Accomplishing your goals can be easier than you think!
Setting goals is easy but reaching them is something people tend to make a whole lot harder than it has to be. There have many times where I set goals for myself but fail to reach them and when I look back on those times, I’ve found that my failure happens for two reasons.
The first reason why I’d fail to accomplish my goals was improper planning and the second reason was setting huge stretch goals that would overwhelm me to the point where I’d just give up on them.
This doesn’t mean that big goals shouldn’t be on your list. In fact, these goal setting tips have everything to do with big goals, because big scary goals are where the magic happens! Now let’s get to the tips!
RELATED READ: 9 Key Reasons Why You’re Not Achieving Your Goals
The easiest way to accomplish your goals
Create a goal list
The first thing you want to do is make a list of the goals you want to accomplish. When I set goals I first think about what I’d like my life to look like for the rest of the year and then I set my goals based on that.
Here’s a list of the goals I currently have on my list:
- Start a side hustle.
- Switch to a vegetarian diet.
- Get my Christmas shopping done by October.
- Take a trip for my birthday in December.
Your list might look completely different from mine but once you write out your list the thing we’ll have in common is planning ahead. And remember when I said that one of the reasons I’d fail to reach my goals was improper planning? Well with this list we are solving that problem!
Break down your goals
So now that you know what your goals are the next step is to break them down into bite-size pieces that you can work toward on a monthly, weekly, and daily basis. This makes accomplishing our goals, especially the big stretch goals, much easier.
RELATED: How To Set Intentions and Crush Your Goals
Here’s a break down of my goal list:
- If I want to start a side hustle I’ll first do some market research on what side hustles are available that would pique my interest. I’d give myself a deadline to complete the research by the end of the week. Then I’d research start-up costs and what certification or licensing I’d need and set a deadline for this to be done by the end of the next week. My end goal would be to have my side hustle decision by the end of the month.
- For switching to a vegetarian diet I am starting off with Meatless Mondays just to test the waters and try new recipes. Within six months I’d like to be eating vegetarian at least half of my week instead of just one day with a full transition to a vegetarian diet by the end of the year.
- To get my Christmas shopping done by October I could start small by purchasing one Christmas gift per paycheck from now till then.
- Lastly, if I want to take a trip in December, arguably the most expensive month of the year, I need to start budgeting and saving for it now. I plan to save 10% of my biweekly paychecks and any money that I make from my new side to fund this trip.
So as you can see I’ve broken down my goals into small and simple actions that I can easily work towards overtime. This takes away that little overwhelm problem that was stopping me from crushing my goals in the first place.
Eat the frog!
My last tip for accomplishing your goals is to put the hardest and least fun tasks on your to-do list at the very top and aim to get those tasks done first. In the words of Mark Twain:
“Eat a live frog every morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.”
If you get your hardest most difficult task done first, you will have already done a whole lot and the worse has come and gone! I implemented this goal crushing strategy after reading Eat That Frog! 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time. I highly recommend this book if you need more help accomplishing your goals!
Final thoughts on accomplishing your goals
Life moves so fast and it is so easy to get sucked into living life just going through the motions and letting your goals and dreams just pass you by. But with the right strategy, setting goals and reaching them is possible. It’s as easy as planning, simplifying, and tackling the hardest things first. This removes the overwhelm and brings in an overall sense of accomplishment that’ll make you want to keep setting goals and crushing them!
3 Easy Steps To Accomplish Your Goals With Ease