1. Thinking excessively about how you will go about achieving the goal. The bottom line: you need to accomplish your goal. Many people use over-dramatic, complicated goal-achieving methods and wonder why they haven't gotten results. The simpler your method is, the more effective it will be. If you have to struggle just to figure out the method, imagine how hard it will be to actually achieve your goals.
2. Underestimating the goal and giving up when it isn't in alignment with your expectations. If there is one thing that I know for sure in life, it is that in most situations what you underestimate will be much harder than you think. In the words of John F. Kennedy, "we can secure peace only by preparing for war." The best method is to be mentally prepared for a challenge regardless of what goal you are setting out to achieve. That way if the goal ends up being easy to achieve, you can relax. If it is challenging it will not deter you from getting what you want.
3. Doing too much too soon. Don't bite off more than you can chew in the beginning. You risk future boredom and/or exhaustion. I hate to sound cliche, but slow and steady wins the race, or in this case, achieves the goal. We have all seen a race where the runner who starts off at top speed is the one who ends up losing. We live in a world where the end result is the most important thing. Forget about looking or feeling busy in the beginning and focus on the big picture. Pace yourself.
4. Sleeping with the enemy and expecting to be successful. Any cord that binds you to failure must be cut. If you want to lose weight, you can't eat eight slices of pizza and 5 breadsticks every other day and wonder why you aren't successful. If you allow negativity any space in your life it will eventually overtake you. Cut those cords and watch how significantly easier achieving your goal will be.
