I read a lot of blogs that have goals, and then check in on those goals.  That used to be me, and it motivated me to succeed.  However, if you read my June Income Stream Report, you’ll notice how I didn’t achieve much of anything from what I set out to do at the beginning of the month.  And here I am 10 days into the month, and I’m still slacking on some of my goals.  My thought – I’m just setting too many goals for myself.

There is nothing wrong with setting goals, but too many goals can be overwhelming.  In fact, the University of Toronto found the exact same thing in a recent study – the more goals you have, the more time you spend prioritizing goals and the less time you actually spend doing them or achieving them.  And then not achieving your goals just perpetuates the cycle.  As such, the idea amount of goals for someone to have is just three.

Here are four classic warning signs that you may be setting too many goals:

1. You’re Not Achieving Anything

You can’t always blame not achieving anything on having too many goals, but it could be a warning sign.  If you have 10 goals and just can’t seem to get any of them done, chances are you have too many goals.  Having too many goals makes you spend less time on each, and also makes you prioritize your time and choices.  The result can be failure across all goals.

2. Feeling Overwhelmed

Having too many goals means a lot of different priorities and things to do.  As a result, you can easily start feeling overwhelmed.  If you have a list of 10 things to do, and all of them require 5 hours of your time, you start asking yourself, when am I going to be able to spend 50 hours this month on my goals?  As a result, you feel overwhelmed and don’t get to any of your goals.

3. Giving Up

If you find yourself just giving up on goals, like I did, chances are you have too many goals.  I had so much on my plate I just gave up on a good portion of what I wanted to do.  I found myself moving things from my goal list (meaning I had a specific timeline) to my want list (meaning it is on the list of things to do some day).  If you find yourself giving up on goals, ask yourself why, because you may have too many competing goals.

4. Changing Goals

Finally, if you find yourself changing goals, especially if it is to make them easier to accomplish, you may be trying to get through too many goals at once.  Changing goals, especially to make them easier, goes back to the competing priorities of having too many goals.  If you set a goal, stick with it and don’t change it to make it easier.  Instead, just keep the number of goals you have manageable.

The bottom line is: slim it back, and start being successful.