9 Simple Secret Steps to Sticking to Your Goals
The start of the year is usually the most popular time of year when we set our goals and dreams for the year. We are motivated because 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.
Deciding to make changes is easy but sticking to the changes we commit to is hard work. Soon, the short-lived motivation wanes. The same thing may have happened to you last year and the year before, and is likely to happen this year if you don’t learn how to consistently stick to your goals.
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? These 9 Simple Secret Steps to Sticking to Your Goals give you a clear plan to achieve your important goals.
Sticking to your Goals: What happens when the excitement wears off?
I’m an avid runner and l can tell you that sticking to your goals is 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.
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.
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.
But then you get some miles in. You 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 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 get mentally tough and tell yourself you’re going to do it no matter what.
That’s the same with our goals! Sometimes we go through a hard time or 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.
9 Simple Secret Steps to Sticking to Your Goals
Committing to a goal and seeing it through is one of the hardest parts of the journey. Setting goals is an easy task but it’s when we hit a wall or push comes to shove that we need to understand how to stick with it in difficulty.
Resolutions fail because the goal is too big, we don’t plan well and we lack accountability. Without a clear and specific plan to set and accomplish goals, you’ll struggle to commit to your goals for the entire year.
These 9 Steps to Sticking to Your Goals help you build new habits and become committed and consistent towards the road to success.
Set SMART goals
The type of goal you set determines your drive and motivation to accomplish it. So the first thing you need to do is decide exactly what you want to accomplish.
When the year starts a lot of people have all these broad goals for their personal lives. Such goals may be about weight loss, getting a new job, starting a business, or learning a new language.
What we need is to set goals that are SMART. This is a game-changer. The SMART method is an effective goal-setting acronym that represents a Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-bound goal.
A SMART goal is saying I want to lose 15 pounds by the end of March. With the right actions, this is achievable and it’s a goal you can stick to.
Specific and measurable goals make it easy to track progress. Realistic goals motivate you to take action and having a time frame is one of the most effective ways to crush a goal.
Know the “Why” behind your goal
Dig deep and find the “why” behind your dream or vision for your life. This is not something fluffy but it’s a reason for the goal, habit, or behavior change. This intrinsic motivation is the most important thing because it gets you in the action mode, drives you, and creates passion for what you’re doing.
Visit your why every day and let it remind you to stick to your goals when times get tough. Have mental reminders of them on your bathroom mirror, work desk, or on the fridge. Keep them top of mind.
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 make a positive impact.
Be clear on the new behaviors you need to adopt
Big goals or dreams come with new daily habits, daily routines and new behaviors. But habit formation takes time and hard work. There is usually a big gap between our intentions and behavior.
Implementation intentions are if-then plans that spell out in advance how one wants to accomplish a set goal. They are a better way of sticking to your goals. They include setting “if-then” plans. For example “If X happens, then I’ll overcome it by doing Y.”
This is important whether it’s for personal goals or career goals. Let’s take weight loss as a bold goal for example. A study in the British Journal of Health Psychology found that 91% of people who planned their intention to exercise by writing down when and where they would exercise each week ended up following through.
Meanwhile, people who read motivational material about exercise, but did not plan when and where they would exercise, showed no increase in comparison to the control group.
This demonstrates the importance of action over motivation. Being clear and planning for a new habit puts you in the right direction to actually act on your goals and stick to them over time.
Develop a specific plan for your goal
Having a clear daily to-do list is one of the effective steps to sticking to your goals. To achieve a big dream you need to develop specific goals with key steps to achieving your goal.
Determine the smaller tasks toward your end goal and do the daily work that will enable you to crush your goals. When you write these tasks down in a notebook, on a piece of paper, or on a bulletin board you have a better chance of completing them.
Consistency in your everyday life 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 the key that drives you to the finish line.
Enjoy the journey
We often think that achieving the main goal and reaching the destination or accomplishing the main is the best part of the process. But this can come with many struggles and obstacles that you feel like giving up along the way. Instead of fixating on the desired result, set small goals and enjoy the journey.
If your goal is to lose 50 pounds by 31st December, this is a significant goal. So take time to develop an action plan and decide on the habits you need to develop. Once you start developing healthy eating habits, pause and take time to celebrate your progress.
Celebration along the journey helps you to stick to your goals because you’re motivated. A measurable goal helps you build momentum, stay focused, bring contentment, and encourage you to keep going.
Have Accountability and Support
Ask someone you trust to be your coach, mentor, or accountability partner. Agree on how often you’ll check in and measure your goals. Make the time with them productive by having updates on specific goals and tasks taken to achieve them. Listen to their feedback and adjust where you need to.
Engage and involve those around you so they can support you in accomplishing your goals. This is a great way to feel responsible for sticking to your goals.
Find a group of people or communities online or in everyday life where members have similar goals and aspirations. If you’d like to read more books this year, join a book club and get the support you need. It helps you stay motivated.
Expect and Prepare for obstacles
We already know we’re going to hit barriers so it’s better to expect them and prepare for them. Continue to 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 and you can still finish strong. The last stretch matters! Develop the grit to push through the obstacles and barriers ahead, handle life’s disruptions and crush your goals.
Make small changes
Committing to long-term goals on a daily basis can be hard. Most people make too many changes all at the same time. You can be inspired to do this for a short while but soon the motivation wanes.
Having smaller goals and making small changes is an easy way to stay inspired and ensure you can sustain and manage your goals.
Creating a new habit and new behavior takes time so making changes in one area will boost your self-esteem then you change the next thing until you reach your end goal.
“Many will start fast, few will finish strong.”
Gary Ryan Blair, founder of Goalsguy
Reflect on your goals
Think about your end goal, and understand why you feel like giving up. What obstacles and hindrances are in your path? Is it procrastination, fear of what others think or fear of the unknown?
Sometimes you set a goal when you’re in a specific season of life. For example, you may have wanted to start a mom group online to support moms with new babies. But things have changed and now your kids are big. You’ll find it hard to stick to that kind of goal.
Setting aside time to reflect on your goals and the reasons behind them is a good way to determine if it’s still relevant. The next step would be to decide if you wish to continue, adjust, or set a new goal entirely. At the end of the day, the goal needs to be exciting for you and shape your life journey.
You set goals at the beginning of the year because it’s a new year and a fresh start. But over time, the motivation wanes and you feel like giving up. But your goal matters. Don’t let yourself talk yourself out of your goal. Stick to your goals no matter what because you are worth it in the end.
These 9 Simple Secret Steps to Sticking to Your Goals are the best way to stay committed to your achievable goals on a daily basis even when you’re having a hard time.
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!