It’s the same old story. The new year comes along, and you have a long list of goals to accomplish. Does it look much different than last year’s long list? Not really? Then you are stuck in a loop and not getting anywhere.
But this year can be different. This year, you can make some progress and do more than you’ve ever before. And next year, you can start attacking new goals. Find out how.
Go small
Every January, I go nuts. I try to maximize my time and do way more than one person should do at a time. After about a week of this, I’m burnt out and ready to throw away all those goals. They no longer feel attainable.
At some point during the year, I pick those goals back up, and I actually do what I need to do to accomplish something. I break every goal down to its tiniest parts and treat it more like a marathon than a sprint. And by that I mean, I do those tiniest parts a little at a time rather than all at once.
Since I do this every year, you’d think I’d learn and start making a plan to do things the right way this year. I’m not. I plan on trying to do everything all at once yet again. I cannot wait for that burnout and total crash.
Don’t be like me. Start the right way the first time and take those baby steps right toward achieving your goals.
Go together
I think something that is very telling about my goals is that I don’t like to share them. I create too many, and knowing that, I decide to go alone. And then fall on my face every time.
A goal buddy, on the other hand, can be a great sounding board for whether what you want to do is realistic for you. And to be fair, you have to provide that for them as well.
You can then decide on regular check-ins to make sure you both are well on your way toward your goals. Even if you rush to make progress at the last second before one of these check-ins, at least you’re making progress.
And if you are too embarrassed to do this with someone, then take a look at those goals. Are you trying to do too much? Are these maybe not the right goals for where you are now? Keeping your goals secret is a great sign that you might want to move onto better goals.
Make it a game
Whether it’s my daughter or it’s me, the best way to get us to do something is to make a game out of it.
Earlier this year, my daughter had some behavioral issues at school (mostly, she’d been home with me for three years and she was trying to figure out how to play with kids her own age). We started using stickers to help her understand what was a good day and what was a bad day. Pretty quickly, my little sticker addict figured it out and was flying high at school.
For me, I love any kind of reward. Maybe it’s a pair of shoes. Or maybe it’s uninterrupted reading time. Whatever it is, I keep it at the front of my mind as I’m trying to accomplish tasks.
The key to making a game of it is to know what will motivate you the most. Use that knowledge to create a game around getting your task done. You’ll find yourself doing so much more than usual.
Just jump in
Taking that first step can really be the scariest part of trying to accomplish a goal. It means you’re committed and you might fail. Both of those can be super scary, especially if you have told anyone about your goals. The best thing you can do is to forget all of it and just jump. You’ll never know what you’re capable of until you try.
And yes, I know that a lot of this is no-brainer stuff. The fact is that sometimes hearing the no-brainer stuff again can be just what you need to get going and do things right this time. So hopefully that is what this is for you.
Regardless, good luck on your goals in the new year! I’m excited to see you crush them.
How do you attack your goals?