Learn the 5 Steps to Goal Victory!
Your Future Awaits!
That Rush of Success
This is the good part of the goal process:. Actually working on your goals.
Yes, it is liberating to understand goals and to pinpoint your own personal dreams. But to truly start on that journey is so rewarding!
Starting out on the quest of meeting your goals will put a bounce in your step. Just like when you go for a walk outside and feel that earth beneath your feet and that delicious fresh air in your lungs.
Embarking on a goal will give you a rush of success and motivate you to complete that first step and go on to the second and so forth.
Table of Contents
But just how do you make a good beginning and stay motivated? Following are action steps to climb the ladder to VICTORY with your goals.
Of course, there will be obstacles – problems along the way to challenge you. I will share some advice and solid tips to overcome these bumps in the road that everyone encounters. Follow the action steps and make your goals happen!
1. Write A Plan for Meeting Your Goals
Schedule an hour or two to outline your goal activity plan. Get comfortable. Make yourself a cup of tea or cold drink or a glass of wine. Get out your goal journal and calendar, a pencil or pen and write the following, filling in the blanks:
Goal: ______________________
Goal Quantity:____________ (e.g. to lose 20 pounds or run a 5K marathon)
End date: _________________ (when do you want to accomplish this goal? In 6 months? One year? Write the date here)
Step 1: ____________________ (first step activity)
Step 1 end date: ___________
Step 2:_____________________ (second step activity)
Step 2 end date:___________
Etcetera…..
Continue this process for each of your goals.
2. Know Your Goal Motivations
Next, write down your motivations for meeting each goal. For example, if your objective is to lose 20 pounds in 9 months, your motivations could be:
- I truly want to be healthier
- I definitely want to look better
- I want to be able to keep up with my active friends
Motivation is related to the word ‘motion’. A motive, or motivation, is whatever causes motion. When it comes to the goals we set, our motives are mental engines that get us moving toward those goals and keep the ball rolling.
List one to five personal motivations. Be sure they are deeply felt and personal.
Point to Remember
You will be glad you wrote down your motivations when and if you have a problem keeping up with your goal steps. You will be able to review the driving forces behind your desires. This will help you get right back on track to meeting your goals.
To understand your motives, ask yourself these questions:
- Why do I really want this goal?
- What are the personal benefits of achieving this outcome?
- How will I feel if I achieve this goal?
- How will I feel if I don’t achieve it?
- Are my motives strong enough to carry me through?
- Will I be able to persevere with this goal when I encounter obstacles along the way?
- How likely is it that I will give up on this quest
Based on your answers, if you find that you don’t have strong motivations to carry this goal through you may have to shelve it. Maybe you can come back to this goal in the future.
3. Gather a Personal Support Team
Mattie Ross (True Grit) boldly and humorously gathered support for her quest. I tell her story in a previous post. She hired a whisky-riddled U.S. Marshall famous for his toughness to be her guide and partner in finding her father’s killer.
Hopefully you will be able to garner support from sober and reliable friends and family members. Just tell them of your dreams and plans and ask for their emotional support.
You might go further and ask someone to accompany you on your goal journey. This could make meeting goals a little easier, or maybe a lot easier!
Let’s say your goal is to lose 15 pounds in 18 months. A partner with a similar goal can make the goal easier to work on and more fun too. You can challenge each other and keep each other on track. With mutual pushing, the pounds will roll right off!
4. Know How to Push Through Obstacles
There will always be obstacles in your goal journey, whether it is a time crunch, a distraction or an illness. When an obstacle appears, don’t lose heart. The key here is to review your goals and motivations honestly.
There will be ups and downs. The thing to do is consistently head in a positive direction toward your dreams.
Wise Words
Greatness is predicated on consistently doing things others can’t or won’t do. Simply put, success is not about being brilliant. It is about being consistent. -----Dr. Jason Selk and Tom Bartow in Organize Tomorrow Today
Here are several kinds of common obstacles that you may encounter when working toward a goal.
Distractions
Let’s say you come down with a bad cold and cannot continue on your marathon training for a week. Then it turns into two weeks. Soon you are out of the groove and feel like you have to start all over again. This is truly a drag on your momentum!
The solution is to first get healthy, then review the progress you have made both physically and mentally, review your motives, check in with your support people, and get back in that groove.
