4 tips to achieve your goals
Have you ever felt like the universe conspires against you when you decide to make a life change? How many times have you started and stopped a fitness goal, a business goal, or a career goal? Here are four tips for making goals and sticking with them.
Begin with the end in mind
I have found crafting a clear vision of what you want to achieve helps orient your actions to accomplish your goal. I first came across the idea of beginning with the end in mind when I read the book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey. In it he has you do a thought experiment where you are 80 or 90 and it is your birthday. You imagine who is there. Your friends, your family, your neighbors, and maybe a few people you work with. If everything went right, what would those people say about you? How would they feel about you? What memories would you want them to have about you? This helps you create a clear vision or picture of your preferred future.
Donald Miller in his book Hero on a Mission: A Path to a Meaningful Life uses a similar framework and has you write a Eulogy for yourself. Then he has you read this Eulogy daily and write 10-year, 5-year, and 1-year vision worksheets. Finally, you have a daily planner and read your vision worksheets and Eulogy daily. This daily reminder of your vision helps orient you into making life decisions that give you direction.
Break Goals into chunks
How do you climb 100 stairs? One at a time. There is no shortcut. The amount of work needed to achieve some business goals and life goals is immense. So we don’t start. Or we start and don’t see immediate results and give up claiming “It’s too hard.” That is where breaking big goals into smaller parts comes into play. When working on goals breaking them into milestones helps create the feeling of achievement and momentum.
For example, let’s say you want to build a members area for your online business webpage. Step one might be an outline and planning. Step 2 might be content creation, and step 3 is coding and implementation. Then you break each step down into actionable items. Finally, record the milestones and when you achieve them celebrate!
Be Active Daily
Every day your story is being written and you are the author. If you have a goal, work on it every day. I have heard Stephen King Writes every day. Jerry Sienfield writes (or wrote) jokes every day. If it matters to you, your life, and your business then put effort into moving one step closer to your goal every day.
Bring a Friend
Wolves hunt in packs. If I am to believe Jurrasic Park, dinasours hunt in packs. In nature you see groups of animals doing hard things all the time. But they do them together. It would be impossible for one ant to build a colony. But you put 100,000 of them together and you get massive infrastructure and results. In the same way, doing something hard and maybe uncomfortable is easier when you have the support of friends. They are your wolf pack.
Bonus tip: Write it Down
If you want to start a business, lose 20 lbs, be more active socially, or any goal of substance - write it down. Write it down and review it frequently. I once heard “goals that are not written down are just dreams.” They are not real. Writing them down makes them real.
