You want to accomplish something. Maybe you want to lose a few pounds, maybe you want to watch all eight Harry Potter movies in one sitting, whatever it is, something needs to get done. Unfortunately, the odds are against you. According to research at the University of Scranton, 92% of people donât succeed to accomplish the goals they set for themselves.

That might sound like a demoralizing statistic, 92% of people fail, but that also means 8% of people succeed â a substantial number. Hereâs the million-dollar question: What do the 8% of people who accomplish their goals do differently than the 92% who donât?

There are 3 key strategies that those who succeed implement, in this article youâre going to learn what those 3 strategies are, and exactly how you can implement them in your own life, so you can accomplish anything you want.

How To Achieve Your Goals Key 1:

Have A Strong Why

Nietzsche said, âHe who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.â Your why is that thing that wakes you up in the morning and keeps you up late at night. Itâs the thing you would do anything to get, the change you want to make in your life (or in the world).

Those who accomplish their goals do so because they want it so badly that theyâre willing to endure all the pain and setbacks they experience along the way.

You already have an idea of something you want, but do you want it badly enough to do whatever it takes to get it?

For most people, the answer is no. Fortunately, you can strengthen your why over time using a proven technique.

How to Strengthen Your Why

What do Connor McGregor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Phelps, and Jim Carey all share in common? They all used the power of visualization to strengthen their why.

When he was still a plumber, Connor McGregor visualized himself holding the world championship UFC belt. Before he was famous, Arnold Schwarzenegger visualized himself as the greatest bodybuilder of all time. As part of his training regimen, Michael Phelps visualized himself swimming the perfect race every single day. When he was still living in poverty, Jim Carrey visualized himself one day becoming a successful actor every single night, until eventually, it came true.

Visualizing future success doesnât magically bring success to you, but it does strengthen your why. When you imagine yourself accomplishing your goals and becoming the person you want to be, it makes your future success seem tangible.

Visualization is a technique that helps you want to achieve your goals that much more. Thatâs why itâs been a powerful tool for successful actors, athletes, writers, and people in every field.

So, how exactly do we use visualization? Well, if your goal is to lose weight, imagine yourself a year in the future with your ideal body. You might imagine:

• How good you feel inside your own skin.
• Looking at yourself in the mirror with a sense of awe.
• How people react to you differently.
• All the benefits youâll get from achieving your goal.

Visualize yourself taking massive action and getting rewarded for doing so. Visualize your book becoming a number 1 bestseller, visualize yourself giving a speech to a huge stadium. Whatever your goal is, visualize the outcome you want most in as emotionally impactful a way as possible.

What you visualize is only limited by your creativity. You know youâre on the right track if your visualization makes you feel energized and positive, that means your visualization is having a powerful effect.

Visualization isnât a substitute for action taking, itâs a tool to inspire you to take more action, and thereâs a long list of top-level performers who claim this tool has changed their life.

How To Achieve Your Goals Key 2:

Set Challenging, Specific goals

Researchers Edwin Locke and Gary Latham found that when people set goals that are both challenging and specific, they are significantly more likely to accomplish those goals.

If your goals are too easy, itâs hard to get excited about them. If your goals are too vague, you can rationalize yourself out of making progress. Marcel Schwantes of Inc.com writes, âHere’s an example: If your goal between now and the end of the year is to, say, lose 20 pounds, that may be challenging, but it’s not specific enough.

Eliminate vagueness and make it more achievable by stating it this way: During the month of August, I will lose five pounds by cutting off refined sugar, breads, and all fast food. I will also walk briskly for twenty minutes every day.â A goal like this is specific enough that you know exactly how to define success or failure. Itâs going to be much easier to say no to sweets when you know that eating sugar is breaking your commitment.

Itâs important that your goals are challenging, but not overly so. We are creatures of habit, and if you try to make a drastic change to your routine, youâre going to make working towards your goals too stressful. Success is a marathon, not a sprint.

I lost 15 pounds in the last two months by setting a goal of going to the gym twice a week for at least 30 minutes (and making a few changes to my diet). In the past, Iâve tried to force myself to go to the gym every day, an hour each time, but Iâd inevitably burnout after a couple weeks.

To find what goals are challenging, but not too challenging for you, you might have to try different goals. And the best way to do that is using a data driven approach, which is where the third strategy comes in.

How To Achieve Your Goals Key 3:

Keep Track of YOu Progress

Peter Drucker said, âThat which gets measured, improves.â Thereâs a significant difference between feeling like youâve been making good progress, and knowing youâve been making good progress â because you have data that proves it.

For two years, I measured my diet using a calorie tracking app, and I also measured my weight on a weekly basis. In that time, I lost 30 pounds and got into the best shape of my life.

More recently, I stopped tracking my calories, and I stopped using a scale to check my weight. Guess what happened after I went a year without measuring my diet or weight? I gained 40 pounds. Thatâs right, 40 pounds. I went from athletic to overweight. I never would have let that happen if I had been keeping track of my progress.

Tracking your progress helps you keep your goals on your mind. The reality is, if we donât measure what weâre doing to achieve our goals, itâs easy to start to neglect them over time.

I measure my progress using a simple excel sheet. Every day I write down things I want to track like my current weight, how much time I spent writing, how time I spent watching Netflix, and how much I slept.

This helps me in two ways:

First â If I see a trend I donât like, Iâm much more likely to make an adjustment. I donât want to write down that I spent 4 hours on Netflix, keeping track of how I spend my time helps me stay accountable.

Second â Keeping track of my progress gives me a score to beat. By seeing what Iâve done in the past, I am creating a sort of competition with myself.

This is motivating the same way that seeing your weight on a scale after youâve lost 5 pounds is motivating. By keeping track of your progress, setting new records and beating your previous numbers becomes addictive.

There are other applications you can use to keep track of your progress. You can use apps like Word, Todoist, Habitica, and Google calendar. The big advantage to excel is that it give you a visual representation of the change youâve made over time. You can see what you did 3 months ago compared to what you did today.

Keeping track of your progress will also help you set challenging, but realistic goals. If your goal were to read for 45 minutes per day, and you saw on your goal tracking app that youâve been unable to keep up with that commitment,then you can adjust your goal accordingly.

Measuring your progress isnât the sexiest self-improvement tool, but it is one of the most powerful.

Wrapping Up How To Achieve Your Goals

All three strategies have been proven to work by a combination of scientific research and the results I’ve gotten from them.

To recap, strengthen your why using visualization, set challenging (but realistic) and specific goals, and keep track of your progress. Implement these strategies and your success will be inevitable.

92% of people fail to accomplish their goals. Now you have the tools necessary to make sure youâre one of the 8% who succeed.