How to Build Strategies that Help You Commit to Your Goals?
We are what we repeatedly do.
Aristotle
If you are serious about achieving your life vision and obtaining your goals, you need to build systems that can ensure success. It is not enough just to decide what you want in life. You also need to put in the hard work consistently. Your vision provides you the direction, your goals are the milestones towards that vision and the system is your commitment mechanism. It is what you do when things get tough and you feel down, unmotivated, or defeated.
You need to know yourself as well as the common setbacks you experience when pursuing your long-term goals. This can help you to plan ahead and take precautionary measures so you can stay on track with your vision. Below are a few practical tips involving thought patterns, daily routines, habits, and other techniques that you can use to ensure progress.
Alter your thoughts
I think it is true for many people, that once we set an ambitious goal, we start doubting ourselves. In my coaching course, I learned that thoughts create your feelings, your feelings create your actions and your actions lead to certain outcomes. And this cycle then repeats itself, because based on the results you get, you form your new thoughts. Whatever action you take or don’t take starts with a simple thought, which then affects your feelings about the task and determines if you commit to it or not. So, be very careful about what you think. If you have self-limiting beliefs that don’t serve you, try to change them. The brain is like a muscle, you can exercise it and train it to think productive and healthy thoughts.
Use chunking down
Most likely you have an ambitious goal ahead of yourself, which might seem a bit scary and overwhelming. Chunking down can help you to break down your goal into small, simple, and easy-to-do steps. This can help you increase your self-confidence and ability to get things done. For example, if your goal is to lose that extra 5 kilos within a month, you might want to break it down into weekly goals. Losing 1 kg per week sounds more manageable than losing 5 kg at once.
Pursue small wins
It is better to achieve small wins than set yourself up for failure by setting unrealistic goals. It helps to build your level of confidence and do more over time. This is similar to the chunking down method. You accumulate small wins and use them as momentum to do more and better next time. So, if your goal is to work out 50 minutes every day, start with 10 minutes daily, and next week increase to 15 minutes, then for 20 minutes, and so on.
Focus on one thing at a time
Often, we get busy and overwhelmed by the things we need and want to do. To avoid this, try to focus on 1-3 important things you can do daily. If you feel like everything is equally important and you can’t choose, then ask yourself the following questions. What is one goal which would bring you the utmost happiness and fulfillment? If you could only accomplish 1-3 things from your to-do list, what would it be? Trim down your goals and to-dos on a regular basis so you focus on the few things that matter the most.
Plan your action steps
Specifying an exact time and location might provide you with an extra incentive to accomplish your tasks. In a study by the British Journal of Health Psychology people with a clear plan of when to exercise and where were 91% more likely to follow through their goal. So, once you’ve identified your top priorities, decide when you will do them and where. For instance, every day when the clock hits 5 pm I go to my living room to exercise. Now, I don’t have to think about when to exercise or where.
Take the first step
The first step is always the hardest one to take. No matter how strongly you want something or how excited you are about the end result, sometimes it is just difficult to make yourself do it. You wait until you feel like it or feel motivated, which might never occur. So, try to overcome the initial urge to procrastinate on the task and simply get to it. Once you start working on the task, it gets easier to follow through. You can give yourself a timeframe to work on the project, which will make it easier to commit since you know when you will stop. Or use conditioning, where you don’t do what you really want to do until you finish a small part of the task.
Remind yourself of your why
In the busyness of day-to-day life, we tend to forget about our long-term vision, our core values, and the type of person we aspire to be. It is important to remind yourself of your why – why do you want to achieve your goals? There is a reason you chose to commit to this particular goal over a million others you could pursue. If your goal is to start your own business and suddenly you get promoted at work, don’t just jump on the opportunity. Remind yourself of your vision and decide if taking the promotion will make it easier for you to start your business or take your energy away from the thing that you want the most.
Visualize your accomplishment
To give yourself extra motivation, you can visualize your accomplishment, as if you have already reached your goals and you are living your vision. A vivid imagination can look like a reality and fill you with positive emotions which you can use as momentum to start your day on a positive and ambitious note. Looking at your vision board or visualizing yourself living your dream life can keep your eyes on the prize and make sure your daily actions are in line with your goals.
Create daily routines
Routines help you create consistency. They are the things that you do repeatedly, the same way, and at the same time. You can make a decision ahead of time and then simply commit to it. By automatizing your decisions, you can avoid making too many extraneous decisions and getting fatigued, and instead reserve your energy for making more important decisions throughout the day. For instance, right after I wake up, I drink a glass of water that I left on my table the night before. Water helps me to wake up and kick-start my metabolic system. You can develop mini routines related to your goals and the new habits you want to start, and place them throughout your day.
