One of the most crucial elements to achieving your goals is preparation and planning. If you truly want to accomplish something its going to take some serious thought. Too many times I have seen people give up and not reach their goals simply because they didn’t put any long-term thought into how to achieve it. Or worse, I’ve seen people give up because they completely overwhelm themselves in the beginning and it gets to be too much to handle.
Whenever I set out to achieve a goal or get completely overwhelmed with what I’m currently working on, I stop and ask myself these questions that help get me refocused:
What do I want to specifically accomplish?
Helping yourself narrow done what you want to accomplish can really help you feel focused. For example, if your goals are health and fitness related be specific with what you want to achieve. When I start working with a new client and we talk about what their goals are, more often than not I am met with the response of I want to “get in shape”. I ALWAYS ask but what does “get in shape” mean to you? For some, getting in shape could mean running a mile without stopping and for others it could be running a sub six minute mile. Having a specific idea about what you want to accomplish will help keep you focused and should help stop you from feeling completely overwhelmed.
Why do I want to accomplish this?
So now you know what you want to accomplish, but why? Understanding why you want to accomplish your specific goal can be a huge factor in helping to keep you motivated. When I start working with a new client, I always recommend that they write down why their goal is important to them. Being able to look back on your why can help you remind why you started and keep you determined to see it through.
How am I going to accomplish my goal?
Try not to just focus on the big picture, start to break down your goal into small achievable steps. For example, say you want to lose 30 pounds. Instead of focusing on how you are going to lose 30 pounds, you could break it down to focusing on losing 1-2 pounds per week, losing 4-6 pounds per month. Having smaller attainable goals, helps you stay motivated and lets you work on accomplishing your overall goal. I like to ask myself these questions when I’m focusing on how to accomplish my goal:
- What progress can I make today?
- What can I accomplish by the end of the week?
- Where would I like to be at the end of the month?
Have I made any progress?
Let’s say your goal is to lose weight. The scale is not always our friend, I’m sure the ladies know what I’m referring too. Consider taking a before photo and taking a phono every four weeks. When you feel like you haven’t made any progress or are frustrated and want to give up, look back at where you started. Keeping track of your progress can help keep you accountable. If you haven’t made any progress or feel that you should have progressed further, this can be a great point to stop to ask yourself what you can do different in order to see more results.
Goal setting doesn’t have to be complicated. As long as you remember to focus on your what, your why and your how you will get to where you want to be. What do you like to do when you work towards your goals? Do you have any strategies that have worked for you in the past? Share your thoughts end experiences below, we’d love to hear them!
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