how to actually achieve goals
- a thread
it can be really tough to actually achieve goals. how many times have you said to yourself that you will read more, exercise more, spend less time on your phone or eat healthier and didn't achieve any of those things?
it's probably because you don't set yourself goals in an effective way.
here's what helped me:
- be specific about your goals. don't
just say: read more: instead write yourself a list with 12 books you want to read in the new year. this way it's easier to hold yourself accountable.
- start to think about what actions you can take to achieve your goals. you want to eat healthier? write down simple and quick recipes that you can make or meal prep so it's easier for you to eat healthy. you want to wake up earlier? create a morning routine you'll look forward to and plan your sleeping schedule.
when you know exactly what to do in order to achieve those things it'll be a lot easier working on your goals.
- make a future me page. it doesn't matter if it's in a notebook, your planner or on your tablet: write down your best version of yourself. how would they spend their free time? what do their relationships look like?
how do they react/respond to certain situations? where would they live? how would they eat?
this helped me immensely because this way you'll see the bigger picture. you'll see the person you want to become (and the single goal you wrote down is just a tiny part of it)
- if you're like me and you love to check boxes or just have a visual representation of basically anything i highly reccomend to start a hab it tracker. this way you'll be motivated to do the things you have to do in order to achieve your goals because if you don't - it will be visible on your habit tracker. there would be no boxes to tick and it wouldn't look as satisfying.
- reflect. why haven't you be able to achieve this specific goal before?
some examples: you didn't eat healthy before because you don't have time to cook. you didn't work out because you always find excuses.
then try to find solutions. the person who doesn't have time to cook yet really wants to eat healthier could try to meal prep at sundays and have their meals already made for the rest of the week. easy peasy! the person who always finds excuses for why they can't workout could text a friend and start doing their workout together someone else. that way they will be kept accountable and they can't just say 'they don't feel like it today'
btw: i highly recommend reading the book atomic habits. it's really interesting to learn about goals setting, habits and the psychology behind it. worth a read
question: what thread do you want to see next? (productivity, skin care, organization, eating healthy etc)