With life comes responsibilities and with all the things we are expected to juggle we also have our own goals in which we want to accomplish outside of the day to day. Sometimes it seems like focusing on goals, small or big, can be overwhelming or just difficult to knock out. Here are a few helpful tips that will enable you be more productive and get through your desired goals!
Write It Down
As silly as it sounds, just writing down what you want to accomplish gets you that much closer to putting it into play. Pen to paper, or planner or even listing on your phone will allow you to visualize what you want. I recommend getting a pretty planner or something you will enjoy writing in to stick to it. Just like getting new gym clothes to motivate you to work out, getting a new planner (Tj Maxx has cute inexpensive planners small or large) and visualizing your goals on paper may help in driving your desired outcomes.
Prioritize Your Goals, Weekly & Monthly
Be very specific on what you want to accomplish and in the order you want to do it. For example you may have goals you want to accomplish over a month’s period such as working out a certain amount of times, losing weight or saving money. It’s important to list out these monthly goals and also break down your weekly goals. This way you can accomplish smaller more obtainable goals that drive you to accomplishing larger goals.
Jump Start Your Motivation
Sometimes to jump start your motivation you need a slight push in the right direction. To help with this I would recommend starting with a small accomplishment. For example, when you wake up Sunday morning make it a priority to clean your bathroom counter, clean out the fridge, organize a few items in the house. Typically this helps me get moving, as I like how it feels after creating a bit of order in with minimal effort.
This should help you roll into the next task for the day, such as, going to the grocery store for Sunday meal prep, or going through your mail and shredding all unwanted bills/letters.
Create Balance
You are more likely going to enjoy hitting your goals if you make sure and have fun while you are doing it! It will be difficult to keep your motivation strong if everything you are doing is strictly focused on the motions and not enjoying the task at hand. In order to create balance and make it fun consider one of the following
- Enlist a friend Have a buddy go with you to the grocery store so you can both meal prep together. That way it makes an enjoyable afternoon with a friend and getting your task knocked off the list.
- Reward Yourself Once you have hit your weekly goal give yourself a small treat. Once you have hit your monthly goal give yourself an even nicer treat 🙂
- Take A Break Make sure and insert other activities into the mix. Creating balance will ensure you don’t burn out yet keep your momentum going.
Repetition, Repetition, Repetition
With any shift or change in behavior comes the act or repetition. If you want to stick to your goals long term being consistent is key. We always hear about how it takes at least a month of doing something consistently to cultivate that new habit. The same applies with routines and achieving particular outcomes desired. This is why starting with a smaller goal and driving on repetition is a good place to start.
- Making a protein shake every morning for breakfast before heading off to work by prepping the ingredients the night before to ensure you have a enough time to make it quickly and effortlessly.
- Drinking one less soda at work daily by bringing a water bottle from home.
- Cutting down on spending money eating out by at least one to two times weekly by meal prepping with a friend or spouse.
Remember, your mind is a strong and a powerful influence on what you are able to achieve. Allow yourself to gracefully slip from time to time but continue to visualize the end goal, and continue to write it down to track your progress. You got this!
