We’ve all been there. January 1st rolls around and our minds are rushing with things we want to achieve by the end of the year. Whether it’s getting fit, eating healthy or saving up for that dream car or house – it’s hard not to let your mind run wild with all the goals we want to achieve.
But the real question here is how many of us actually stick to our goals?
As of 2021, only 8% of people achieve the goals they set up at the start of the year and most people tend to drop their resolution by February. And the main culprit for this staggering statistic is not accurately setting up and planning how a goal would be achieved. So we’ll be going through 5 ways you can successfully accomplish a goal that you have aspired to achieve.
1. Quantity does not mean quality
A lot of people tend to come up with many goals they want to achieve all at the same time – usually at the start of the year. This can make actually achieving these goals quite stressful and unattainable as you try to juggle doing a lot of things your not use to doing all at once – and end up dropping most of them.
The best thing to do is to just pick 1 or 2 of those goals and focus on achieving them first, master them, then move on to the next few goals. This strategy steadily spreads your goals throughout the year and allows you to form habits that are attainable.
Even if you end up just sticking to the first 1 or 2 goals, you would have still gained skills and developed more than you were at the start of the year. Slow progress will forever be better than no progress at all.
2. Write your goals down
Putting pen on paper and writing down what you want to achieve has actually been shown to be a successful way to achieve that goal. More specifically, putting that written goal somewhere it can be seen on a daily basis.
Not actually writing your goals down can be more harm than good. Because even though we say we will remember our thoughts about the goal, why it’s important and how to achieve it – life’s activities and hectic schedule can take over and that goal will become a distant thought.
So by writing that goal down and putting it in a place that you’ll see in the morning and at night can be that drive to push and complete that goal. If your more of a creative person vision or dream boards are also a great tool to visualize your goals.
There are many videos and tutorials available online on how to create your own vision board. I’ve put in one video that I found very useful below.
3. Create mini or ‘micro’ goals
Breaking down your main goal into multiple micro goals can make what you want to achieve more attainable. This is because micro goals that can be achieved within a shorter timeframe can be a lot easier than chipping away at one large goal. And eventually by completing a couple of your micro-goals you main goal will be achieved!
I’ve created a goal worksheet which helps you ultimately break down that large goal into sections that can be completed at a shorter time.
It includes:
- Your main goal
- A WHY section
- Micro-goal section
- A step-by-step plan section
- A timeline: How long do you estimate it will take to accomplish the micro-goal
Whether you decide to use a worksheet like this, a journal or an app on your phone – it is essential to break down any goal you want to do.
4. Constantly review your progress
Great! Not only have you written your goals down but you’ve also broken them down into easily achievable milestones. But sometimes life can get in the way and it might become hard to reach a mini-goal by the timeframe you set out to complete it in.
However, this is a completely normal thing to experience. This is why reviewing your progress is extremely important. By setting a time every month to reflect on your goals, it gives you the time to see what has gone right and what needs to be changed in order to help you finish that goal.
This will also be the time were you might need to refine the step-by-step process to better suit your needs.
The essential part of this step is to be consistent. Always set time aside to review and reset your strategy in completing that goal.
5. Reward yourself!
After all the hard work you have put in you finally have accomplished that goal you always have set out to achieve. It’s an amazing feeling! Make sure to celebrate and reward yourself for what you have achieved. No goal is too small to celebrate.
Here are a list of examples in ways you can treat yourself:
- Go out to brunch or dinner
- Purchase something you’ve wanted for a while
- Enjoy a weekend getaway
- Order in and relax at home
- Try and tick something off your bucket list
Whatever way you decide to commemorate that special achievement, make sure it is something enjoyable so you can come back refreshed and ready to do it all again!
The Beginning Project 