The Busy Woman's Stress Free Guide To Getting It All Done - Step Three - Creating Consistency With Your Goals
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How are you goals going so far this year?
Remember when we talked last, I said priorities are how we get to where we want to go in life, your life plan. Click here if you missed Step One - Setting Priorities.
Then we talked about creating goals - baby steps - keeping our bigger picture (life plan in mind). We talked about goals that are chunked down so you can make progress and get some quick wins. If you missed Step Two - Goals, click here.
Now that you’ve created some goals, how do you actually accomplish them with out “pooping out” mid-way?
I know I’ve had goals I’ve been super excited about for about two weeks. Then I either gave up on them because I didn’t actually believe I could do it, got “too” busy, or put my goal list in a drawer and never thought about them again until next year.
Honestly, I had given up on even making goals in the first place until 2 years ago. I would make goals and NEVER accomplish them. I got tired of always feeling like a failure. So, I just stopped making goals come January.
"If I don’t make a goal, I won’t feel bad for not accomplishing it right?"
Does anyone else have those issues with goals besides me? Thanks for your honesty! It’s nice to know I’m not alone.
What happened 2 years ago that changed everything you say? I went through a program by Michael Hyatt called 5 Days to Your Best Year Ever. You can’t go through this course right now as he only offers it once a year in December, but the great news is Michael came out with a new book on this same topic just this month (January 2018). If you’re interested having your best year ever, please check out his new book.
He walked me through how to set SMARTER goals. But, the biggest take away for me because of my inconsistency in achieving goal (who I am kidding, what I really mean is never achieving goals) was helping me learn how to keep my goals “top of mind.”
If you’re goals aren’t at the top of your mind regularly–and by regularly, I mean daily or at a least weekly– you will not accomplish them. Your goals will just be a nice after-thought, left in the dust of the remainder of the year and your every growing list of to do’s.
Keeping your goals top of mind is the key to consistency. Why? Because, what you focus on is what you will accomplish in life.
Three tips to keep your goals Top of Mind:
1. Write your goals down
First thing to do is to write your goals down.
You can’t just keep them “logged away” in the back of your mind. All the other necessities of life will eventually crowd out your goals and you’ll quickly forget about them.
Habakkuk 2:2 AMP
Write the vision And engrave it plainly on [clay] tablets so that the one who reads it will run.
2. Write your goals somewhere you can look at them regularly
Let’s face it, if you write your goals down, but then stuff them in a drawer for the remainder of the year, that won’t help you either.
Here’s a few ideal places to store your goals so you can review your progress easily and frequently:
Planner
If you have a planner, write them down somewhere in there that you can access easily such as the front cover or back notes section.
A free digital file cabinet.
Reminders or Notes app on your phone
Notebook
You could even use a notebook designated specifically for your goals like a spiral notebook. Not putting it in your desk. It needs to stay close at hand so you can review it frequently.
Tip: I would also recommend adding your life plan here as well to keep you on track so you get to where you want to go.
Not having a good place to store my goals that worked for me was one of my biggest down falls to not accomplishing my goals. I just didn’t have a way that made it simple and easy to review my goals on a regular basis. Currently, I’m using Michael Hyatt’s Full Focus Planner. It’s a paper planner, but with the ability to track your goals easily including next steps, rewards when I accomplish the goal and my motivations for wanting to accomplish these goals in the first place.
If you’re on the hunt for an easy way to incorporate your goals into your everyday life, I highly recommend you check it out. Fullfocusplanner.com (link gives you a 15% off discount)
Photo by Giulia Bertelli on Unsplash
3. Review your goals daily
If you want to make progress on your goals, be consistent and keep your goals Top of Mind, review them daily. Or, at a minimum once per week.
Here's my Review process:
Look at a summary of my goals each morning.
Once a week, I go deeper into my goal review, checking off where I’m at with them, reviewing my motivations (my why) and figuring out my next steps.
Quarterly review where I'm at with my goals, how far I've come, how far I need to go still and reviewing if I need to adjust my goals for next quarter.
Annually go through Michael Hyatt's 5 step process I mentioned above to create new annual goals or adjust my current goals for the up coming year.
This helps me to quickly get back on the band wagon if I’ve taken a tumble.
The longer between reviewing our goals the less likely we are to make any progress toward them.
You can do this! It’s just creating a simple, easy way for your to keep your goals at the forefront of your mind. As you do that, you’ll keep moving toward your goals and ultimately where you want to go in life.
Next time, we’re going to address mindset. Do we really believe we can accomplish our goals? And, if we don’t believe, how do begin to believe we can do it.
Discussion
What’s your favorite way to keep your goals Top of Mind?
Or, if you don’t currently have a way, what method do you think would work best for you?