Setting and reaching goals are hard. No matter what your “goal” may be or how long it will take you to reach it, you need to have a system in place to reach your goal. If you want to ace your next test, absolutely crush a presentation, lose ten pounds, or learn how to play the guitar, the steps are the same. If you follow this guide, you will be in the right direction to reach your goal and be able to stick with it!
1. Prioritize your time
After you have set a goal, you need to break down what you need to do on a daily basis to reach that goal. The more simple the action, the more likely you will move toward change. But, creating that action isn’t enough. You need to schedule time to DO that action. Look at your day. What can you do NOW? Even if it is just a minute or two. It may be squeezing time before work, during making dinner, or after the kids go to bed. Maybe you stop scrolling the internet for 10 minutes and utilize that time to push you toward your goal.
2. Take action
An action does not need to be drastic. Any small movement can create the momentum needed for big change. Maybe it's researching a topic to see if you want to go back to school. Maybe it's meal planning for the next day or even just for the rest of today! You don’t always need huge chunks of time to make change. Most change comes from the simple things that can be accomplished NOW. Take 5 minutes to plan and execute an action! Most times, the action will motivate you to keep going.
3. Set realistic expectations
There is a saying, “Good, better, best. Never let it rest, ‘till your good is better, and your better is best”. We don’t have to start by being the best - we just need to start. When you break your goal down into the simplest form, you can create a reasonable goal. Instead of saying “I’m going to lose 20 pounds and be the fittest I have ever been” start with, I’m going to make sure I have 2-3 servings of vegetables this week and only eat until I am 80% full. Goals within goals are what get you to enjoy the journey and stay motivated!
4. Have an open mind
Even if you think you know everything about a topic, come at it with some humility and an open, engaged mind. There is sometimes a disconnect between knowing and doing. If you allow yourself to be “taught” or open to applying some basic principles, you may be surprised how it can alter or change your mindset, outlook, and motivate you toward your goals. Sometimes being stuck in a closed mindset is what ends up holding us back. Be open to listening to new concepts or trying new things.
5. Build a system
Creating a system can be synonymous with creating a habit - which is a consistent ritual to help you reach your goals. The problem is, if we do not have a system in place we are stuck depending on our motivation, which like most human beings, can be unreliable day to day. Ever get up for a 5am workout? I can’t name many people who are motivated before this grueling wake up call, but if you ask these people how they feel after their workout, most will say they are glad they did it. Relying on a system to take action will in turn improve motivation.
6. Create an environment for change
Environment can affect our willpower. Bag of chips in front of you? Eh, one can’t hurt…remote in front of you? One more episode of Friends sounds good…on the other hand, veggies in your fridge? OK I will eat them. Textbook on your coffee table? Maybe I will pick it up and read a chapter. Psychology studies demonstrate living creatures will take the path of least resistance. So, if we can create an environment that sets us up for success, we can make choosing a better option seem like it was the easiest route. Try making the “bad” stuff more difficult to attain (i.e. hide the chips in the upper cabinets where you have to search and get a stool to reach them and put the nuts and healthy granola where you can see and reach them with ease!)
7. Have growth in mind
Growth in a particular aspect of your life is messy and is not a linear path. This can be misconstrued in today’s society where we are inundated with egocentric social media like Instagram, Twitter and Facebook where posts about growth can leave out all of the dirty details of what and how long it took a person to get there. This creates false advertising that success happens overnight. This is just not realistic. Just like a seedling becoming a mighty oak - we need to understand that growth takes time. When we encounter failures or setbacks, do not look at them as such. Instead consider your “failure” or “setback” as feedback. You are learning what works and what does not work. If you adapt this mindset, your feedback becomes a value rather than a detriment to you reaching your goals.
8. Focus on process, not outcome
There are many ways this has been said:
“It's not the destination, but the journey”,
“Be in the here and now”,
and so on.
Whatever way you need to look at it, it can make attaining your goals easier overall. The blueprint for creating a process is understanding first, what your goal is. Clearly define this goal. Then, consider what skills need to be done to get to this goal. For example, if you want to lose ten pounds, that is your goal. To get there, you need to have the skills of eating healthy and exercising regularly. Once you know what you need to do, you need to break it down even further into how to incorporate, or practice those skills to reach your goal - these are known as your practices. An example of a practice for the skill of eating healthy is meal planning and eating more slowly. An example of a practice for the skill of exercise is marking 3 days out of the week to commit 45 minutes to an exercise program. Furthermore, the last step after your goals, skills and practices are identified is to have a daily action plan that can be executed. This can be reviewing your calendar or meals for the day to make sure they line up with reaching your goal.
Goal → Skill → Practice → Daily Action
9. Take charge of your path
If you truly want to change, you need to be willing to stand up for yourself and do what is necessary to get you to what your goals and desires are. This means you have planned and prioritized the necessities needed to reach your ultimate goal on a small scale (day to day, even hour to hour). After that, you need to execute, or apply these skills and practices into daily actions. Not only do you need to apply them, you need to have a continued application through regular repetition (i.e. eating slowly at every or at least most meals) to make it a habit. If you fall off the wagon? No worries! Remember, this is feedback for next time! Get back on your horse and keep going! It will get easier, I promise!
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