8 Steps to Creating Highly Effective Daily Goals
Daily Goals To Maximize Your Success
I am a HUGE believer in the power of goals. Every human being has the ability to take one step forward every single day. Therefore, every human being has the power to set and achieve goals…therefore everyone has the power to improve their lives!
Regardless of excuses. Regardless of your past. Regardless of who or what is holding you back. There is always at least ONE area of your life that you can begin improving. When you do that, it begins a domino effect to many other areas of your life.
Let’s get into some practical tips:
- Figure out what your life goals are. What MUST you do in your life before you go to the grave. What have you always dreamt about doing. Before people started criticizing you. Before your parents or friends told you who you “are”. Before the weight of society made you limit yourself. Human beings are INCREDIBLY complex and we all contain multitudes within us. You may have been a thug yesterday, but you may be a scholar tomorrow. You may have been pessimistic yesterday, but you may be an optimist tomorrow. Rich to poor. Tired to vivacious. Sad to overcome by joy. Write down 10 MASSIVE goals you want to achieve before you die! And go beyond the financial. Aim for what would make you happy.
- Create a personal mission statement. Just three simple paragraphs. How do you want to live your life? What are your values? How do you want to be remembered?
- Now here’s the fun part. Create a 13 Week Goal. Pick a goal that you want to achieve within 13 weeks that is loosely aligned with your life goals. I HIGHLY recommend the SELF Journal for planning and strategizing your plan of action.
- Create weekly tasks, habits, and objectives to ensure you are moving closer to your goal. Schedule them into each day of the week. Literally, pull out your phone and put them into the calendar to ensure they happen.
- Each night before you go to bed, write out your goals for the next day. Incorporate the weekly ones you set, write a few new ones based on changing circumstances, and leave some room for adjustment. Unforeseen circumstances will happen almost every day — so give yourself an hour or two at the end of the day to accommodate changes in your schedule. Make sure to schedule everything into your calendar! Give yourself plenty of time to accomplish your daily goals. Some will take longer than expected, some will be shorter.
- Create a morning routine that incorporates exercise, meditation/prayer, reading, and gratitude. For me — I wake up at 3am. I stretch for 10 minutes. Then I pray for 10 minutes. Then I go exercise for one and a half hours. Then I read 10 pages of a book, and write down three things I am grateful for. By the time I am done, it’s 6:30am and I’m ready to start the day’s work.
- Learn to shift throughout the day. Sometimes you will miss the time window on something and you have to move on to keep up with the pace of your day. It’s okay, that happens. Simply reschedule whatever work you missed for later in the day — and continue on with your schedule. That’s the reason for the 1–2 hour gap at the end of the day.
- End the day with at least 30 minutes of some downtime. It’s very tempting to work every hour of the day, but take 30 minutes to calm down, breathe, relax, and get ready to sleep…or don’t. I’m honestly not sure that it’s necessary, but it’s simply what I’m doing for now.
There you have it! An 8-step process to create highly effective days that will help you achieve your life’s purpose and feel fulfilled and happy over time.
The most difficult obstacle you will have to overcome is hesitation and inaction. It’s better to execute a mediocre plan and learn from it, than to stall and do nothing. Doing nothing ensures you learn nothing.
How do you like to structure your goals? Let me know!
