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Goals are amazing things to have but sometimes we tend to give up on our goals far too easily. After all, they seem hard to accomplish and due to all of the other distractions of life, they often tend to take the back seat.
However, the very fact that you’ve set goals at all because it meant something to you to accomplish your goals and in this article, I’ll share 10 great tips that will help you stick to your goals and actually accomplish them.
Write down all of your goals.
First things first, thinking of your goals in your head isn’t enough to make them crystal clear and actionable. Therefore, writing them down ins a great step. According to this study, people are 45% more likely to accomplish their goals if they are written down. This is a big deal. Therefore, if you have any goals at all for this year, consider writing them down.
I find the best way to write my goals and keep them safe and at the forefront of my mind is by using a planner or bullet journal throughout the year.
You can find a planner here to help you accomplish your goals:
You can find this planner here.
You can also find a bullet journal here to help you accomplish your goals:
You can find this bullet journal here.
Create an action plan
It’s one thing to think of your goals and write them down. But, it’s a whole other thing to write down a plan of action for achieving each goal. Not only does this help you access whether your goals are attainable or not, but it helps imprint a strategy that you can easily recall and follow which is awesome. This helps establish more focus and gets rid of all the clutter that you may be thinking of when it comes to your goals. So write down all the steps you can follow to actually accomplish your goals so you can see just how easy your goal is to accomplish with the right focus.
Break them down even further
If your goals are really lofty, consider breaking them down into smaller chunks. Not only will this help you stay on track, it’ll also help your goals seem more attainable. For instance, here is one of my main goals for 2018:
Lose 44 pounds by June 2018
I’ve taken the liberty to break it down further so that it feels
This goal by itself seems quite big. However, I’ve taken the liberty to break it down so I feel less overwhelmed by having to lose 40 pounds. This also makes my goal seem more realistic since I only have to focus on small chunks at a time. which in turn has helped me in the past (goal for 2017) achieve my goals.
Break your goals down into months or quarters and you’ll find that you’re on the right path to achieving them like never before. For example, this is my weight loss goals for the next six months:
I currently weight 179 pounds and I want to weight 135 pounds by June 30th, 2018. This is an entire 44lbs weight loss goal.
This goal broken down is:
- January – Lose 8 pounds
- February – Lose 8 pounds
- March – lose 7 pounds
- April – lose 7 pounds
- May -Lose 7 pounds
- June- Lose 7 pounds
- Maintain weight at this point
When I look at it like this, my goal seems so much more doable and I’m actually excited to start my weight loss journey!
Keep track of your goals
We often love to make goals for ourselves that seem amazing, but one morning we wake up with no motivation to keep working towards our goals. So, every day (especially on those low motivation days) open up your planner or bullet journal or mobile phone and remind yourself of where you’ve come from and where you are now and where you need to be in order to be happy.
Don’t give up…This is why I love using a daily planner as it keeps me so motivated and it keeps my goals at the forefront of my mind every day.
Every time I open my planner the first things I’m greeted with are my yearly goals to keep me motivated. The second page is my progress stats which I create every three months. These keep me trudging along even when I feel less motivated or when I want to give up…which is quite often actually.
Reward yourself
For each major milestone, give yourself a reward. Last year I set a goal to earn $8000 per month from my blogging side hustle. Each month I was to increase the income I received by at least 10% and each time I did this I treated myself to a nice spa treatment or a wonderful short trip to a place I really liked.
This helped to keep me motivated and I ended up achieving this goal of increasing my income from my side hustle which is amazing! Don’t get me wrong, it was super hard to do this and there were times I felt like giving up, but I always reminded myself of the big picture and I kept working towards my goal.
With any goal you set for yourself this year, treat it like this, Make sure you reward yourself (no matter how small) each time a month goes by and you’re still on track with your goals.
Set reminders on your phone
These reminders should be set at the beginning, middle and end of each month to remind yourself to stay on track with your goals. This is especially good for people who aren’t into paper planning.
This is a great way to be reminded of your goals since your phone is with you almost 90% of the time and you will be sure to see this reminder when it pops up.
So spend a couple of minutes setting these reminds for each month so that you’re always reminded to stay on track with your goals.
Do something every day that helps you get closer to accomplishing your goal.
So, for example, if your goal is to lose 100 pounds in 2018, every day you remind yourself to do at least one thing to get closer to this goal. Whether that’s going for a walk or a run, eating a bit less calories each day, dancing to burn calories, cutting out sugar, eating only veggies for a day.
Whatever it takes, remember to do one thing every day to get closer to making your goal a reality.
These are some really cool tips to help you stick to your goals this year. I’ve used all these tips at some point in time to keep me going and I’m so glad that I can share them with you to help you along.
