Why do you need to be specific with what you want to achieve out of your life? When it comes to setting goals and achieving them, we’re told that we need to be specific, but why? In this article, you’re going to discover the importance of being specific with what you want in life and how you can do that.
- “I want to be rich.”
- “I want to be happy.”
- “I want to travel the world.”
How many times have you heard about these phrases when it comes to identifying what we in our lives?
We all know what we want out of our lives, but there is one problem though – we’re not being specific with it.
And this is why most people fail to achieve their goals or materialize their dreams. They’re not being specific.
Imagine a friend of yours invite you to exercise together:
- “Hey, I’m going to exercise sometime this week, do you want to join?”
- “Hey, I’m hitting the gym at ABC tomorrow at 6 PM, do you want to join?”
Which question do you think is more powerful? And which scenario do you think is more likely to happen?
Obviously, the second scenario has more power and there is a higher chance that you’re going to hit the gym with the scenario.
That’s the power of being specific.
Don’t become a wandering generality. Be a meaningful specific.
Zig Ziglar
When it comes to achieving what you want out of life or reaching your goals, you need to be specific.
The more specific you are, the better.
Most people fail to achieve the success they want because they are not being specific enough.
Here are a couple of reasons why specificity is important to your success:
1. Vague intention has no power
Yes, having a vague intention creates no power.
When you put a piece of paper under the hot sun, it won’t burn. But with the help of a magnifying glass, you can burn the paper within minutes.
When you focus the sunray to a point, it can burn the paper. The same principle applies to our lives.
When you are being vague, doing everything and running everywhere, when you’re not being specific, you can’t focus your energy.
But when you are specific, you can gather all your energy and focus it at one point. And that’s when the magic happens. You can “burn paper” because you’re being specific.
Take a look at all the successful people out there. They’re being super specific with what they want. And they focus all their energy into that one thing.
And this is why they can create extraordinary results in what they do.
When you’re being vague, you venture into everything. You try everything and you scatter your energy. You can’t burn paper when your energy isn’t focused.
This is how people become mediocre. They lack clarity in what they want. They don’t know where they want to go. And they don’t have a clear direction of where to go.
Never let this happens to you. Be specific with what you want.
Read: Why Clarity of Purpose is Important to Success and How to Get It
2. Being specific helps you craft a better plan
You know what, when you’re specific and when you know exactly what kind of results you’re pursuing, you can then make a better plan to get there.
Don’t say that you want to live a happy life because that’s vague and you’re not giving your mind clear instructions of what it needs to do to be happy.
What must happen for you to feel happy?
Ask yourself that question and the answers will help you be more specific.
Maybe living a debt free life is a happy life for you. So, what you need to do then is to work hard to pay off your debt. And as you see yourself progressing, slowly paying off your debt, you will be happy.
Now that’s being specific. Can you see the difference now?
When you are specific, you can easily formulate a plan or come up with actionable steps to achieve the things that you want.
But when you’re being vague, you can’t draft the plan or give your mind specific instructions on how to get there.
Read: How to Stay Focused on Your Goals
3. You become more proactive
Once, there was a study conducted to enhance influenza vaccination rates.
The researchers got the participants to write down when and where they were going to take the vaccination. And guess what, those who were prompted to write down when and where they were going to take the vaccine, saw an increase in doing so.
In other words, when you are being specific, you become proactive.
Just like when you say that you want to exercise, but if you’re not being specific, highly likely, you’re not going to carry out that plan.
But when you are being specific, like when you tell yourself you want to run in the park on Wednesday at 8 AM, your chances of performing the action will increase.
The reason is simple. When you are specific, you are instructing your mind as to what you want to do.
And your mind will constantly remind you about it because you’re being specific. When the time comes, you will take action and do it.
Therefore, if you are someone who always procrastinates or you think you’re someone lazy who doesn’t have the drive to do things, think again.
Maybe it is not because you’re lazy. Maybe it is because you’re not being specific with what you want and you’re not giving instructions to your brain.
Do you now know why successful people are hard-working? They take massive actions because they are specific. They know what they want.
4. Specificity motivates you and inspires others
Imagine you set yourself a goal to change your old car and get a new one. If your goal is “to change to a new car”, then you’re not being specific enough.
And this goal won’t give you much motivation.
However, when you are being specific, say like your goal is to sell your old car and buy a new white color Mercedes Benz E-350 by the end of the year, it drives you.
When I mentioned the car brand, the color, and the model, you can picture the car in your head. You can see it vividly in your mind’s eye.
As a result, you will feel emotionally connected with the goal. And guess what will happen then? You become motivated to achieve it.
Not just that, when you are specific, you inspire others too.
Why do you think people prefer to work in a bigger and visionary company like Tesla and Google? Well, it is because they are specific with their vision and mission.
When you work in a company that doesn’t have a clear goal or a specific vision, you won’t feel inspired to work.
This is how being specific can motivate you and inspire others.
So, remember, if you’re not feeling excited or motivated with your goals, check if your goals are specific.
Make your goals specific so you will feel motivated to achieve them.
5. Specificity saves time, energy, and money
Do I need to explain and elaborate this further? Being specific saves you time and money.
This is especially true if you’re a leader in a company. You can’t afford NOT to be specific.
When your instructions to your team or employees are not specific, you’ll create a lot of confusion.
Here’s something that happens in most of the companies: wasting time on unnecessary meetings. This is what you get when people are not being specific.
No matter what you want to achieve out of your life, being vague will waste you a lot of energy, time and money.
The more specific you are, the better you can communicate your desire with others. And that’s how you save time and get things done.
I remembered I once hired a freelancer to help me design a website. And because I’m not being specific with the details that I wanted for my website, I ended up getting a website that was not what I wanted.
As for the freelancer, he has wasted a lot of time going back and forth with me to find out what I want.
Lesson learned. Be specific to save time, energy, and money.
6. You’re more likely to succeed
You should know by now that being specific increases your rate of success, right? If you’re not aware, please reread all the 5 points above again.
When you don’t know what you want or when you’re being vague, you’re setting yourself up to fail.
We all want to live a successful life, but what does success mean to you? Have you ever thought about that?
The first thing you want to do is to define the success you want.
You want to answer this question below:
“What has to happen for me to [RESULTS]?”
Answering this question makes you more specific with what you need to do to get the results you want.
The more you understand what exactly you want out of your life, the more control and power you have. And the more successful you will be.
Here are some guides to help you understand what you want out of your life so you can live better:
