Without even realising it, most of us go too small when creating our goals. We don’t know how to get to the place that we really want to be and our true desires seem too far away, so we settle for something that feels more within reach.
The problem with this is that although the goal might feel more achievable, if it isn’t big enough, if it doesn’t light the fire in your soul, there’s no motivation to get up and go for it every single day.
"So how can I set big juicy goals and actually go about achieving them?"
Step One: Dare to Dream
The first step is to allow yourself to visualise what it is that you truly want. If you didn't see my post earlier this week, I’d like to invite you to take some time to close your eyes and picture the year ahead of you. Take at least 5 minutes to do this and really notice what’s different...
Are you in a different place?
Doing different things?
With different people?
Maybe you’re doing more or less of something you already do?
How do you look?
How do you feel?
What thoughts do you have?
Take the time to tune into the themes of your year ahead and note them down in your journal. These form the basis of your overall goals, and the next step is to take them one by one and reverse engineer them.
Step Two: Break it Down
Now that you know where you want to be, consider where you are now and all of the major steps that will need to take place in order to get there. We're not talking fine detail at this point, just around 5 - 10 milestones depending upon the size of the undertaking. You might find it easier to brainstorm them first before putting them into order.
Step Three: Break it down again
Next up is taking those key milestones and breaking them down into the individual actions you need to take. Let's say your overall goal was to finally get married and one of the milestone you've identified is to book a venue. In order to get there, some of the individual steps might be defining a budget, deciding on a date, researching venues and then booking visits. Try to consider everything that it will take for you to effectively hit that milestone, including taking action in advance for things that might take longer to come to fruition; for example some activities might not need to take place for a couple of months, but if other people or venues are involved, make sure you've planned to book them ahead of time. Again, feel free to brainstorm them and put them into logical order afterwards if that works better for you.
Step Four: Create a Timeline
Now that you have all of your sub goals and their individual actions, it's time to take out your planning tool of choice whether it's a paper diary or your calendar on your phone or laptop, and taking the first milestone, plan out the actions giving them specific dates and times to be completed. Ensure you're giving yourself enough time for each task - trying to push yourself too hard can lead to overwhelm and achieving much less in the long run. Try to be realistic and consider all of your other commitments. Don't try to work too far ahead, focus on what needs to take place over the next couple of weeks.
Step Five: Continually Review
So you have your next few weeks planned out, congratulations! Now comes the really important part - making sure you take action!
Choose a method of reminder that will work for you, whether it's alarms on your phone, a post it note on the mirror, or maybe you need to rope in a family member, friend or even a coach to help keep you accountable.
The most important thing you can do is to set aside time each week to review your progress...
What have you achieved?
Does anything need rescheduling?
Have you tried to take on too much?
Or maybe you think you can do a little more next week?
Is there anything else that needs to happen?
Has the original goal changed or developed at all?
How does this effect your plan?
I personally like a Sunday evening to plan out my week ahead, but block out a day and time that works for your and your schedule.
Let me know in the comments how this method works for you.
Happy New Year,
Cheryl
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