The Most Important Question to Ask Yourself to Achieve Your Goals

When people want to achieve a goal or create a change of some kind they often start by asking themselves this question: 

“What do I need to do?”

They then proceed to come up with a long list of tasks to complete and actions to take to get from where they are to where they want to be.

It is an important part of the process and is a good starting point.

But it isn’t the most important question to ask yourself.

Here’s why:

Achieving what matters most to you is driven to a large extent by your behaviour, habits, mindset, and emotions.

That is because those four factors determine how we act in any situation. And how we act determines our outcomes.

You can have the best strategy and action plan in the world but it is you that has to implement that and make it happen.

If you don’t have the right behaviours, habits, mindset, and emotional intelligence to support you in implementing your plans and tasks, then the game is over before it starts. Your chances of achieving the results that matter most to you are significantly reduced.

So, the most important question to ask yourself to achieve what matters most to you is this:

“Who do I need to be?”

Because who you are being as you work on what you want to achieve is going to heavily influence your outcomes.

Practical exercise:

Step 1 - Take a moment to think about a goal, change, or result you would like to achieve in your life, work, or business.

Step 2 - As you ask yourself "what do I need to do to achieve that?", also ask yourself "who do I need to BE to achieve that?" Identify the behaviours, habits, mindset, and emotions that will support you in achieving the specific outcomes you desire.

Step 3 - Identify how you will start to develop those things and how you will integrate them into your strategy and action plans. Ask yourself, "what do I need to learn and how will I learn them to make the things I have identified happen?"

These three steps are a powerful way to set yourself up to succeed.

The bottom line... 

Who you are being is driving how you show up. And how you show up could be the difference between success and failure in the quest to achieve what matters most to you. Give it at least as much focus and attention as you do to the practical action plans you need to take to achieve your goals.