The easiest way to achieve your goals this year is by creating a system that leads to automatic results. What does that mean? For those of you who struggle with getting consistent results pay very close attention.When you break down your goals into baby steps and create a clear, targeted map for how you will get the exact outcome you want you can easily incorporate your goals into your daily routine which will guarantee your progress.
Oh, my friend but IT IS! For YEARS I would set goals and make personal commitments to start working out or save 5% of every paycheque (which I never did) and every time I set the goal I would fail. It was almost instant. It happened so often that I eventually became discouraged and stopped writing my goals down on paper. I even stopped talking about them. I thought “if I’ve been trying to achieve these goals for so long and I’m not making any progress then maybe these goals aren’t meant for me. Maybe I should try something less challenging.” In other words, I told myself, maybe I should settle and stay right where I am. Living beneath my potential, in a very cozy invisible comfort zone that gave me a false sense of security. I was defeated, disappointed and ashamed because my goals were fairly simple and many people were able to achieve them, but I couldn’t. Have you ever felt that way?
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At one point I even started to believe myths like “people who are successful with goal planning are born into wealthy families so they can get all the help they need, they are very disciplined and have no social life (which was a high priority for me at the time), or they have access to all the resources and support they need to achieve anything they want so it’s easy for them.” I was giving into excuses to ease my pain and make myself feel justified, but in reality, nothing could be farther from the truth.
Anyone can succeed in goal planning. I repeat even YOU CAN SUCCEED in goal planning. I made many attempts and failed, but it wasn’t because I lacked vision, clarity or a sense of purpose. I strongly believed that my goals were apart of my purpose and I could tell you in detail exactly what I wanted and the deadlines. The problem was that I didn’t have a good strategy and I wouldn’t listen to anyone that could help me.
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If you know one thing about me it’s that I’m a personal development junkie! I’ve been studying psychology, leadership, goals, business, and personal development for years! However, you also know that knowledge doesn’t translate into skills! Lol I couldn’t magically embody everything that I was learning. I also wasn’t self-aware enough to accurately identify key negative triggers in my life so whenever I would try to change based on the new information that I discovered in these books I would fall back into old habits and old ways of thinking when I was faced with a challenge. This kept me in an unproductive cycle of self-sabotage. Ouuuuu! We don’t like that word huh?
Once I began to understand time management and the power of having a consistent routine everything changed. I broke my goals down into small, bite-sized steps and made them apart of my schedule. Now here is where it gets juicy!
When I did this, I subconsciously stopped waiting for success to happen to me and became convinced that it would happen for me. Do you see the difference? I went from feeling defeated to having a fire-proof plan, I went from feeling stuck in an unpredictable life to being in charge of my future. Ultimately, I went from being a victim of circumstances to being the dictator of my destiny.
Now, you have to understand, during this transition, I would pray and read the bible constantly. Not because I felt I had to or I was afraid to fail, but because I wanted to put Proverbs 3:5-6 into action.
Practical wisdom is great, but I believe that spiritual wisdom sustains us for the long haul so when you put them together you create a recipe for long-term success! I learned the principle of turning my goals into a daily routine, but because I had a strong belief that my goals were connected to my purpose I needed to maintain my spiritual roots.
Now here’s how you can apply this principle. Take your most challenging goal and turn it into bite-size steps. Write it down and make each step clear, simple, and fairly easy that way your goal remains realistic and achievable. After you’ve written all of the steps down plug your first step into your schedule. If you’re not the type of person that is a detailed planner, it’s okay! All you need to do is decide what time of the day is best for you to work on your goal. For example, if you have the most energy in the morning you could work on your goal every day after you brush your teeth, drop the kids off at school, or before you go into work. You could also work on it during your lunch break, immediately after work (if you have a consistent work schedule), or after you eat dinner every night. These events in your schedule will become triggers to remind you that it’s time to complete the task that leads you to achieve your ultimate goal.
Now I know this sounds simple and it’s very do-able, however, this will be a challenge for you! No matter how disciplined you think you are creating a new routine is never easy. You will get it right on most days and on other days you will forget, be too tired to do anything, or you just won’t feel like doing it. These setbacks are okay. What I don’t want you to do is give up.
Once you commit to the process be in it to win it! Be as committed to your goal as you are to your boyfriend, girlfriend, or spouse. No one with the intention of marriage starts a relationship and only puts in half of the effort required to make it work. No! You put your best foot forward, court and romance the each other, spend time learning about each other and then make the big plunge.
When you’re married the work doesn’t stop. To maintain a healthy relationship you continue to support each other, prefer one another above your selves and work together to create a life long healthy relationship that grows into unconditional love and perfect unity when done right.
This is how it is with your goals! You start off dating, you dedicate all of your time to understanding it, you pursue it with all of your energy and then once you attain it you don’t stop all of your efforts. You maintain and develop it. You will become a better person as a result of this pursuit. If you give up before you start to see progress you won’t get the full experience of your goal. If you slow down and start relaxing while you’re building momentum, you will fail. Trust me, I’ve done BOTH of these many times.
You have to get to a point in your life where you’re just tired of your current situation. You’re tired of the extra weight, tired of not completing important projects, tired of missing opportunities, and tired of not keeping your promise to yourself. How many times are you going to tell yourself “yea, I know I made that commit, but right now I’m not in the mood, I don’t feel inspired or motivated so I’ll get back to it tomorrow.”?
This kind of inconsistency will only continue to give you the results that you already have. Stress, disappointment, fear, lack, struggle, insecurity, and the list goes on. You, my friend, are a goal getter. You don’t wait for things to change, you create change. You don’t hope for your life to get better, you make it better. You don’t wish for a solution to your problems you become the solution.
Take your goals and turn them into reality by incorporating them into your daily schedule. I suggest starting with one goal and once you get the hang of your new routine add another. You are the only person who is able to change your life and achieve your goals so why not start today right where you are with exactly what you have? Until next time,
