you so far. To reach your goals you must put in the graft and get work done.
Depending on what your goal or target is, this may mean different things. But it always involves making steps towards the end goal!
Consider what you might need to help ensure you manage to reach your goal. If you are looking to lose weight there might be several things you should consider:
- Target weight
- Support groups
- Pre-planned meals
- The kind of food you should be eating
- What you shouldn’t be eating
- Different diets you can follow
- Informative resources – like books by leading authors
- Environmental factors
- Gym membership
Generally speaking, the more effort you put in at the start to secure this strong foundation the easier it will be further down the line and less likely you will be to give up and fail.
Think of a strong foundation as the steps you need to take to ensure you can’t fail.
It is worth making a list of all the steps you might take to secure this strong foundation. Do this alone or collaboratively with a trusted friend or family member. If you are getting help then pick someone who has done something similar and learn from their success and mistakes. In fact, I would thoroughly recommend finding someone who you can discuss your goal with who has achieved something similar or is on the way to that achievement.
Go really out of your way to ensure you know everything you need to in order to make an informed and powerful start to reaching your goal. Generally, the bigger your goal and the longer it will take to reach, the more preparation you should do.
After all, failing to plan is planning to fail!
Just because you’ve already started your journey towards your goal doesn’t mean you can’t pause to reflect, like I did with my website, and build a stronger foundation to help propel you onwards.
You should consider, for longer tasks and goals such as weight loss, occasionally returning to your foundation to see if you can add anything else to it. It might be the inspiring kick you need to jettison yourself over any plateaus.
What work have you done to build yourself a strong foundation for your aspirations? How often have you failed in your goals because you didn’t do the necessary prep work? Let me know in the comments below and add your knowledge to mine and other readers!
Some practical advice here. I always appreciate a common sense approach. Thank you!
Thank you Beverly! Common sense normally wins the day!
I love this. Great ideas and suggestions. Also, I want to challenge you… You wrote, “Think of a strong foundation as the steps you need to take to ensure you can’t fail”, but failure can be amazing. It can make us look at the world in a totally new way. When we experience failures, it means that you are pushing yourself out of your comfort zone. It means that you are being brave, like this: https://www.balancingbravely.com/blog2/2019/1/6/how-i-transformed-my-fear-quit-my-job-and-started-my-own-company.
What if you built resilience to overcome failures?
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This is such a fantastic blog post! A lot of helpful information and insight. Goals are super important and long term goals typically give you long term results!
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