Finish Strong: The Art of Sticking to Your Goals
The last 90 days of the year are more crucial than the first. Let’s finish strong, sticking to your goals and achieving what you had only just dreamed of a year ago!
What were my personal goals this past year? I was working on a chapter in an anthology (which did release in February), and I continued to work on my next book that will (if all goes well) launch early next year.
I also began some contracted work as a success coach and virtual assistant, which wasn’t something I had a goal for, but it has become a great joy in my life. Now I have goals to help each of the women I work for grow their businesses and communities.
I’m still working on writing that second book though… That is the goal I still haven’t quite accomplished yet, and the goal I’m wanting to use to finish this year strong. I’m not exactly where I want to be, but I’ll continue to push forward and stick to my goal.
So think about that for yourself! What was it that you wanted for yourself back in January? What were your goals? Are you where you want to be? If not, how do you get there?
Obstacles that Prevent Us from Sticking to Our Goals
We are in the final stretches of the year with around 90 days left. How we use the last 90 days may be more important than the first 30.
The new year is exciting, and the beginning of a goal is exciting! January brings a new year, a fresh start, and a new beginning. January brings out our dreams. New goals make us want to get up in the morning and do something! The first 30 days are usually fairly easy without any huge hiccups or bumps to overcome.
Sticking to Your Goals: What Happens when the Excitement Wears Off?
It’s actually quite similar to how you feel during a marathon. The starting line is like January. You’re starting fresh, and you’re excited. So much excitement surrounds the start line. The adrenaline is kicking in as well as the endorphins. It’s a new adventure, and you feel great the first quarter or so of the race, about 7-9 miles in.
There really haven’t been any major bumps in the road yet. You haven’t hit any walls yet, and it’s all about just going out there and doing it! You feel invincible and that there’s really nothing to it.
However, you do hit barriers along the way, many mental, that try to take you off track. The further you get in, the easier it is to quit, or at least have feelings of doing so.
The excitement will wear off and it’s good to be prepared for it or at the very least, know what to do when it happens to you.
The first few miles are exhilarating. You are running on adrenaline and probably faster than you expected. You have no idea you’re running as fast as you are because you’re just excited. But then you get some miles in.
You get a quarter of the way in, and you’re starting to feel a little pain. Your mentality is kicking in, and it’s trying to tell you that you have a long way to go still.
That’s the same with our goals! Sometimes it gets hard. Sometimes we get a little push back and someone asks us why we’re working so hard or why we care about our goal so much. “Why don’t you focus on your kids instead of working out,” they ask, and we start questioning our motives or our goals themselves.
And sometimes we give in and back down just a little bit. We give in just a little bit. Then another wall hits because, guess what, going after our goals isn’t easy. We need to find joy in the journey.
Hitting a Wall: Pushing through Doubt
When you get to even the halfway point of the marathon, you’ve completed half already, awesome! But then you realize you still have 13 miles to go and start questioning yourself. “How am I going to do it?” and self-doubt comes in, and you begin to wonder if you’re even worthy of it.
Isn’t that the same with our goals? We start questioning, “Why am I going after this? Am I even worthy of achieving this? Maybe I should just go back to what I was doing.”
But the hardest part of the marathon comes after mile 20. Really between miles 18-20, many runners hit what is affectionately known as “the wall,” and it’s really caused by unbalanced glycogen levels. Runners are depleting their energy, and not all runners feel it, but many do. When we hit the wall, it’s hard to press on.
The last quarter of the marathon, miles 20-26 are crucial, and they are completed with all heart. You have to dig deep and get mentally tough and tell yourself you’re going to do it no matter what.
Sticking to Your Goals: Fighting Doubt
You are no longer excited, you are in pain, you have negative that creeps in. You just want to be done – but that’s when it matters the most. How you finish matters!
I feel like that’s what the last 90 days of the year is. The last 90 days of the year is us digging deep and getting mentally tough. It is getting thick skin and doing what we know we need to do. Our goals will not be achieved without the action backing them up. Marathons aren’t run without miles of training. You have to have the action backing it up!
