8 Reasons You Aren’t Achieving Your No. 1 Goal & How to Overcome Them

As we move through the days and months of our annual cycle, we might start asking ourselves “Why am I struggling to reach my goal?” Being a Jack Canfield certified success principles trainer and author of the book, “The FUNdamentals of Business Success,” I love to discuss with other trainers and coaches what they see in the people they get to work with. At the same time, I also asked members of the Our Success Group community throughout the year and both of those conversations brought about eight main reasons people don’t achieve their No. 1 goal.

I want to share those eight reasons with you to help you answer why you might be struggling to reach your goal.

1. Negativity and old programming: Throughout our lives, we have installed negative thinking patterns that can lead to self-doubt and reluctance to change. Sometimes these negative patterns were even encouraged by well-meaning people in our lives just trying to keep us safe.

2. Improper focus: Many of the coaches I talked to believe that people focus too much on improving weaknesses rather than honing strengths. Leaning into their strengths and focusing on one clear goal at a time seems to be a big part of the recipe for success.

3. Lack of clarity and vision: People often don’t have a clear understanding of what their goal is or how to achieve it. This comes from the fact that much of the time when people are going after a goal, they end up realizing the goal is something someone else wants for them or what society says is success. They are unable to see the vision and self-sabotage because their goals aren’t aligned with their personal values or purpose.

4. Lack of grit and dedication: Achieving a goal is going to come with many obstacles along the way. I see it as sort of a test to make sure this is really the goal you want to be dedicated to achieving. But at times we lack the tenacity (or grit) to stick with a goal and see it through to completion. If you are not committed to making it happen it might be time to reevaluate.

5. Fear and limiting beliefs: Fear is frequently cited as a major obstacle. This fear can take many forms, including fear of change, fear of failure, or fear due to limiting beliefs about one’s capabilities.

6. Lack of self-worth: A lack of self-worth can prevent you from taking the action necessary to achieve your goal. The feeling of being undeserving will cause you to save your energy and emotional bank account and not put yourself out there when the time comes. It also manifests as feelings of shame when goals are not met, making future goal setting even harder and creating more negativity and old programming habits that don’t serve you.

7. Procrastination and complacency: These two ugly cousins often appear to the outside world to be laziness and are significant obstacles to achieving goals. We end up always waiting for a more opportune time that never comes. You have to dig down to the root of these two inhibitors and overcome them with action.

8. Giving up too soon: Finally, the most common reason people don’t achieve their goals is they give up too quickly. Look up the story about R. U. Darby and his uncle and how they were “3 Feet from Gold.” The reasons might be due to discouragement, impatience, or encountering bigger challenges that the person is willing to face or even never starting due to various reasons. But failure only occurs when we give up.

Part of my training as a success principles trainer and my mission to help people fall deeper in love with their business is to help businesses maximize their fulfillment through achieving their goals. So I, too, have seen many of these challenges or even lived them personally. I have developed an entire two-day retreat around overcoming these challenges June 7-8, 2024. Please feel free to reach out to me for more details.

At their core, these eight roadblocks can all be overcome with passion. See passion is too fickle to follow, but with a good plan and the right amount of action, passion will drive us to the destination. Ask yourself: “Am I passionate enough about what I’m trying to do to be 100% committed to the action needed for success?” If the answer is no, reach out to someone like me who can help you reignite that passion — achieving your goals will become child’s play.