So the first half of this year has passed, and it’s time to adjust your road according to your core desires for this year.
Time goes so quickly these days, and you don’t want to waste another year not having what you truly want in life. You deserve it! You work hard, and sometimes you wonder why you can’t stick to your New Year’s resolutions more than a few weeks.
I remember a few years ago, I was so excited to make huge resolutions and plans in January that were going to get me where I had never been before. I’d go crazy and decide to run 10k per day, learn two new languages, and never eat sugar ever again!
I can see now how silly that was, and how I was setting myself up for failure. And they all failed, several years in a row!
Then I decided it was better to only have one goal and to give it everything. Something that I thought would change EVERYTHING, like “no eating after 5 pm.” And, of course, I failed these ones too after even fewer weeks or days.
I had many things wrong in the first place and had to learn it the hard way. But over time, I became a pro in planning and reaching my goals, and here’s what I learned in order to reach them:
Revise and Crush Your New Year’s Goals in 5 Steps
1. Assess Your Daily Reality and Compare It To Your Goals
The good news is that being a few months into this year can give you an idea of what your year is going to be like, and why your resolutions didn’t stick.
When setting goals, we often make the mistake to think of an entirely different life. However, our goals must fit in our current lives in order to stay and actually change our life!
You now have the ability to be brutally honest with yourself and define what worked, what didn’t, and why.
Take each one of your goals and ask yourself the following questions: (I recommend that you take a piece of paper or a journal to do so, this is going to be helpful in the future)
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How long did this resolution last?
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What was the first barrier/excuse that prevented me from doing it? (maybe it is time, weather, lack of motivation, other priorities – in which case whose priorities was it? Be specific.)
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What worked the times when I actually stuck to it? (look for something that worked more than once)
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Is this really a priority for me this year?
Now is the hard part:
Bill Gates once said we overestimate what we can do in a year, and underestimate what we can accomplish in a decade.
You probably can’t do it all this year (but you will in 2 to 3 years, so don’t worry), and you must unapologetically prioritize what is the most important for you.
Choose two or three big goals, not more. You can always come back to the rest when you have your priorities right.
One year, I decided to move to Germany to work there and learn German, while at the same time committing to a one-year coaching training, plus tutoring on the side. At some point, everything fell apart and I had to make a choice. I left Germany, and even if my German isn’t so good now, I never regretted actually following my real goal.
2. Couple Your Goal Wisely With Other Daily Incentives
The biggest secret to sticking to your goals is to have them meet several of your needs and desires.
Motivation comes and go, we all know that. Its object changes as well: some days we are motivated to work out, some days we are motivated to connect with friends, or to learn something new, or to do something for someone, etc…
The trick here is to have a plan that will cover two or even three of your needs or goals, so when the motivation for one is gone, there’s still incentive to do it for another reason!
This year, I moved to a new city and I needed to make friends and a completely new network. My number one goal was to get really fit and active. I decided to register at a local gym instead of my usual running in a park or dance class. I figured I would meet more people, and that it would motivate me to go more than once a week.
The result was better than I expected: I made a ton of good friends (even a business network), and I learned a variety of new fitness exercises. I am having so much fun going there that I now go 5 to 7 days a week! This was a huge win for me because I was never the kind of girl to go to the gym so consistently. I go for different reasons: health, fitness but also fun, friendships, learning, and networking!
Another example is cooking at home. I wasn’t sticking to it regularly until I made a habit of inviting friends over for casual dinner or lunch. It is so much more enjoyable to cook for several people and have a nice conversation along the way. It motivates me to cook more at home, or cook at home and bring food with me to work or events.
[RELATED: Goal Setting: 6 Strategies For Success This Year]
3. To Succeed, Think Convenience
In healthy eating, fitness, or other personal goals, the biggest barrier people have is convenience. The time wasn’t right, the weather wasn’t comfortable, it’s too far away, takes too much time, requires too much investment or changes in our lives, etc…
The more convenient a goal is, the easier it is to stick to it.
We want to achieve a result: think about the WHY, not the HOW.
Example: I wanted to be very fit. Running 5 times a week wasn’t actually my goal, it was a way to get there. However, it wasn’t convenient (winter, work, lack of motivation….). When I let go of the HOW and focused on a solution to get my WHY (a toned body) that was convenient in my life (a gym 5 minutes away from my home), I got my result quicker than planned!
Simplify your goal to the exact outcome you want and look for creative ways to achieve it that will fit into your daily life. What would be a new, more convenient way to achieve what you want?
If it implies something new or a change, go for it. It’s always positive to expand our comfort zone!
[DOWNLOAD: FREE 90 Day Vision Planner]
4. Plan and Prepare Like a Boss
What ambitious successful people know is that if it’s not planned, it won’t happen.
Now that you’ve prioritized your goals, linked them to several incentives, and found new convenient solutions to make it happen, you actually have to make it happen.
If you already did the three steps above, this is going to be a smooth operation because you already have all the key elements in place.
All you need to do now is:
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Plan it specifically: set calendar times and days and block them.
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Prepare for it: get rid of all the excuses and barriers. Go shopping if you need new utensils to cook, or workout clothes, or a camera for your business, etc… Register with a software of app if that’s part of your plan. Do everything you need in advance so there’s no excuse left in the way.
