My goal for the last six years has been to improve myself, whether it be in physical health, mental or spiritual. I understand that when I improve these areas of my life, I improve the quality of my reality. These points in time, are when I feel the most complete.
How can anyone make sense of what they want to do in life if they have no true goal set in stone, a plan that’ll guide them the full way through, and a destination to celebrate once reached?
I’m constantly reading articles and books on self-improvement, and one recurring theme seems to be that of setting goals. An action we should all take a bit more seriously.
There’s something to be said about this, it could be the difference between reaching your goals in a few days, weeks, or months compared to finally reaching the promised land in a few years because of misdirection.
Which is why I’d like to share with you a few techniques that have worked for me in the past, and if it’s worked for me, there’s no doubt it’ll work for you.
1. Allow Yourself To Dream
The reason behind this is because you want to identify your deepest desires, what truly matters to you. Even if it seems to big or out of reach, it becomes the destination we move towards while knocking off the smaller goals along the way.
Your long-term goal should be what you’d like to ultimately achieve or accomplish, know that it might change over time, and that’s ok. Time never stays the same, does it?
The short-term goals should be the actions you take that move you one step closer to your longterm goal. I’ll get more into depth about how to break it down as we continue.
Big or small, just dream.
Don’t let anyone tell you that it’s impossible, because while their vision might be limited, yours doesn’t have to be.
SUMMARY
Identify where you’d like to see yourself in the future, then separate your longterm goals from your short-term goals.
2. Put Your Goals Into Writing
It’s as straightforward as writing them down. Start where you’d like to see yourself in a few years from now.
Keep in mind, this is what we’re ultimately working towards. Now, how do we get there? We need a plan.
The easiest way to do this is to break your goals down into smaller tasks that’ll motivate you to move in the proper direction.
Example
You want to lose ten pounds by the end of this month, this is actually easier than you might think.
Break those ten pounds down to ” how do I lose weight?”, you’ll eventually learn that you might need to change some eating habits and include some exercise into the equation. (Let’s focus on the nutrition side of things for this example.)
In order to improve your eating habits you need to find out which foods are best for weight loss, so you do a search on that too. You now understand what to eat, and losing weight now looks a bit easier and obtainable, and all it took was some deconstructing of the desired goal.
It’ll take some time and effort, this is inevitable, but it’s worth the energy exerted. The feeling of accomplishment is in a league of its own. Once you have this in order, you’re ready to move on to the final step.
SUMMARY
Break your goals down into smaller, more digestible tasks, knock one out the way and move on to the next. It’ll all add up in time. Let’s not overwhelm ourselves.
3. Take action
How do we expect to get anywhere if we don’t take physical action? Time is constantly moving, you either let it pass you by or you move with it. I think we can agree that the latter has a more attractive appeal to it.
We need to make moves.
I find that progression brings me the most happiness. I feel accomplished by the end of my day knowing that I’m at least one step closer to my main goal.
To reap the most out of your time for action, try this :
Choose a time of day where you can block out at least an hour to take action.
Remove yourself completely of distractions and focus only on an area that you chose to break down.
Attempt to focus on only one task at a time, you’ll find the process to be more effective.
(If focusing is a problem for you, use the same approach as mentioned earlier, search for ways to improve your focus.)
Depending on what your goal is, work at it till it’s one more task checked off the list.
It’s that simple.
Placing one foot in front of the other is all that’s needed at times. Keep yourself motivated and interested, look at it as fuel to your tank, turn the key and crank the ignition.
It’s much easier to continue once you’ve already got the ball rolling.
SUMMARY
Be daring, get yourself motivated. Take action, the pay off is worth it.
All Caught Up
Going through life without a purpose, might not be completely pointless, but it might come to bite us on the ass once it’s too late. I strongly encourage you to put some serious thought into what really matters.
Even if the process feels like it’s taking forever, Don’t allow yourself to be discouraged. Remember, one foot in front of the other.
Don’t be surprised when you’re the one ahead of your time.
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