We already know we’re going to hit barriers, you probably already have this year. Have you given up? Because the only way you lose is if you quit. And that’s true, however, you can’t win unless you go after it. You can’t win without action. Action is necessary.
Look back on the goals you made at the beginning of the year. What were those new year’s resolutions? What were you excited about? The race can still be run! You can still finish strong! The last stretch matters! So how do we push through mentally in these last months to finish strong?
How Do You Commit to a Goal and Stick with It?
Committing to a goal and seeing it through is one of the hardest parts of the journey! Coming up with a goal is the easy task, and even creating a plan to accomplish it could be fairly simple, but it’s when we hit a wall or push comes to shove that we need to understand how to stick with it in the midst of difficulty. In order to stick with your goal, you want to know exactly what you want to accomplish, know your WHY behind your goal and visit it often, and you need to choose to do something with it daily.
Know Exactly what You Want and What You Want to Accomplish
We have to get specific about our goals, and just because you haven’t completed it yet doesn’t mean you’re not supposed to. Think back to the goals that you had. Was it too generic? Was it too broad? I want you today to write down specifically what you want in the last 90 days.
Maybe you’re starting up a business, and you just have a goal of getting it off the ground and having your first client. That’s a great goal! Maybe you had a goal of losing 15 pounds. Maybe you had a goal of networking with X amount of people. Whatever it is that you want, you need to get specific about it. You need to get specific about a deadline. Make the deadline December 31. Finish this year with a goal achieved.
Know Your “Why” Behind the Goal and Visit it Every Day
I don’t want you to come up with a fluffy why that everyone else wants to hear. I want you to choose the real why behind your goal. You may have to dig deep to find it, but it needs to be a WHY that gets you in the action mode, a why that will drive you and create passion around what you are doing.
If you’ve ever felt that way before, it’s almost like Christmas morning when you were 6. You wouldn’t want to sleep the night before, and you would get up super early and try to wake everyone up. When you have a “why,” a real why, every morning is like Christmas morning. You become passionate about what you’re doing, you become excited to solve the problems and get out there and get things done.
So I want you to develop that “why,” and I want you to revisit it every day. In the morning, take out your specific goal and why and look at them, visualize them.
It takes work, but you will reach your goals.
Choose to do Something Every Day Toward Your Goal
This is going to get you out of your comfort zone, it will make you uncomfortable. It isn’t easy to do something every day, but consistency is what drives you. Consistency creates momentum. Consistency is what will get you where you want to go. Being consistent in a marathon. Not going out too fast in the beginning and depleting all your energy at the end. Consistency is key. Consistency drives you to the finish line.
“Many will start fast, few will finish strong.”
Gary Ryan Blair, founder of Goalsguy
I’m going to be honest with you and tell you that it never gets easier! There are always challenges to overcome if you’re going to make a name for yourself. There is always another level you can go to. But if we push through and don’t quit, then it may not get easier, but we will get stronger. And because of that, in the long run, it will feel that much easier.
Finish strong! Reach your goals! You are not alone!
Why is Sticking to Your Goals So Important?
Because you are worth it, and it’s your time!
That can be your official saying for the next 90 days. Use it. Let it drive you. When you’re feeling down and you feel like you’re not getting somewhere, or when you feel stuck, just stop, look yourself in the mirror, and tell yourself, “I am worthy, and it’s my time.”
I could talk for hours about this topic because it’s so important to me. How we finish is more important than how we start. Our last 90-day stretch is on! This is what matters. Your goal matters. Don’t let yourself talk yourself out of your goal. Don’t let anything or anyone else talk you out of finishing this year strong.
Everyone’s race is different. Don’t look to the left or to the right. Don’t compare what you’re doing to anyone else. Your race is unlike anyone else’s. Your race matters. The fact that your race is different than anyone else’s is actually WHY it matters. There is a purpose behind you finishing your race. Just do it. Just choose to run YOUR race and finish this year strong!!!
How are you sticking to your goals? How are you going to finish the year strong? I’d love for you to share in the comments below!
Step into the Fire and Come Out Stronger!
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In all things I pray, you just run YOUR race!
