How To Achieve Your Goals In 6 Easy Steps

As we start to think about a new year, many of you will be getting ready to make some New Years Resolutions. Or, perhaps, New Life Resolutions. Many of you will start working hard on them. However, the reality is that lots of you will quit, give up, decide that you’re goals weren’t important anyway.

The fitness industry thrives on you quitting, throwing in the towel. In January they sell you a 12 month membership knowing that very few of you will actually last 2 months and they’ve got an extra 10 months payment from you — that’s why the deals look so good. They know that most of you will drop out.

Now it’s time to take the bull by the horns, invest in yourself and make your goals happen. I’m not talking about SMART goals — there are tons of great books on that on Amazon, like this one from S.J. Scott. I’m talking about working out what you really want and making sure you follow through.

Achieve Your Goals

To achieve balance in our life we need to set goals and make changes. That means self-investment and finding a system that works for us to achieve our goals. Follow this 6 step program to achieve your goals.

1. Define

What is it that you really want? What’s the goal that you want to achieve? It needs to be something that you’re committed to, not something that someone else wants or that you don’t really care about. If you’re going to invest in yourself then you need to invest in a goal that you, yourself want to achieve.

2. Commit

Agree your goal and commit to it. Make a pledge to yourself. Now write it down. Most people don’t write their goals down. But those that write their goals down are 95% more likely yo achieve them. Take the time to write them down. Commit to yourself.

3. Be Accountable

Now that you’ve committed and you’ve written your goals down, make yourself accountable. Get an accountability partner — someone that you can share your progress with. If you know you have to report back to someone at the end of each day on how you’re doing, you’re more likely to do it. Try sharing it on social media or blog about it too.

4. Start Small

Don’t jump in at the deep end. This is a marathon not a sprint. You want to achieve your goal and then carry it on as you improve your life. If you want to lose weight, you want to make sure the weight stays off at the end, not starve yourself for a few weeks and in a couple of months time put the weight back on again. (Note: I’m using simple examples of goals as an illustration but you should really consider making new life resolutions).

You need to make a habit. These habits are best formed by doing something small and often. If you’re eliminating something then put something in its place to help form this habit. If you’re trying to cut down from 10 coffees a day to 5 then start with getting rid of one. But, when you cut out that 10th coffee, go and drink a glass of water instead. Form a small habit and get your mind and body used to it.

5. Build

Slowly, very slowly build up on that habit. Don’t rush it. Remember, it’s still a marathon. It’s easy to trip. Often you won’t know you’ve pushed it too hard until it happens. Build on your habit slowly. Compound it. Get your mind and body used to it.

6. Ingrain

Once you’ve been going at it for a month you will have started to ingrain that habit. You can still trip but you’re more invested. Most things in life take some sort of investment and, normally, work. If losing weight was the goal then stopping what you’ve been doing and binge eating probably isn’t the answer. You’ve worked hard to build this habit so do that little bit extra to ingrain it. Sure, take a day off and reward yourself but stick with it.

Self-Investment

Don’t be part of that 95% that fails to achieve. This month, start the year as you mean to go on. Be part of the top 5%. This needs to be about self-investment. Pick goals that you want to achieve, commit to them and become accountable. This is a marathon so start small, build on your successes and then ingrain those habits. Make 2016 the year that you achieve your goals.

I’m just releasing a new course: Win At Life In 1 Week. It’s aimed at people that really want to set the goals that are right for them and then setting up a strategy to ensure they follow through, achieve success and have their best year ever. I’ve got a large Early Bird discount running. If you think this might be right for you then please check it out here while it’s on sale.

This post was originally published on the Perfect Madness blog. Main photo by A G Gilmore.