So I’m the type of person who loves to set goals. I’m very goal-oriented and it excites me to start new goals and plan my life around it. But the HARDEST thing for me to do is to follow through and actually achieve it.
So based on the goals I did achieve, I learned different strategies that actually made a difference in achieving my goals and do what I said I would do when I said I would do it.
Like starting this blog, starting a social media management business, meeting my future husband, moving to Japan, getting married, and then moving here to Germany. My life would’ve gone a different path if I didn’t achieve these goals. I don’t think it would’ve been bad but it would have been a completely different life. I think I could still be single, living in Guam or in the States.
Anyway, grab a notebook because you’re going to want to write these tips down! And make sure to stick to the end because I have an exciting free download that I think you’re going to like. *wink wink*
Let’s get started!
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1. Work in 90-day or 3-month increments.
So if you have a big goal that will take one year to accomplish, break it down into 3-month increments (or 3-month milestones is what I like to call it). You basically work towards your goal in these increments because sometimes your goals will call for different phases. Like a planning phase, a creating phase, and a launching phase, and you’re going to be in a different type of mindset for each phase.
So break down your big goals into milestones or phases that are about 3-months long. It’s not too short where you feel like you’re pressed for time. And it’s not too long where it feels drawn out that you almost lose the motivation.
2. Break down your goals into small steps then break those down into even smaller steps.
My rule is that if I can’t accomplish one step in 90 minutes or less, it’s too big. I need to break it down. The reason for this is because-
3. Work towards your goal every day for 90 minutes.
In my experience, I’m much more likely to accomplish my goal if I work on it a little bit every day instead of doing one week’s worth of work all in one day. Not only will I be able to work at a leisurely pace, not get stressed because I have peace of mind knowing I’m accomplishing a little each day, it’s also a great way to build on good habits.
Like for example, if you want to lose 10 pounds in 3 months. You’re more likely to lose weight if you exercise a little bit every day instead of exercising 10 hours in one day, once a week. It’s not realistic nor sustainable. So just like how your body needs a break, your mind needs a break too.
4. Plan backward.
Now, this sounds weird because we don’t usually work backward. Our goal is to move forward, right? So when I say plan backward, I mean, what do you need to accomplish right before achieving this big goal? And then what do I need to accomplish before that? So keep asking yourself that until you reach step 1.
As opposed to starting from the beginning and planning forward, in hopes that your plan will make it to the finish line, why not work from the finish line first and then move backward so that the plan you’re creating is guaranteed to reach completion.
You’ll also find that you’ll get rid of tasks that were unnecessary to begin with because you’re only looking at what you actually need to move to the next step.
5. Don’t just do it. You have to BE it.
Some people wait until they reach their goal before they can feel a certain kind of way. For example, if your goal is to be an influencer making a full-time income, how would that feel? Maybe you’d feel alive, fulled expressed & happy.
Channel that energy into your work because that energy is going to affect the outcome of your work. It’s the same as changing your posture to feel confident: holding your shoulders back, with the chest out, and your chin up is going to make you feel confident
6. Embrace the process.
Take setbacks into account because they. are. going. to. happen. Especially once you’ve scheduled your tasks into your planner. Part of the process is managing these setbacks, finding time, making excuses, procrastinating, and dealing with unforeseen obstacles.
It’s okay if you find yourself not working towards your goals from the last couple of weeks. Just take a step back, and dive deep to find out why you didn’t do what you said you would do. Reconnect back to why you wanted to achieve that goal in the first place, move on, and trust that you will reach your goal.
Don’t make yourself feel bad. Just embrace the process.
7. If you have multiple goals, use a goal planner.
If you’re looking for balance in your life, sort your goals into different areas of your life. I recommend one choosing goal per area of life to keep things simple and manageable.
My #1 rule with goal planning is if I don’t write it down, it’s never going to happen. So write down your goals somewhere and schedule the smaller tasks into your planner.
If you’d like to use a goal planner, it’s basically a regular planner but with specific layouts meant to organize & plan your goals.
Like this goal layout, for example, is meant to organize your goals into different areas of your life, where you fill out each area of life with a goal. Like personal, work, relationships, home, health, money, spirituality, new skills and miscellaneous.
And then you have this Goal Planner layout, where you focus on one goal, write down a few details like a start & end date, why it’s important to you and a reward to look forward to at the end of it. Plus, additional space to break it down into milestones, and break down those milestones into smaller steps.
If you’re interested in using layouts like this, it’s actually free for you to download from my blog as a digital planner. You can click the link below to download it or head straight to this link.
8. Assign someone to be your accountability buddy.
No matter how great we are at being accountable for ourselves, it’s very important that you have someone be accountable for you. Like an accountability buddy. It’s so powerful when you have someone checking in on you and asking how your progress is going.
This is what I do for the students of my Bold Blogger Academy course. I ask them what they want to accomplish in the next 2 weeks (because we talk every 2 weeks), and they tell me what it is knowing that I’m going to check in on them. And I write these down so that I remember!
So one of my students was scared of sharing your blog in her personal life but she knew she wanted to do it. I asked when she was going to do it and told her I’m going to check in on her. Two weeks later, she tells me she got hired for a new job because someone saw her post about her blog and was impressed!
So it’s really powerful when you have someone to be accountable for you. Especially when you’re too busy working on your goals.
Conclusion
So that’s it! Those are 8 goal setting tips that have changed my life and I hope they change yours. If you’re interested in the digital planner, you can head over to my Instagram for a quick tour of it. Or you can see it for yourself by clicking the button below.
I hoped you learned a thing or two from me and please share your goal setting tips with me in the comments!