How To Stay Focused On Your Goals

As we start 2014 many of us have made new year’s resolutions.  If you’re like most people, chances are in 30 – 60 days you will have abandoned those goals.  The only reason why goals would stop working is because the person who has set the goals, i.e. you, chose to give up on them mid-way. If you constantly get distracted in your goal pursuits, here are a few  tips to keep you focused:

Concentrate on 1-3 goals at a time If you constantly have trouble keeping to your goals, maybe you’re spreading yourself too thin. Pick 1-3 goals that are most important to you, and stick to them. Don’t bother yourself with any other goals until these goals are achieved (or unless priorities shift and these goals no longer reflect what you want in life). If you  laser focus your efforts you will make much more progress, compared to when you juggle across 4-5 goals and make little progress in them.  

Create a vision board A vision board is a collage of pictures and images that represent your goals and dreams. Creating a vision board helps you to visualize your end goals more clearly, which inevitably inspires you to take consistent action. Not only that, it also serves to remind you of your goals every day when you see the board.  I actually have what I call a “Why Movie” its a collection of what’s important to me. What I have done that inspires me to move forward… it shows accomplishments, amazing times and people in my life.. then it shows where I want to go next in those same area. I also have some inspiring music that play with the movie.

Create milestones If you just set one huge goal, it can be discouraging – especially when you don’t achieve it after a short while. When that happens, some people may procrastinate on the goal altogether – which is quite unfortunate. I find it’s helpful to break a big goal into smaller goals, after which you concentrate on achieving the smaller goals in the short-run.

Create a plan If you have a plan worked out for your goal, it becomes much easier to stick to it. All you have to do is to follow the actions you have planned for the day. The best time to work out your plan is when you set the goal, because that’s when your motivation is the highest. Usually, I create my goal action plans right after I set my goal, after which I try take action immediately – which helps create a positive momentum.  

Track your results It’s important for me to track the results of what I do, because otherwise it feels like my actions are not making a difference. There is nothing more fun then to check off a completed actions and eventually goals

Have goal accountability partners Accountability Partners are people who share similar goals with you. They help to remind you about your goal, spur you on when you feel unmotivated, give you new ideas on how to achieve your goal, keep you on track, among others. Your accountability partners can be your friends, or people whom you meet in interest groups. Since you already share similar interests, it’ll be easy to find people with the same goals.

Be clear on why you’re pursuing the goals If you keep giving up on your goals halfway, perhaps you were never serious about the goals to begin with. Keep hammering away at it, regardless of the obstacles, until they give way and you enjoying the fruits of my labor.

Learn to say no Do you often put your goals aside for other people? It’s okay to do that once or twice, but if you keep doing the whole time, something is seriously wrong. You can’t forever put your life on hold for others!  Learn how to say no and you may find a bigger results happening in your life