Replace bad habits
There is a reason why we do certain things. For instance, a lot of people, including myself, are emotional eaters. When they feel down, or lonely or they just don’t know what to do, they reach out for a snack or two. It is easy to say – just stop doing it. A habit exists for a reason. In this case, it fulfills the purpose of making you feel better or entertained. Be aware of such habits and replace them with ones that are good for you. If you are feeling sad or frustrated about something, call a friend to talk about it. Getting rid of your negative emotions can help improve your mental state and allow you to focus on your goals. Review your habits and replace the ones that aren’t helping you.
Build an accountability system
Research shows that writing down your goals, sharing them with other people, and providing them with a weekly progress report can improve your chances of achieving your goals. You can have an accountability buddy – a friend who might have similar goals as you. Or you can set up a support group from your family and friends who can keep you motivated and on track to achieving your goals. Some people also like to share their goals publicly on social media platforms. You can post regular updates, photos, or videos of yourself and your journey as a way to report on your progress. When you involve others, you feel a responsibility towards them as you don’t want to let them down. Choose whatever works best for you. It is important, however, to pick someone who is open, supportive, and encouraging and not someone who will criticize, judge, or put you down.
Schedule time for procrastination
During my academic career, I learned to postpone procrastination or schedule time for it. When I was tired of working on a given assignment, I would spend 5-10 minutes browsing social media, going for a walk, or doing quick yoga. I strategically placed this time between my study sessions and got back to my work once my time was up. It helped me to improve my focus and get more things done because I knew I had a designated time to procrastinate. Do whatever works best for you, but make sure your distraction does not take too much time away from your task. Otherwise, it will be hard to get back to it.
Park your distractions
Sometimes, when you finally sit down to work on a task, you suddenly remember all the other things you had to do that day. You might end up switching your focus and trying to juggle multiple things at once. To make sure you stay focused on the task at hand, jot down all these ideas as they come to your mind. Once you are done with your work, you can then review the list and decide if any of these things require your attention. This way you don’t just ignore these thoughts but park them for a later time when you can provide deserved attention and energy.
Prepare for setbacks
It is natural for us to fail when we are stepping out of our comfort zone and trying to change. Failure is a prerequisite for learning and growing. Expect that you might fail to follow through and fall back to your old habits. Instead of using failure as an excuse to give up, look at it as a temporary setback that can be overcome. If you indulge in a box of chocolate, don’t rush to ditch your healthy diet. Instead, keep at it and try to get better over time. After all, having one cheat meal once in a while is better than going back to your unhealthy eating habits. So, instead of trying to avoid failure, decide how you will overcome it when it happens.
Make it costly to delay
Sometimes when we attach a cost to a certain action, we are less likely to take it. Let’s say, your goal is to start your own business alongside your full-time job. To make sure you commit to this goal you can use the following forfeit– if you don’t spend 1 hour every day working on your business idea, you will give 10 dollars to your friend to spend on anything she wants. Or here is another example in the context of exercising. Have a calendar where you record your daily workout achievements. Next to it put a 100-dollar bill and a lighter. If you fail to exercise and tick it on the calendar, you will have to burn that 100-dollar bill. If this is too extreme for you, think of a different approach that might work best for you.
Reward your small wins
An alternative approach is to reward yourself for committing to your goals. We are human after all, and we love getting rewards for something we do well. It might be praise, monetary compensation, or a simple thank you. Next time you successfully accomplish a goal reward yourself by indulging in your favorite food, going out for a long walk, meeting friends for drinks, buying something you really want, treating yourself to a nice massage, or an expensive trip. Again, we are all different so use whatever makes you happy.
Learn to enjoy the process
As Ernest Hemingway said, “It is good to have an end to journey toward, but it is the journey that matters in the end.” Don’t wait until you have achieved your goal to feel happy or satisfied. Learn to enjoy the process. If your goal is to get fit and lose extra 10 kilos, then learn to enjoy the process of eating healthy and nutrient-rich food, exercising your body, and enjoying all the physical and mental benefits it can bring you. For you to reach and maintain the ideal weight, healthy eating, and regular exercise should become a lifestyle, and not only a means to your goal.
As a final step to pursuing your life vision review and revise your goals and evaluate your strategies to ensure optimal progress.
This post is part of the 5-Step Guide to Personal Development blog series.
What do you think of the above techniques? Do you have a favorite one? Or maybe you have your own strategy to ensure consistent action. Share them in the comment section below.
