--- title: Success: 5 Secrets to Achieving Goals description: “Before I die I want to…” canonical: https://time.com/3915012/secrets-achieving-goals/ author: Eric Barker article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-15T04:01:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:49:33.546Z article:section: Ideas og:title: 5 New Secrets to Achieving Your Goals, Backed By Research og:description: “Before I die I want to…” og:url: https://time.com/3915012/secrets-achieving-goals/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcb2294ab20367fae/698853c4428a9e4f07ccda08/129842894-copy1.jpg?branch=production&width=508&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 508 og:image:height: 286 og:image:alt: man-hiking-mountain og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 5 New Secrets to Achieving Your Goals, Backed By Research twitter:description: “Before I die I want to…” twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcb2294ab20367fae/698853c4428a9e4f07ccda08/129842894-copy1.jpg?branch=production&width=508&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 5 New Secrets to Achieving Your Goals, Backed By Research > Sponsored content. 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Huesca province, Aragon, Spain Getty Images by [Eric Barker](https://time.com/author/eric-barker/) ## Eric Barker Jun 15, 2015 4:01 AM UTC Goal setting is one of [the four techniques the military used to increase Navy SEAL passing rates](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/what-four-psychological-techniques-did-the-go) from 25% to 33%. Studies have also shown it [makes you happier](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/can-setting-goals-make-you-happier). **_So what are five steps to achieving your goals?_** ## **1) Shut Up** Keep them secret. Talking about big goals rewards yourself ahead of time and makes you less likely to follow through. Via Daniel Coyle’s excellent book [The Little Book of Talent: 52 Tips for Improving Your Skills](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/034553025X/ref=as%5Fli%5Fss%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=034553025X&linkCode=as2&tag=spacforrent-20): --- > “” --- Do NOT fantasize about achieving your goal. That’s [eating dessert first and saps motivation](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/does-fantasizing-give-you-the-motivation-to-a). Thinking about [what you have to do to prepare for a challenge](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/is-a-rocky-training-montage-what-you-need-to) was more likely to lead to success than imagining the victory. ## **2) Make working on your goals fun** People are happier when their goals are aligned, meaning their short term goals lead to the achievement of their long term goals. So make it fun in the short term and you’ll likely achieve more (and be happier) in the long term. Via Jonathan Haidt’s [The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0465028020/ref=as%5Fli%5Fss%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=spacforrent-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0465028020): --- > “” --- ## **3) Join AA** Okay, you don’t actually have to _join_ Alcoholics Anonymous but you can definitely learn something from them: Alcoholics focus on staying sober one day at a time and celebrate these “small wins”. Research has shown that paying attention to “small wins” can help you make progress in many areas of your life. Via [Little Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge from Small Discoveries](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1439170428/ref=as%5Fli%5Fss%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1439170428&linkCode=as2&tag=spacforrent-20): --- > “” --- Track your accomplishments on a chart. Do anything so that you can see progress because [nothing motivates you more than seeing progress](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/what-motivates-us-more-than-most-anything-els). ## **4) Don’t know what your goals are? Think about your funeral.** 9 minutes in to his famous Stanford commencement speech Steve Jobs explains the importance he placed on thinking about death during life: --- > “” --- Visualize your funeral and consider what you would want friends to describe as your legacy. Via Richard Wiseman’s excellent book [59 Seconds: Change Your Life in Under a Minute](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307474860/ref=as%5Fli%5Fss%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=spacforrent-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217153&creative=399349&creativeASIN=0307474860): --- > “” --- Candy Chang gives an inspirational TED talk about a project that asked people to finish the sentence: “Before I die I want to…” Initially, the research says, aim high. [Set ambitious goals](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/is-it-better-to-start-off-with-ambitious-goal). (But later on down the road [don’t be afraid to settle](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/is-it-better-to-settle) to be happy.) ## **5) Helping other achieve their goals can help you with yours** Undergrads who wrote letters of encouragement to “at-risk” middleschoolers advising them to persevere and that intelligence “is not a finite endowment but rather an expandabale capacity” became, themselves, happier and better in school for _months_ afterward. Truth is, there were no middleschoolers. Via [Situations Matter: Understanding How Context Transforms Your World](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1594488185/ref=as%5Fli%5Fss%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1594488185&linkCode=as2&tag=spacforrent-20): --- > “” --- **Join over 190,000 readers. Get a free weekly update via email** [**here**](http://eepurl.com/o6uAD)**.** **_This piece originally appeared on_** [**_Barking Up the Wrong Tree_**](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2013/01/checklist-achieve-goals/)**_._** Related posts: [How To Stop Being Lazy And Get More Done – 5 Expert Tips](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2014/08/how-to-stop-being-lazy/) [How To Get People To Like You: 7 Ways From An FBI Behavior Expert](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2014/10/how-to-get-people-to-like-you/) [New Harvard Research Reveals A Fun Way To Be More Successful](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2014/09/be-more-successful/) ## Transcript Hands down I would say the person who's had perhaps the greatest influence in my life is somebody who really, I never met, obviously, because they were born in 1797, but, I started reciting black poetry, black history pieces when I was a young girl. And read about Isabella Baumfree. Who later changed her name to Sijourner Truth. And I so identified with her story and for many years I use to recite the famous piece that she did in 1854 at the women's rights convention in Akron Ohio. called, ain't I a woman? Ain't I a Woman? Became sort of a part of my mantra, in high school, and through college. And I think that, the spirit of Sojourner Truth, is something that I feel abides with me. And, the story of her life being sold, as a slave, a young girl at 9 years old. For $ 100 along with some sheep and being brutalized and enduring all of that. Growing up to have a spiritual revelation and wanting to become, not just wanting to become, but wanting to be defined by her sense of spirituality and her commitment. For what was right for women and for all people in the world is a message that I've carried with myself. And I think I was influenced by that in such a powerful way in believing that her ability to say, in our women, [ INAUDIBLE ]. It as much as any man when I could get it. And no man can hit me. And little man over there say, why you wanna be called a woman? Cross, cross wonder woman. And I say to him, where'd your christ come from? He come from god and he come from a woman. And at the end of that speech where she says, if one woman Eve was able to turn this world upside down all by herself, I believe that all of us women in it together ought to be able to turn it right side up. I loved that and took that and took that as a part of my own way of being in the world. That if one woman could do it, then all of us women together could turn it right side up. So I would have to say, long answer to the question but I'd have to say hands down, Sojourner Truth and that's why. Couple of years ago, when Jamie Foxx gave me the bust of Sojourner Truth, that's one of the greatest gifts I've, I've ever received and she sits in my office as a reminder to me, everyday, that if one woman, Eve, could turn the world upside down. All of us together, can turn it right side up. The person that I'm the most impressed with in the last year that I'm really excited about and I wish the world would know more about him is a guy named Tom Shadyac. Who has, been a very successful, film producer and director. And did the Ace Ventura movies and did movies with Eddie Murphy and really earned, with his films, a couple billion dollars. And gave it all up after he had an accident. And, started asking the important questions as he was lying flat on his back and couldn't work in the film industry anymore. And one of the questioned he asked was what's wrong with the world? And the answer was, I am. And he created an entire documentary about it that's called I Am. And I think if more people in the world saw his film The world would be a better place. 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