Do you have big dreams?… the kind of dreams that scare your own survival instinct away? The kind of dream that you play in your head over and over again thinking “what if?”. What if I had everything? What if I took action towards my goals?
If you have those, it means you are in the right direction. Trust yourself. Everything is possible. Do you want to write a novel? or maybe have your own company and be the owner of your own time? Do you want to lose 50kg? Whatever your dream is, you can do it!! I am not saying is going to be easy, I’m saying is possible and totally worth it. But where to start?
If you don’t know where you are going, you might wind up some place else.
Yogi Berra
Having clear, powerful goals for the things you want to achieve in your life is the first step towards your own version of success. It’s the fastest, most organized way of getting from point A to B.
That’s why, in this post, I’m going to teach you how to set those objectives in a clear, effective way. It’s never too late to set new goals, no matter where you are in your life, or how long the road seems to be, or where you want to apply these tips, just keep your mind open and don’t be afraid of taking action: your future awaits!
Let’s get to it!!
1. Make up your mind
Take the time to decide the things that are important to you: your career? Money? Your family? Love? Having your own house? Meeting academic goals? Improving your health? Being in good physical shape? Having your own business?
Think of all the areas of your life that matter to you and with which you would feel totally fulfilled.
Important: you should never sacrifice one area of your life for another. Choose all those that you feel fit your desires for personal fulfillment.
If you have trouble deciding, these ideas can help:
In 5 years, 10 years, 20, 30 years from now:
- Where would you like to live?
- Where would you like to be working or under what conditions
- Who would you like to have by your side? Why?
The important thing about this stage is to have no limits. Think big, be ambitious. Visualize yourself in your ideal state: your dream life: the house you want, the relationships you want to have, the people you want to have in your life.
In this step, it is also important that you think about yourself, about what you want to do. Don’t set goals by thinking about what other people want or expect from you or what everyone else is doing at the moment. Draw your own path, with what you want to achieve with all your heart.
Sometimes it is difficult to separate what we want from what other people expect from us or what other people think success is, but in the long run, following a path that is not your own, will only bring frustration.
So, take your time and think outside the box.
Click here for a list of FREE resources for writers!
2. Prioritize
Not everything can be done at the same time. It is important that you know what do you want to achieve the most, or first. This doesn’t mean that you should forget about one area of your life, just that you should be clear about the objective you want most of your energy to go to in the first place.
If you have several projects at the same time, that’s also ok. Think about the time you are going to give to each one, or which one you are going to address first. A good idea is to start with that project in which you have more progress. That will give you an extra boost of energy. Take advantage of that boost and energize yourself.
3. Focus
When you’ve made your decision about what you want to do with your life, write it all down, and put it in a place where you can see it every day, your fridge, next to your work station, on the wallpaper of your computer or phone.
Make it visible to your brain. This will retrain your mind to focus on what really matters. It will be easier for you to channel your efforts towards your ultimate goals.
You can use images. Images are very effective and will help your mind visualize yourself in a successful position. Don’t let your mind forget the goal or goals you want to achieve and try to spend a few minutes a day thinking about how you would feel if you already had everything you dream of.
Convince yourself that it is possible and that sooner or later you will get there. It is important to consider your goals as achievable. Forget about the “I-won’t-be-able-to-do-it” attitude. Think: if others have done it before, why not me?
4. Divide and conquer
The main problem when we set a goal is that sometimes it seems unattainable, that it is too much and you wonder how others do it. Surely you’ve been in that situation before, with a task or project that has seemed so big that you’ve simply given up.
The easiest way to deal with this is to divide your big goal into small, not so intimidating mini-goals.
Let’s say you want to write a book. The first time you sit down in front of the computer and know you have about 80 000 words to write, you feel like giving up, even before you’ve started. Or if you want to learn a new language and you know how many words, structures, and hours of study it is going to take.
Read this article for tips on how to write a book in less than two months!!
But, what if instead of focusing on the monstrosity of the task, you focus on a small portion: let’s say: writing the first 1000 or 500 words, or learning how to say hello in that foreign language, or the first 10 words that you will incorporate into your vocabulary. Or maybe your goal is to make more money, and the first step would be looking for a side hustle that fits your skills.