The Goal Becomes Too Difficult
What at first seemed like a worthwhile and challenging ambition now looks like it might be too difficult for you to manage. OK, this can happen. However…
The solution is not to give up but scale down your goal to a more manageable size. If your goal was to climb Mt. Everest, change it to trekking the Ozarks instead! Or extend your deadline so that you can enjoy easier steps.
Be flexible with yourself without losing your determination and remember to enjoy the experiences of meeting goals. The journey is just as important as the achievement.
Your Interest is Waning
Again, review your motivations for this goal. If this does not re-kindle your enthusiasm, maybe the goal was not a truly good fit for you. Don’t fret.
Put this quest aside for now. Perhaps your values have changed, or your passions have shifted. You can always renew this aspiration later if you choose to.
Time Crunch
Does your goal work require large spans of work time? Well, life can get busy. Many people are juggling a job or jobs with raising children, caring for parents, or other responsibilities. So you may find it difficult to eek out the extra time you need to work on your dream. What to do?
Once again, review your motivations. How important is this goal when stacked up against your current daily activities? Be honest.
Next, see if you can re-arrange your schedule. Cut out unproductive activities such as watching TV, reading endless emails, texting, or cooking complicated dinners.
Break down your goal steps into smaller baby steps that you can accomplish in 1/2 hour or an hour. These time pockets may fit more easily into your schedule, and it’s amazing what you can accomplish this way!
Don’t forget that you need a few fun or relaxing activities at times. Enjoyable breaks will boost your movitation so don’t leave them out completely. Just get right back to business afterwards.
Environmental Hurdle
Perhaps your environment is holding you back. By environment I mean your physical or mental situation.
Let’s say you want to take up watercolor painting and you have set up an area in the basement of your house as your studio. But as the seasons change, you find it is much too cold in that area to work well. It may be difficult to heat your basement now, bringing your new aspiration to a standstill.
But don’t let this obstacle freeze your goal. Brainstorm solutions.
For example, move your painting area to a spare bedroom or corner of your kitchen, or section off the basement studio with temporary walls and use a safe space heater.
Then there’s your social environment.
Your social environment may include friends or family telling you that your dream is foolish or selfish.
Think it over and if you are indeed dedicated to meeting this goal, surround yourself with people who will give you encouragement. Join a group or class that helps you with your quest. Find a mentor who will give you positive support.
Wise Words
When ‘normal’ people experience success, they have a tendency to respond by doing a little less. When mentally tough people experience success, they stay totally committed to what caused the success.
Success Bump
Yes, success can be an obstacle! Success on one or two of your steps can ironically cause you to reward yourself with a big break, which could possibly lead to backsliding on your mission.
Be aware of this mental trap! It’s a wonderful idea to reward yourself now and then, but then get right back to your project.
5. Work Your Goals
Notice the word ‘Goals’ includes the word ‘Go’. You have the green light. Now go and work those goals till you reach victory!
Go Step By Step
How do you put one foot in front of the other toward meeting goals?
First, review your steps every day. Pick a time of day that is right for you and plan your day with your favorite scheduling system. Make a point of incorporating your goal steps into your day. You will choose which goals to focus on that day and make a date with yourself to work on the step. Don’t be rude and break that date!
An additional idea is to schedule your goal steps for an entire week. Add a little true grit to stick to your plan.
Track Your Personal Progress
As you complete each step of your goal, check it off on your list. Always be sure to have a list of steps handy so you can see at a glance how far you have come and where the future will take you.
Be accountable to yourself. Your supporters or goal partners can encourage and challenge, but these are your goals. Give yourself a report card on your progress.
You must also strike a balance between self-discipline and self-compassion. Only you can evaluate your success, your energy, and your life situation. There may be times when you must scale back your goals, or times when you need to challenge yourself more. Only you can make these decisions.
Review Motivations Regularly
I can’t say it enough: every week or two, look over your motivations as described in point 2 above. Remember that motivations are the engines of your dreams. They give you the fuel to move forward to meeting your goals.
Wise Words
It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.
In Review…
Remember the 5 steps for meeting goals: (1) Write up a step-by-step plan (2) Know your motivations (3) Gather support (4) Expect obstacles and be ready to take action to get through the obstacle and persevere (5) Do the work by incorporating your goal steps into your daily routine, tracking your progress, and reviewing your passions often.
Now that you have goals and a plan,
The sky’s the limit!!
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