How to achieve your goals – 7 tips to set yourself up for success

Previously I shared what I feel are the 7 deadly sins of goal setting and also gave you my guide to setting goals and priorities. Today I want to talk about how you can set yourself up to actually reach your goals. Talking about them and even sharing them with others will only take you so far. There are many factors that come into play when you are attempting to make life changes.

Think about changes you could make to support your new intentions.

 

Practical changes:

Identify and remove potential road blocks you can see

• time commitment issues: when you add in things to do, something has to go or support has to be increased
• sabotaging friends and family: surround yourself with people who want you to succeed and don’t have their own agenda
• remove temptations: clean out the junk from your fridge/freezer/pantry if you are aiming for healthy eating, use computer locks / timers to shut you out of mindless browsing when you need to get tasks done etc
• old excuses you have used time and again
• have back up plans in place: usually run outside? what will you do on days where the weather is too extreme (plan now)

Join with others for accountability and more

When you join with other like-minded and/or supportive people you gain more than just the accountability. Depending on the type of group or pairing you could gain:

• strength – you hold each other up, push each other when you would normally take it easy or quit
• information and insights – discussing your goals with others doing the same you pick up tips, new ways of looking at things, recipes if health is your goal, benefit from lessons others are learning
• support – both emotional and practical
• energy and enthusiasm – so much comes from a united effort
• people to celebrate with as you hit mini milestone goals

Make regular plans / action steps to keep your goal on your agenda

• meet up with friends or your family – put it on the calendar
• make recurring appointments for health, beauty, and fitness
• sign up for a course that has regular classes or check ins
• put your plans and steps in writing / lock in dates

 

If this is not a new goal consider what stood in your way previously

• old habits that you need to break – what can you do to change this?
• was your previous goal unrealistic and daunting
• is it really in line with your values and coming from within
• if it affects the whole family are there members not on board with your plan – work together to brainstorm a new plan that they will support fully (remember baby steps forward are better than standing still)
• is your mindset sabotaging your actions?

Figure out the best tools for you to track progress and plan your action steps

Come back for tomorrow’s post where I will share planning and tracking tools and links to some great resources I have found for some goals you might have.

Mindset changes:

Get your head around the idea of temporary setbacks

Remind yourself they are simply that – temporary. How you handle them determines whether they become permanent setbacks.

If you have a setback (a weight gain, a missed deadline, a cancelled family activity, fall behind on household organising etc) get right back into what you plan and you will still meet your long term goals.

If you get stuck ask yourself what might be going on, what do you need to move forward:

• information
• self belief
• money and resources to invest in yourself and your family
• facing your fears – take a risk, allow for mistakes and learning
• self sabotage
• others undermining your progress (that is about them, do not let them bring you down)
• do you need to learn new skills to keep moving forward
• are you bored – find ways to re-ignite your enthusiasm, find a new direction to take your goal, look at it from a different angle
• have you lost touch with your “why” – re-read / remember what your ultimate aim is

Get clear on your definition of success

We set goals for ourselves, but do not know what we will encounter along the way.  If for some reason you do not reach your big goal it does not necessarily mean you “failed”.  Do not lose sight of what you have achieved. Also be open to re-thinking your goals if you discover they are unrealistic.

As an example: You have previously been unable to shift the excess weight you are carrying around and you set out to lose 15 kilos.

Possible scenario: You rethink this goal as it seems intimidating and you decide to set a new goal of 3-5kgs and to drop at least 1 clothing size. You plan to aim for that goal and then re-assess. If you never lost anything before and than lose that 3kg, celebrate that success – for it is a success. If you go on to lose a total of 10 kilos that year it does not mean failure to lose 15kg, it is a success of shifting 10 kilos that has haunted you for years. Keep building in the right direction rather than focusing on what you did not do. Your own goals can be quite arbitrary so remain focused on what your definition of success is – what is your “why” (have you met or come close to that), what knock on effects have you seen from the progress you have made (changes in 1 area can cause a positive ripple effect in other areas of your life and they are not be ignored)

 

Do you have any tips for meeting your goals? What has worked for you in the past?

 

Find your simple,

Deb

 

I am linking up with Jess for

 

Photo credits:

Danger sign from flickr user nimbupani

Work in progress from flickr user blumpy

Tagged as: goal setting