Achieving your goals is often more difficult than people realize. We may have a burning desire to see changes in our lives in 2012--less stress, a healthier lifestyle, more money in the bank account--but actually implementing those changes involves much more than merely motivation (though that's necessary as well)! If you already have motivation, following a few simple steps can help you bridge the gap between where you are and where you want to be.
Do you see yourself achieving your goals this month?
Most of us intuitively understand: visualizing what we want in life is an essential step toward achieving it. A major part of achieving goals is actually knowing what those goals are. Many people start with big concepts like, 'I want to have more money', 'I want to live a healthier lifestyle', or 'I want to be happier'. What they don't realize is that these goals are vague and sweeping enough that it's very difficult to know what action steps to take, when you've done enough, or when you're close but need to make a few changes in direction.
As you work on achieving goals, remember that setting goals is an important first step. Try to imagine where you want to be. How does it look? What, specifically is different? Remember when setting your goals make sure they are smart goals:
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant
Timed
Once you set your goals how can you reach these goals and your most ambitious dreams without burning out and losing motivation in the process?
How can you get where you want to be when it's difficult to maintain a new habit for more than a week or two? The secret lies with breaking large goals into smaller ones! This keeps each step do-able and allows you to reward your progress along the way. This is also the secret to reaching several goals at once; you have enough energy to meet several small goals in the same time frame, and work toward achieving large goals in multiple areas of your life. When breaking down goals, consider the following:
First, find the large goals that you want to meet. Then, look at each step it would take to get there, each rung in the ladder up. Try to identify steps that build on the completion of the ones before.
Next, break those steps down, if possible. Keep dividing the steps until you create small goals that can be achieved in a month or so--or even a week. (Some people like to have a goal for each day!)
Work on maintaining the right difficulty level. If the goals are too small and easy, you won't feel challenged and may lose motivation; feel free to increase their difficulty. If you find that your goals are too difficult, give yourself permission to set easier goals before you lose confidence, burn out and give up. Setting the right pace is an important part of the process.
The best part of setting small goals as subsets of your big ones--and a great self-motivational tool--is the ability to reward yourself when you make progress. Stopping and patting yourself on the back as you meet the milestones along the way in achieving your goals is a way to gain momentum and keep from becoming overwhelmed and discouraged as you 'climb your mountain'.
Rewards can take many forms, but should ideally be something that's tied to your goal, something that's not too difficult to give yourself, and something you personally enjoy. What are some rewards you can tie to your goals?
So, take a moment today to reflect on your January goals and be sure you are on track with the steps and mindset necessary to achieve them.
Thought for today: Obstacles are what you see when you take your eyes off your goals!
Have a productive day.
BF
Comments(0)