If you divide your final goal into steps, mini-goals that are more achievable, it won’t be so scary anymore. Your brain will understand this as a simplification of the whole process. Furthermore, it will give you some sense of purpose, direction and organization.
Once you start meeting those mini-goals and seeing your progress, you will be even more encouraged to continue. Just remember to keep putting one foot in front of the other and forget about what lies ahead. You will be on the finish line sooner than you think, but only if you are consistent.
Remember, every effort counts. No matter how little it seems at first, by adding up the small steps taken consistently, you will realize how far you have come.
5. Take Action
Creating a list of what will take you to your ideal state in life will automatically give you an energy boost. Take advantage of it and more importantly, take action.
You have to try to keep that initial impulse up. This can be a difficult task. That is why we mentioned earlier the need to have your goals in visible places. This way, you can be constantly reminded of your initial reasons for starting it all.
Think about the first step you will take in that direction and act. What is the first thing you must do so you get closer to your goals? The first step of that ladder? It doesn’t matter how small that first step is. The important thing is that you take it!
6. Avoid Distractions
Stop doing all those things that you are not really interested in or that are not giving real value to your life. Give time to yourself and your projects. they are going to need it.
Start by tracking the time you lose in one day. For example, if you are a Facebook addict, like, ejem… myself. Get into the settings and find out how much time you spend there a week. When I first did this, I found that that I was spending almost 4 hours a day!!! How much progress could I have accomplished in my personal goals in all that time? I’ll never know. Water down the drain.
What did I do? I set a Facebook alarm that lets me know when I am spending too much time in there. As my addiction was kind of heavy, the first week, I set the Facebook alarm for two hours and a half, the next week, two hours, and little by little, I can say that now I keep my Facebook time under one hour a day, which is still a lot of time, but I’m working on it. Pinky swear.
If Facebook is not your thing, and maybe it’s Youtube, or Instagram or whatever, you can also apply this tip. There are a ton of apps out there that have this function. So, you would have to identify what is making you waste time. This doesn’t mean that you can’t take a little break once in a while. That is also important. But, it will be good to identify what elemnts in your life are draining out your energy.
7. Be Consistent
This is probably the most difficult step. When we create a plan or talk about objectives to achieve, everything is new and shiny, you feel like you can have the world for dinner and finish it in one bite. We all know that this feeling doesn’t last forever, especially with long-term goals. The fact that the road ahead is long, the obstacles you can encounter in the way, or just getting tired… all of these can make you feel like quitting, like forgetting about everything. But is that who you want to be? A quitter?
If the plan doesn’t work, change the plan, not the goal. Keep reminding yourself of that initial desire. Keep the flame on.
Talking about consistency… you can check this article with tips on how to create a Writing Habit!
Consistency is crucial. It’s ok, to just don’t feel like it one day or another, but if you want to get to the finish line, and eventually, you will, just keep putting a foot in front of the other.
Overnight success doesn’t really occur overnight. Overnight success usually takes years of continuous, relentless effort. Check the following quote:
“If you would go every day to a very large tree and take five swings at it with a very sharp ax, eventually, no matter how large the tree, it would have to come down.”
Ron Scolastico
So, what can we take from this? It doesn’t matter how large your goal is, how high you want to get. If you take daily action towards it, no matter how small those actions look, you will eventually take that tree down, you will eventually crash your goal, whatever it is.
8. Hold yourself accountable
Keeping yourself accountable for your progress is always a good idea, so find a goal buddy, someone that has big ambitions just like you, and keep accountability for each other’s progress. You could set weekly goals, and keep track of your achievements. This way, you can push each other forward and cheer each other when one of you is feeling down.
Another way of keeping accountability is keeping a journal or a calendar of your daily efforts towards the big goal.
Summing up…
The power to make things happen is within you… you just have to go and find it. Once you do it, never let go! When you have big ideas, the best course of action you could take to turn them into reality is to set powerful, organized, clear goals.
So, make up your mind on what you want for your life, determine what is most important to you, or what do you want to achieve first, focus on that objective, and take action! It’s not that difficult, right? Remember to always avoid distractions or at least reducing them and keep consistent.
One step at the time and you will eventually get to the top. Take that first step today!! What are you waiting for?
