5 Great Tips On How To START Reaching Your Goals

So it’s the first two weeks of the year, or it could be any week for that matter.

And everybody’s talking about goals.  They talk about setting goals in November or December to get ready for the new year and to hit the ground running.

But instead of hitting the ground running, you feel like you’re already in catch up mode and it’s only the first two weeks of the year.

So you just got through and “survived” the holiday season and you probably still have a week of de-decorating to do.

Now, I don’t know about you. I love the holidays, but I also love the structure of January and getting back into the groove. But that first week or two can be really challenging to get going, or the first week or two after you have decided you’re going to set new goals for yourself.

So today I’m going to talk about 5 great tips on how to start reaching your goals.

Now, like a lot of people, there are probably some things that you want to do or accomplish this year, whether it’s the beginning of the year, where we have a tendency to make resolutions or it’s any other time of year.

But the challenge is, is that life is busy and sometimes it’s hard to break the inertia of the busy schedule and the habits and routines that we already have in our lives.

You see, as human beings, we are creatures of habit. And the fact is, is that today we are probably going to do most of the things that we did yesterday and tomorrow we will have a tendency to do the things that we did today.

You see, you have all of these great things in your head that you want to get done, but you just can’t seem to get started unless you change things up.

Now, for those of you who know me, you know one of my favorite quotes is,…

“If you always do what you’ve always done, then you’ll always be what you’ve always been.”

Translated; If you want to see different results than what you’ve been getting, you have to do things differently than how you’ve been doing them.

So how do you get started on accomplishing all the things that you want to achieve?

I’m going to give you this very apropro acronym, to START,

S. T. A. R. T.

The S. In START is:  Set goals.

We have all these great ideas in our head and we know that we want to get things done and we want to accomplish things.

But, very often, what happens is they just stay ideas or wishes or wants, and they never get from our head down into specific goals that we set for ourselves.

So you have a much greater chance, in fact, statistics and studies show that you have a much greater chance of accomplishing and achieving your goals if you write out specific goals.

What I want you to do is to set specific goals for yourself.  I could do a half day or a full day workshop on just setting goals and getting clarity about what you want. But here are just a few tips right off the bat.

When you write a goal, I want you to set it as specific as you can. If you want to lose weight, I want you to identify what weight you will be by what date of the year. If you are going on a trip, set the date of the trip and where you will go. If you set a specific goal for yourself right down to all the nuances of that goal, of that thing you want to achieve, you are much more likely to reach that goal.

The T in START: stands for Time.

Now this can have two meanings.

The first one is that the specific goals that you’ve set for yourself are time bounded.  That you will reach the goal that you’ve set for yourself by a specific date.

This will give your brain marching orders on what to do and what you’ll have to do to reach that goal by that date.

Now the second meaning of time is to set set aside time for yourself.

Set an hour a week that you’ll actually sit down and revisit your goals and get even more in depth and specific on what you want to accomplish and how you will accomplish it.

This will allow you to sit down and plan out the actions that are necessary to reach your goals.

Now, as you get used to doing this that you’ll find that it’s easier.  Then, you can do it more frequently and take 15 minutes to 30 minutes a day to revisit what you need to do to accomplish your goals.  What have you done that day and that you can check off and what you will do the next day and the next week and the next month.

This allows to break up your larger goal down into smaller ones, so that becomes chunks that you can accomplish on the way to achieving your bigger goal.

The A in START stands for Action.

That means take action as the acronym says; to start, SO START!

When should you start? Start now.

Very often, we’re not ready to start it this week, so we’ll say, “oh, I’ll just start next week.”  And it’s hard to break that inertia of the routine that we’re in. So we say again, “Uh, I’ll just start next week.” And before you know it, that week turns into a month and that month turns into three months and that three months turns into a year.  And then you’re upset with yourself because you never got started on reaching your goals.

That A stands for action, so take action now. Get started now.  Do some small activity today that will get you closer to reaching your goals.

The R stands for Reset and Reframe

Reset and Reframe your thinking.

Now, very often we don’t get started on reaching our goals because we don’t believe we can do it.

Envision yourself reaching your goals. Know that you are strong enough and that you are in control of your thoughts and actions and that you can do it.  Any goal that you set for yourself; you can accomplish.

That A in START is for resetting and reframing your thinking and your mindset.

The T in START is to “Tell” someone.

Tell a family member, tell a friend, tell a mentor or a coach what your goals are.

Tell them what you want to accomplish.  Because you have somebody that you’re telling what you’re going to do, then you have that accountability because then they’re going come back to you and say, “Hey, how are you doing on reaching your goals?”

Where are you at this week? Where are you at this month? How are you doing? Do you need guidance? Do you need a kind word? Getting some motivation from somebody else.

If you tell somebody else, you’re much more likely, with accountability, to help you reach your goals.

Now here’s a few other quotes to get you motivated to get started on reaching your goals.

Oprah Winfrey said, …

“I want every day to be a fresh start on expanding what is possible.”

Remember, if you always do what you’ve always done, then you’ll always be what you’ve always been. What is possible for you if you just get started on moving towards your goals?

Richie Norton said, …

“Every sunset is an opportunity to reset. Every sunrise begins with new eyes.

I know it may be difficult to break the inertia of your habits and your routines of what you’ve been doing, but guess what? The sunset is coming tonight. Tomorrow the sun rises on a new day. Start now start to take actions towards reaching your goals.

Abraham Omorogiuwa said, …

“It’s never too late to begin for one who is on the path to making the most of a moment.  Where you are is a good enough place to begin.”

And Steve Maraboli said,

“I love that we get a new day, a new opportunity to move our lives in a positive direction. Let’s be unencumbered by yesterday’s nonsense. A fresh start. Take a deep breath, smile and start again.”

So remember the START acronym to get yourself towards reaching your goals.

S: Set Goals

T: Time.  Take time Time Bounded

A: Action.  Take Action

R: Reset & Reframe your Thinking and Mindset

T: Tell Someone

The S was set specific goals.

The T is time Set a self time for you to plan and have your goals be time bounded.

The A stands for action take action. When should you take it? Take action now. Take action today towards reaching your goals.

The R is to reset and reframe your thinking and your mindset to know that you are a powerful, that you are strong and you are in control of your thoughts and your actions.

And to the T and start is to tell someone, tell a family member a loved one, a friend, a mentor, a coach. Tell them what your goals are and what you plan on achieving.  That will help you with accountability. And it will also help that you can have someone that can help guide you on your way to reaching your goals.

Well, I hope this information Helped you out.

 

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I want you to have a great day and remember as always…

Be Positive, Be Motivated, Be Focused and Be Well,

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