At the start of the year, like most people, I set myself a big goal to achieve in 2020. I want to spend my year levelling up in mind, spirit and body. This is no small feat and represents a journey rather than a destination meaning, these are things I intend to continually prioritise. I know I want to live a full and happy life and given that I have one body, looking after it will be the best chance I can give myself to get there.
In my 24 years in this world, I’ve learnt that change is not achieved through intention alone, it takes action. In the past, I’ve had an image of the woman I wanted to become but I took no action in trying to get there. Say you have a goal to buy a house, the intention won’t get you the house, taking action by saving and speaking to a mortgage advisor will get you to your goal, tangible actions. Here are 4 tips to help you achieve your goals.
1. Be Realistic. This is something I’m only now getting to grips with. Have you ever googled ‘lose 20lbs in a day’, or bought clothes that were too small for ‘motivation’? I ask that because same. I used to set myself impossible targets and then get defeated when I didn’t meet them. Instead of setting a goal to go to the gym every day forever and always, why not try three times a week? When you continuously achieve this, you’ll be more motivated to continue.
2. Keep Yourself Accountable. Write it down and tell someone about it and you’ll automatically have someone or something to keep you accountable. I try not to think of this as I’ll be letting someone down if I don’t do this but rather I have someone cheering me on along the way. I understand the desire to keep things quiet at first (I didn’t tell anyone when I had my driving test – I just popped up with my certificate) but it can be a huge motivator.
3. Set Milestones. Breaking things down into smaller goals helps it to feel less overwhelming. As part of my ‘level up in body’ goal, I want to run a 10k in a reasonable time for me. Instead of trying to go straight for the 10k, I’m working to improve my 5k time (around 35 mins right now). From there, I’ll start going for longer runs until I’m ready to do the 10k.
4. Reflect on Your Progress. I’m guilty of not doing this enough. I tend to focus on what I could be doing better and often neglect praising myself. Relishing in my success doesn’t come naturally to me but it is a key part of personal development. To help me in this, I set aside time each month to reflect on things I’ve achieved and I’ll cross off steps in my bullet journal. I’ll be writing more about how I use my bullet journal in a later post but I’ve pulled together some essentials for getting started in my Amazon Storefront.
Let me know in the comments how you achieve your goals.
Teru xx