If you want to stick to your goals, you need a game plan.
The process is much more challenging without some kind of structure in place to help things run smoothly.
Structure makes all the difference in setting goals and achieving them. It’s natural to “hit a wall” sometimes, whether it stems from a lack of motivation, consistency, or self-confidence.
Nonetheless, how you manage these roadblocks plays a pivotal role in your success. If you find yourself struggling with any part of the goal-making process—setting goals, staying consistent, or actually achieving them—you’re in the right place.
Let’s fine-tune your goal-making process so you can make the most of it.
Keep Quiet
We recently spoke about the importance of keeping your goals to yourself. When you’re excited about the goals you’ve conjured up in your mind, it almost seems like they’re not real unless you shout them from a metaphorical mountain top.
We get it, you’re excited and want to tell your friends and family what you have planned, but this may not be the best course of action. Although it feels good to elaborate on all the finite details, releasing a flurry of happy chemicals from your brain, this process makes it less likely that you’ll follow through.
It comes down to something called the intention behavior gap—the failure to translate your intentions into actual behavior.
It’s hard to keep it all bottled up, but try keeping your ideas and intentions to yourself and watch them flourish.
Write It Down
Ideas, intentions, and goals can get all jumbled up in your mind, especially when you’re keeping things to yourself.
You know how therapeutic writing is in itself, so why not write out your goals consistently? There are plenty of ways to go about this, so it’s more about creating a process that enhances productivity and motivation.
Some people like to write daily goals but still have separate long-term goals in mind as well. Writing down your goals helps you achieve them for a few reasons.
But one of the most significant reasons is that it helps create the vision, which brings us to our next section.
Visualize Success
Have you ever tried visualizing the success you want to achieve?
If not, you’re leaving out a critical part of the goal-planning process. Visualization creates a solid mental picture that builds confidence and allows you to attract what you need to be successful.
When visualizing what you want to achieve, make sure you visualize in great detail, down to the colors around and the smell in the air. This only further solidifies your vision and helps it manifest into your immediate reality in the near future.
Imagine the steps you’ll take to get where you want to go and repeat this process every day.
Here are some helpful tips to include in this process:
Find a quiet place to visualize your success.
Write down a statement that describes the result you want to achieve.
Find an image that represents your vision and keep it close for mental representation—desk, phone or computer wallpaper, or a vision board.
Break It Down
When you’re aware of your goals, you can see them more clearly, making it easier to break them down into smaller chunks.
Breaking down your goals makes them more manageable and less daunting all at the same time. In doing this, you can assign these tasks for different days of the week and have a way to measure your progress.
It’s helpful to create a timeline for yourself, with soft deadlines to keep yourself on track. Don’t let the timelines stress you out, but rather, motivate and inspire you to maintain a certain pace.
Stay Consistent
This is the hardest part for many of us—staying consistent. Plenty of people start out with high-energy, ready to conquer the world, but then life gets in the way, slowing us down.
Plan ahead for the little bumps in the road life tosses your way occasionally. This might be learning how to manage your time more efficiently with increased responsibility at work, or it could be something as simple as staying on top of your daily tasks in general.
Whatever format you create for yourself and your goals, make sure you’re consistent because even one small thing a day towards your goal gets you closer to your end goal.
Reward Yourself
Did you hit a small goal or a milestone?
If so, you have to reward yourself and basque in the fruits of your labor.
The possibilities are endless when it comes to treating yourself to some type of reward. You can treat yourself to a spa day, plan a lunch or dinner date with friends, enjoy some retail therapy, and so much more.
What does this reward do for you?
It’s all about dopamine—a chemical your brain produces that influences your mood, regarding rewards and motivation. This pleasure surge increases motivation and productivity in the long run, giving you steam to push forward with your goals.
So treat yourself; it’s a vital part of the process—you deserve it!
Keep in Mind Moving Forward
You have the power to create whatever you desire. If you set goals and follow these helpful tips, you’ll see how quickly things start coming together.
It’s hard to stick to goals when you don’t have a blueprint to work from. On the other hand, when you have all the tools you need, all you have to do is stick to the plan—referenced in the steps above.
All of these steps contribute to your goals’ overall success. Most importantly, they help you stick to your goals.
One of the most important things to keep in your mind is why you want to achieve your goals in the first place—what drives you is extremely important.
One last question….
What goals are you gonna knock out now that you have everything you need to succeed?