1. Write Your Goals Down!
I know this sounds a bit cliché and you’ve likely heard it a million times, but it works! People who write down their goals are 1.2 to 1.4 times more likely to achieve them. When you keep your dreams and ideas inside your head rather than putting them down on paper, they remain sort of vague and distant. What goals do you have that are currently only thoughts inside your head? Do they have an end date? Do you have a plan to achieve them? What’s something you can do today toward them? It’s tough to answer these questions when the goal isn’t on paper. Writing down your goals helps you to define what you actually want. Not to mention, you're more likely to forget about the goals that reside inside your head once life gets busy. If you haven’t yet written down your goals for this year, find a moment and do it today!
2. Make Sure You Know Where You’re Going
I like to use the analogy of a ship setting out to sea when I think about goal setting and the importance of knowing where you’re going. A goal without a plan is like a ship setting out to sea with no destination. In other words, going nowhere. And when that ship with no destination comes up against a storm, it’s much more likely that it’s going to turn around and come right back to shore rather than pushing forward. You need to know what you’re aiming for or you will never reach it. You need a reason to push through the bad weather or you will give up. And while floating is okay sometimes, it doesn’t always get you to where you really want to be.
3. Make a Plan
Once you’ve taken some time to put your goals on paper and you've defined where you're going, the next thing you need to do to smash your goals this year is to make a plan. I LOVE making plans. A chai rooibos tea and a session of list making and calendar blocking is my kind of night! If this doesn't sound like you (which is very normal and totally ok!), I still urge you to take a bit of time, make a tea, sit down with a notebook, and make a plan to achieve at least one goal in 2019.
Start with your defined goal and make sure it's specific. For example, if you want to improve your cardio this year, you need to be more specific than, "I want to improve my cardio this year". A goal like this could be made more specific by instead saying, "I want to run 5km in 24 minutes by August 2019".
You then need to break your goal down into smaller goals you need to achieve by the end of each month. Then you need to break those down further into what you need to accomplish by the end of each week. Then by the end of each day. This way of reverse engineering your goals will help you to break a larger dream into small daily tasks which become less daunting and much more doable.
4. Visualize Your Goals
Athletes have been doing this for decades, broadway performers do this, and so do millionaire business owners. Visualizing your goals is going to give you an edge on achieving those big dreams. Take a few minutes each day to find a quiet space, sit down, close your eyes and visualize yourself reaching your big goal. Imagine you're watching yourself in a movie perfectly executing your goal. What are you wearing? what is the expression on your face? What sounds are in the background? Now step into the movie and see the experience a second time looking through your own eyes. Feel the feelings you would feel in this moment. Taking a few moments each day to visualize your goals awakens a problem solving area in your brain and helps you to overcome future barriers. This visualization exercise goes really nicely with a morning meditation! I challenge you to try it!
5. Believe In Yourself!
Seriously. No one else is going to believe in you if you don't believe in you. Make it your number one priority this year to believe in yourself and your ability to smash your goals. You have the power to make your dreams a reality and I believe that the space between setting a goal and achieving it is not talent or money or luck, but discipline and consistency. Two things we are all capable of.
Wishing you all an amazing year! I'm sending all my positive vibes your way!!
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