Okay. You have set some goals. You even wrote them down. Congratulations! You have put something into motion toward achieving what you want. Now what? How do we put our plans into action? How do we actually go about achieving our goals?
Most of us are pretty good at starting things. We like to begin. At the same time, most of us aren’t very good at focusing our attention and efforts over a long period of time. Did your last New Year’s Resolution make it past the second week of January? Most of us will have to answer that with a, “No.” We just don’t do well staying focused in our high-tech, high-speed world.
Not anymore! You have some specific goals that are meaningful. You’re going to stick with it. I just know you are! But how? What is the secret sauce that causes our dreams to become reality? Can you really stick with it and get to where you want to go? With a little thought and a little more focus, you can! Achieving your goals is really a process of understanding the steps, doing what works, and focusing by remembering the reason.
Goals Are Achieved in Steps
What is the logical next step to achieving your goals? This can be tiny. You don’t have to achieve everything today. If your goal is to lose weight, what is the next logical step? I don’t think my wife’s cinnamon rolls this morning fit into that, by the way. It may mean carving out 30 minutes a day to walk. It may mean getting rid of the cinnamon rolls altogether. What is the next step?
We get caught up in all of the steps. Just like walking a mile, you can’t take all of the steps at once. You can take one, then another… Trying to take all of the steps at once will lead to discouragement and disappointment. Ultimately, this will kill our motivation and we will quit.
The “why” has to be big enough to keep you going when it gets difficult.
Examine What is Right
We always do examinations on things that are wrong. Sure, improvement is an important part of any process. However, successes need to be replicated. In other words, when I get it right, I want to do it again. If I can do it better the next time, great! Take a look at successes. What was the secret to the success? Do more of that! This will take you a long way toward achieving your goals.
Remind Yourself of the “Why”
If your goals are meaningful, there should be an important “why.” If the “why” isn’t important, revisit that goal and revise it. The “why” has to be big enough to keep you going when it gets difficult. Any goal worth achieving will have some level of difficulty at some point. It’s the “why” that can keep a fire lit when it starts to rain. Make sure your “why” is big enough to keep you motivated.
Think about your life, set some goals, write them down, and go after them! You can do it!
When you have achieved goals in the past, what was the most important thing that kept you focused and motivated? Feel free to comment below. We would love to hear from you!