Hello World,
What are some of your resolution this new year?
H0w are you doing so far with your resolutions? Did you end up postponing for the next day? Did you give up after first few days of trying?
Most of us have difficulty following through on our goals and taking it to completion. We plan the goal, yes that part is easy peasy, we are good at setting goals! But we don’t actually write the goal down on paper to keep track and to remind us that THIS needs to GET DONE! Some of us just give up, we have other work, we are too “Busy” or other things seem more important…I have been down that road, I know how resolution setting works. For some it comes down to my first post, Dreaming… (Where to start?)
Let’s pick up some good habit’s and let’s work on our goals today. I believe the one thing trick to keep working on our goals is consistency. People give up and quit for various reasons. We just don’t where or how to start! We didn’t do the research. Let’s get this straight, the idea of the goal seems flawless but can someone else do the research for us?! We don’t like how much over time/hard work this goal will need. We don’t like work, we want to save time rather than waste it. Hence we don’t have time. We get distracted; our Netflix shows are better than our goals. We don’t know what’s involved. We don’t know the outcome; seems like it won’t work and we won’t get the desired results.
Why don’t we just start?
Seems like we fear the unknown and our “optimistic bias” is making us procrastinate once again. How do we get consistent and stick to our goals then? First of all let’s evaluate this goal. Let’s review the significance of this goal, in my post Simplicity – Rules to Organize, I talk about how to simplify your ideas. Let’s ask the following questions, how long will this goal matter? Can this goal be postponed? If you start to work towards this goal today, what are the outcomes and how will it benefit you? If you get this done today, would you have more time left on your hands tomorrow? The last question is very important. For example, if I automate all my banking transactions today, it saves me time for going in and paying my bills.
After we decide the significance of our goal, we start to practice and we have to practice for it every day. This is just like how a person would study for their GMAT, MCAT, LSAT or any other professional designation. We have to practice for it every day without a gap. This is a ritual, which keeps the consistency flowing. Consistency brings results. We cannot in any circumstance quit because we are not getting instant results. We have to track our progress.
Tracking is very important. Tracking motivates us. We will track our results every day till we reached the destination. The outcome will be fruitful. Let’s stop fearing what the outcome will be, because if we practice and show patience it will be worthwhile.
How can we incorporate practice towards our goals every day in our lives? We have very demanding lives, how can take out time for it? By starting slow. You don’t have to complete your goal in one day. That’s wishful thinking, won’t happen in a day! To achieve we have to put research, knowledge and hard work. Start by forecasting how much time this goal needs, we often over-estimate how much time a project needs to reach it’s completion. For example, to lose certain amount of weight or to achieve a type of body shape, we would need 30 days and we will work-out/practice 30 minutes every day to see the complete result on the 30 day mark. if you are having difficulty forecasting, then put in 15 minutes to start just on research. Research boost confidence. We have a highly variable neuroplasticity brain, we love to learn and adapt. Knowledge will make us more confident towards our goals.
How do we keep going without losing focus?
Let’s discuss items that get in the way of our goal and serves no importance. Let’s put Social media; Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Television, PS4, Xbox etc. on the side for a bit. There is a time and place for everything but when it comes to our achievements, social media is serving us, it’s distracting us from our purpose. Our goals are our priorities.
The reason we need to practice each day is to get a bit closer to the destination every single day. But I get it, when we do something every day without variation it will eventually get boring. Then we will lose interest. This is when I stress the importance of tracking once again. We need to track to see progress. It’s a mind trick. It’s almost as if we are setting a goal every day, and we are achieving something every day; these are our short term milestones that will lead to our over all goal.
One of my new year resolution was as simple as drinking water every day to improve my over all health, skin and lifestyle. I downloaded a simple app on my phone called Lifesum. It tracks my calorie count to my every day workout. However, the thing that most interested me was the tracking of how much water I intake in a day. The tracking method is genius! It shows that I need to consume 8 glasses a day. Each time I successfully have 8 glasses and track in on the app, it gives me a thumbs up and trophy for achieving my goal. That is recognition. We need recognition to complete our every day boring goals. For example, if you are on diet/workout plan to reach a certain body type, you get one cheat day because you deserve it for your hard work.
What do we have to repeat?
- Evaluate the goal – Is it significant?
- Set short term goals
- Practice towards it every day (consistency will show result)
- Don’t the short term goals become boring and treat yourself!
Remember practice makes perfect!
Dla
Tech by Dla 
Who was it that said if you keep doing the same thing you get the same thing – or something like that. SOme wise person – it makes sense, doesn’t it. In order to c reate change, we need to change. And change creates momentum to keep the change going……..;)
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