I’m a huge goal maker. I love checklists. I could make checklists all day long, just to check them off. It makes me feel so accomplished when I check something off, even if it’s something really small. Brushed teeth, check! Did a load of laundry, check! But I haven’t always been good or smart at making and achieving my goals. It wasn’t until these past few years that I really started hitting my stride. There were some very specific things I changed in my life. Here are the tips that have really helped me the most.
7 Ways to Achieve Your Goals & New Years Resolutions
1) Write down your goals
There’s something to be said about the mere fact of writing them down. Seeing them on paper seems to really embed them into my mind more. The more details you can give and the more you can visualize them happening, the more real they become, like they’ve already happened. Then I find, that I start living in light of them already having happened.
Sometimes this can be a bad thing.
If I already have it in my head that I make $500/month more and I don’t, well, you can see the dilemma. Sometimes though, that FORCES me to really accomplish it, so that my actions can keep up with my mindset. I would say that I use this to force myself to get down to business and make things happen.
2) Keep them somewhere you will see them often
You want to be reminded. I generally like to have at least three goals:
- One short term goal
- A one-year goal
- 5-year goal
So for example, my short term goal was saving up to pay CASH for a new (to me) car, which I accomplished recently. My one year goal is making a full-time income from home, which I now do (as I’m editing this post now 9 months later) and my 5-year goal is to homeschool my kids again. Right now, they have to be in school as part of the divorce, but I long to be a homeschooling mom again.
3) Don’t overwhelm yourself with a ton of goals
When you’re just starting out, you’ll want to start slow, so as not to overwhelm yourself. Picking your top 1-3 is usually best in such cases. One goal for each category as mentioned above. Now, as for me, I usually have 5-10 goals in each category, and that is okay too, once you’ve gotten really used to making and accomplishing your goals.
“A GOAL is a dream with a deadline.”
4) Don’t limit yourself
I always make my goals like this: if money were no object, if i had nothing holding me back, what would my goal be? I want to challenge myself. Make sure your balancing reality with what’s possible, not picking something impossible for me like flying to the moon or something, but if you have to err, err on the side that nothing is impossible with hard work and dedication. I, personally, would rather fail at a goal I set that was too high, than never reaching my full potential out of fear!!!
5) Break it down
Figure out what you need to do in order to achieve your goals and then break them down into some bite-sized pieces. For example, if i want to make a full-time income from home, I know that I’m going to need to make $1,500/month. So, if my income in currently $1,000, I know that I need an additional $500/month to make it happen. So what weekly contribution would i need to make? I would need $125/week. Doesn’t seem too hard. That’s less than $18/day. Not really a huge deal. What can I do to earn $18 more a day for the next 4 months. I could…fill in the blank…So I know to get my where I want to be financially, I need to break it down into bite-sized pieces. Pieces that seem very doable.
I can make an additional 18 bucks a day, if I have that as my days’ goal. Maybe I could sell that old treadmill in my garage that I haven’t *uhm* used in forever. If I got $125 for it, that’s a whole week covered right there. Let’s say it takes one day to sell it, each additional day I’m going to focus on my $18/day, so that I can make more, knowing that there will be days I make nothing. THEN, it all evens out! I don’t stop for the entire week once I make my goal. Then, on the days I don’t make my goal, I’m sunk. Taking this stance will often result in a person not only meeting their goals, but EXCEEDING them!
6) Make a firm commitment
Once you see it happening and see your weekly, monthly, and even daily goals, make a commitment to do them. Don’t procrastinate or put them off. Don’t tell yourself it was a bad week, you’ll double up next week. Pay yourself first. I need to save $125/week so some weeks I might have to sacrifice a “want” to get a bigger desire.
If we’re talking money here, it’s not JUST about making more, it’s about saving. Let’s say I need to earn $18/day more to make my goal, right? Well, let’s also hypothetically say I go out and get a coffee every day at Starbucks and it’s $6. I do this 5 times a week. I can save about $24 by not going to Starbucks, and just purchasing the ingredients and making it at home. So, that is more than a day’s goal right there. 1 day down, 6 more to go. What else can I cut out?
Another thing that I love doing when making a firm commitment is telling someone else about it. This really helps me because I don’t want to look like a loser not having accomplished my goal at the end of the month. My job is to inspire people. How can I do that, if I’m being lazy and not taking my goals seriously? For me, goals are much more important, and telling others about them, not only keeps me staying motivated, but it keeps me accountable.
7) Stick with it
Don’t give up as quickly as you started. Don’t let anything outside of God’s will, stop you from sticking to your goals. These are your dreams. No one else will ever make them come true for you. You are the only one who can do it. So do it! 🙂
Are there steps or is there something that has really helped you set and accomplish your goals? I’d love to hear your creative or unique ideas!
