What will you accomplish this year?
Every situation provides opportunities. Where some see road blocks and complain, others view the same as a challenge to be conquered. Mindset is everything.
No matter if you are focused on New Year’s resolutions or achieving other goals which you have had your sights on for a while, it takes work to make progress. Studies show that less than 10% of people who set goals achieve them. Looking back on last year, what did you accomplish? How could you have done more?
My coaching and freelancing opportunities didn’t go so well either after that big burst of initial success. However, by summer, I had a new job running the APAC technical training program for SOTI, an enterprise mobility management service.
All tolled, I had eleven major accomplishments in 2022. Those ranged from long time achievements (200th story posted on Medium.com and clearing Level 3 of Toastmasters’ Presentation Mastery track); to beneficial losses (my gallbladder and its pain left me in December, and a troubling wisdom tooth fell out on its own in September). I also conquered a bucket list achievement, surfing for the first time, and hit the waves six or seven times.
My goals for this year are even more ambitious. They include presenting training in at least three countries, having a regular coaching clientele of at least 5 people, and writing one or more stories with over 10,000 reads. What are your goals for this year?
Instead of looking at why people fail to achieve their goals, let’s examine what you can do to find more success. Here are seven techniques which helped me and could help you too.
Use routines to create a foundation for your goal
My evening routine is a wind-down. I often listen to jazz or classical music while reflecting on the day’s successes and failures. Then, when my head hits the pillow, I visualize success in an area that is important to me.
Go for big goals
Instead, think of goals as a lighthouse showing the way in the dark. You may not know how you will achieve your goals, but having that lighthouse to aim for makes adapting to adversity easier. Thus, setting your goals big and positioning them a few years out will allow you the flexibility to learn along the way and reduce feelings of needing to achieve perfection. You may not make it to that big goal, like 10,000 reads. But you will exceed the smaller, limiting expectations, you have for yourself.
We tend to overestimate what we can do in the short-term, but underestimate what is possible over the long run. Go long and go big!
Write them down and display your goals proudly
I also have a dream board. It contains images of things I want to achieve and sits over the threshold of my office door. Turn my head to the right, and there it is. An everpresent reminder of things I plan to achieve.
When your goals are top of mind, things will begin to happen that bring them closer to reality. You may suddenly get a burst of inspiration about how to clear a difficult task. Or an opportunity could serendipitously fall into your lap, moving you towards what was seemingly impossible. Magic happens when you know what you want and have a sense of awareness for how to attain it.
Break your goals down
Learn along the way
Lowlights: Make a list of the difficulties and performances that did not meet your expectations.
Next steps: Are there corrections to be made in your lowlights? Based on what you know now, what do you need to do next? This evaluation will give you a clear development path.
Put goal related tasks on your schedule
If you set a weekly recurring task to write on Tuesday nights from 8 – 10, your mind will start working on the prewriting before you even sit at the computer. Adding time to your schedule to work on your goals will ensure you are making progress.
Don’t be too hard on yourself
Anyone can make goals, but it takes a special person, like you, to achieve them. When things seem bleak, keep focused on what you want and take baby steps toward those goals.
What are your goals for this year? How can you stretch those beyond your expectation? Write your goals down and place them where you can see them. Finally, make sure to give yourself time to make progress a habit. As you do so, you will continue to learn from both the successes and the failures. Even if you fall short, using these seven techniques will ensure you are not disappointed in your progress.
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