How Will You Reach Your Goals this Week?
Goals transform a random walk into a chase. — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
You can’t predict which twists and turns will throw a monkey wrench into your week.
Your computer might crash.
The printer won’t print.
You might get into a fender bender.
The person next to you at the gym might have skipped a shower or two.
The kids might get sick.
You might get sick.
The wind might blow the shingles off your roof.
These are just a few of the things that happened in my life and the lives of two of my friends this week!
Any number of things might leave you feeling like external forces are keeping you from doing what you need to do.
When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don’t adjust the goals, adjust the action steps. — Confucius
You might start feeling down about it and start making excuses. Maybe it’s a wish and not a need. After all, it might not be a basic need, you have food, shelter, water, etc.
That’s not really the point of setting your sights on something bigger for yourself and your life.
How these challenges really test you are more about how you will support yourself to do the things you need to do in your life, to move in the direction you need to move, right now.
Commitment is what stands the test of time.
Commitment is what stops you from making excuses and giving up.
There are many ways to make a commitment to yourself.
All of the plans in the world won’t make a difference if you haven’t made a commitment to yourself.
Are you important enough in your life to achieve the things that you want?
Most of us have other commitments that need to be honored and are more or less non-negotiable. Work and family commitments are two that take much of our time and importance in life.
So, what if you are able to take 15, 30, 45 or even 60 minutes out of your day for your goal? Would it make a difference?
Last week I wrote about baby steps. Some goals need to be divided up into baby steps to make them more manageable. And, sometimes, when you have a lot going on, this is true too.
I’m a little behind the pace on one of my big goals. I’ve questioned, is this because of fear or is it because there has been a lot of stuff going on that’s taken up a lot of time?
When I look at the reality of the situation, it’s clear that there are only so many hours in the day and sometimes life does get in the way of my personal goals. It’s okay since it doesn’t last forever.
If I wasn’t doing anything to reach my goals, then yes, it’s fear. But, if I’m spending at least 15–30 minutes a day on my big goal then I haven’t lost sight of it or given over to fear and my commitment is strong.
Supporting myself also means that I look for times when I’m pretty sure that time will be freed up.
Last week I had a due date for a presentation. It took a lot longer to prep my slides than I anticipated since they didn’t import well from one program to another. I ended up just re-doing them. They needed it anyway and I wanted to change some of the colors and layout too.
Even though this wasn’t directly related to my main goal at the moment, I was able to check off a smaller goal.
The most helpful part of this exercise was an unexpected bonus. I was able to think through some ideas and add new content to my big goal.
It was a two for one goal progress. At the time it seemed like I was just getting further behind as I tried to problem solve the limitations of the software and then eventually threw in the towel and re-typed everything.
An unexpected win-win. I probably wouldn’t have thought about adding the new ideas to my big goal if I hadn’t spent so much time on the slides.
My task for the week is looking for places in my schedule where I can spend time putting the plans and new insights to work.
Today, as I look at the week ahead, I see gaps of time in my schedule where I can take those new insights and plug them into my big goal. The pace might have been different than I anticipated, but I can see how it’s contributing valuable info.
Let me know, how will you reach your goals this week?
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