Simple Steps To Set Yourself Up To Win With Your Personal Goals
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All too often accomplishing the things others count on us for – whether it’s work objectives, taking care of things for the family, or showing up for friends – take priority over personal goals. If follow-through is a challenge for you, these simple steps can be tremendously helpful.
#1 Take the time to get clear on your personal goals.
This doesn’t have to be a major amount of time. What’s important is to ask yourself the question, “What do I want?” Not just once, but over and over, and let it flow. Even better, do it with a friend and both of you will get clearer.
#2 Get clear about why your goals matter to you.
Sometimes it’s not enough to know your goal. It still gets bumped to the back of the line. Why do you have this goal? What would it mean to you to accomplish it? What would that give you? What would be the cost of not achieving that goal?
Keep your “why” front and center in your awareness by writing it down and referring to it regularly, or simply bringing it to mind as a way to sustain your motivation.
#3 Break the goals down into simple steps.
Almost every goal can be viewed in terms of simple actions, or phases, that make it more manageable. Knowing the steps will help you to find time for them. You don’t need to plan it all out in advance. Identify the first few steps and begin. Or, if you prefer, you can plan it all out, even “reverse engineer” it. (Reverse engineering means to start from the last thing that will need to happen just before your goal is complete, then the step immediately before that, and so on. This can be a very effective planning methodology, and is especially helpful if you feel you don’t know how to start.)
#4 Create routines around your goals.
When a task has a regular time and place it fits into your day, it takes much less initiation energy to make it happen. You almost don’t even need to remember. Most of us have routines around getting up and out of the house in the morning, or winding down for bed at night. If you have a goal that would benefit from consistent daily action, say a fitness goal, or a food or weight-related goal, or even something like writing a book, placing it in a consistent position in your day, always after X and before Y, can help make it happen.
#5 Create support for yourself.
One of the biggest challenges with personal goals is that no one else is clamoring at you about them. Just that voice inside, the one that is too often overridden. Create a support structure: an exercise buddy; someone else who’s on the diet, too; or an accountability partner (someone you share with each day about your progress and upcoming intentions), just to get it outside your own head.
#6 Celebrate your progress.
Too often we withhold celebration until we reach the end goal, and miss out on the energy boosts we could be getting along the way. Make daily celebration of your progress part of your routine. Even if the progress today was simply learning about what didn’t work, make that a cause for celebration, and incorporate the learning. Celebration can be as simple as a moment to acknowledge yourself, a note in a success journal, or a moment of speaking aloud to yourself in the mirror. Or it can be a reward you give yourself. Choose rewards that support your goals and provide incentive.
#7 Start each day with a clean slate.
Don’t bring forward your failures. You don’t say to a baby, “Well, you didn’t manage to walk yesterday, so you probably won’t be able to today, either.” Let yesterday stay in the past, and look freshly at how you’ll approach today. Allow each day to potentially be the day you make a huge leap forward.
#8 Stay open to inspiration.
Don’t get stuck in having to know how, or believing that how you planned it is how it will have to happen. When you keep your goals present, and BELIEVE you can achieve them, miracles and inspiration can and do happen. You can count on it.
You deserve to win with your personal goals. And when you do, the added boost to your spirit will benefit everyone and everything around you. But, most importantly, YOU will be winning.
#1 Take the time to get clear on your personal goals.
This doesn’t have to be a major amount of time. What’s important is to ask yourself the question, “What do I want?” Not just once, but over and over, and let it flow. Even better, do it with a friend and both of you will get clearer.
#2 Get clear about why your goals matter to you.
Sometimes it’s not enough to know your goal. It still gets bumped to the back of the line. Why do you have this goal? What would it mean to you to accomplish it? What would that give you? What would be the cost of not achieving that goal?
Keep your “why” front and center in your awareness by writing it down and referring to it regularly, or simply bringing it to mind as a way to sustain your motivation.
#3 Break the goals down into simple steps.
Almost every goal can be viewed in terms of simple actions, or phases, that make it more manageable. Knowing the steps will help you to find time for them. You don’t need to plan it all out in advance. Identify the first few steps and begin. Or, if you prefer, you can plan it all out, even “reverse engineer” it. (Reverse engineering means to start from the last thing that will need to happen just before your goal is complete, then the step immediately before that, and so on. This can be a very effective planning methodology, and is especially helpful if you feel you don’t know how to start.)
#4 Create routines around your goals.
When a task has a regular time and place it fits into your day, it takes much less initiation energy to make it happen. You almost don’t even need to remember. Most of us have routines around getting up and out of the house in the morning, or winding down for bed at night. If you have a goal that would benefit from consistent daily action, say a fitness goal, or a food or weight-related goal, or even something like writing a book, placing it in a consistent position in your day, always after X and before Y, can help make it happen.
#5 Create support for yourself.
One of the biggest challenges with personal goals is that no one else is clamoring at you about them. Just that voice inside, the one that is too often overridden. Create a support structure: an exercise buddy; someone else who’s on the diet, too; or an accountability partner (someone you share with each day about your progress and upcoming intentions), just to get it outside your own head.
#6 Celebrate your progress.
Too often we withhold celebration until we reach the end goal, and miss out on the energy boosts we could be getting along the way. Make daily celebration of your progress part of your routine. Even if the progress today was simply learning about what didn’t work, make that a cause for celebration, and incorporate the learning. Celebration can be as simple as a moment to acknowledge yourself, a note in a success journal, or a moment of speaking aloud to yourself in the mirror. Or it can be a reward you give yourself. Choose rewards that support your goals and provide incentive.
#7 Start each day with a clean slate.
Don’t bring forward your failures. You don’t say to a baby, “Well, you didn’t manage to walk yesterday, so you probably won’t be able to today, either.” Let yesterday stay in the past, and look freshly at how you’ll approach today. Allow each day to potentially be the day you make a huge leap forward.
#8 Stay open to inspiration.
Don’t get stuck in having to know how, or believing that how you planned it is how it will have to happen. When you keep your goals present, and BELIEVE you can achieve them, miracles and inspiration can and do happen. You can count on it.
You deserve to win with your personal goals. And when you do, the added boost to your spirit will benefit everyone and everything around you. But, most importantly, YOU will be winning.
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