If you want to set a goal in your life but aren’t clear how to take that first step towards achieving it, it can seem overwhelming. There may be things we want to accomplish but we lack a specific roadmap to guide us down the path.
Luckily there are many techniques you can put into practice that not only help you clearly define what you want to achieve, but also help guide you to find your own resources and strengths to move forward with focus and clarity.
Let’s say your goal is to live a healthier lifestyle. In this week’s blog, we’ll talk about 6 key tips you can follow to reach that:
- Establish a realistic but challenging goal
The goal must be realistic because otherwise it can cause tremendous frustration and leave us feeling defeated even as we begin. So it’s important to know and analyze the resources available to you when it comes to achieving your goal – be reasonable, but also challenge yourself. In addition, it helps to break down a large goal into bite-sized pieces (which we’ll discuss in a moment). A realistic and challenging goal towards living a healthier lifestyle might begin with “cutting out junk food,” instead of making a drastic overnight change to an all-vegan diet.
- Break down your goals
Many people give up on their goals because they are simply too broad. For this reason, it is important to break down your objectives into short, medium, and long-term goals. This helps you create a road map and has the added bonus that as you start to achieve the short and medium-term goals, you will find yourself with extra motivation and self-confidence to push you toward the final goal. If part of your goal to live a healthier lifestyle involves planning to get in better shape, start with a short-term goal of exercising twice a week for a month.
- Infuse your goal with positive emotions
Once you have your goal in mind, make a list of the positive things you will gain by achieving it. In our example about living a healthier lifestyle, you could focus on how you will feel less body aches, have more energy, be proud of yourself, and have healthier medical checkups. Whatever your goal might be, focusing on the positive outcome will remind you why you’re making the effort to begin with! You can also check out these inspiring quotes and motivational phrases.
- Date it
Once you have planned a route to achieving your goal (whether in the short, medium, or long term), it is time to set a “due by” date. In this way, you will demand more of yourself as you see the deadline approaching. Set small due dates weekly, since small numbers seem less intimidating. For example, “By the end of this week I will have taken 3 different wellness classes.”
- Put it on paper
Having the idea in your head of what you want may not be enough to achieve your goals. Creating a visual representation can be very helpful. Visualizing it will not only help you to follow the schedule you have planned, but it will also inspire you to share with family, friends, and the universe that you are working hard to achieve your goal!
- Reward yourself
The closer you get to your goal, the better it feels. You’ve been working hard to get where you are and you deserve to reward yourself. Get pampered, book that massage you’ve always been thinking of getting, go out and have fun with your friends, go on that weekend getaway…whatever you do, YOU deserve it!
One of the most important things we should do along the way is to highlight our milestones and achievements as we work our way towards our goal. That will make us see how, slowly but surely, we are making progress. If we put the above steps into practice, we’ll find that we can do many more things and go much further than we think!
