You have a dream and you want it to become reality. You want nothing more than to achieve your goals after you have set them. Whether the goals can change your life, such as living abroad, selling the house, and traveling the world, or look smaller such as losing weight, finding another job, launching your own product, etc.
You are very enthusiastic about these dreams, and you may have already started full of energy to achieve them.
But a few weeks then… it goes wrong (again). You become demotivated because none of them works at once and you see little result from your actions.
Yes, definitely recognizable to me, especially before I got burned out. Fortunately, I learned a lot from it, and now I know much better how to achieve my goals. Therefore, I would like to share my tips with you!
What if You don’t achieve your goals?
You’re done with it! You really want to achieve your goals now! Very well. But before I give you my tips, you must first gain insight into why it has not worked so far, what the problem is.
When you are aware of your own pitfalls, you can initiate a change. So to help you on your way, I’ll give you a few common pitfalls.
Setting the bar too high
You may be setting your bar too high, causing you to jump higher and higher but you can’t even pass it. This may seem like good quality, going for something difficult to reach.
Perfectionism often goes hand in hand with this. It’s not good enough. It has really hindered me, always carry on with the idea that things can be done even better.
As a result, I did not see all the steps I had taken to achieve my goals. I also didn’t really know when my goal had been achieved. And most importantly, I lost my fun, because the goal became more important than enjoying what I was doing.
Example: You have set a goal to launch a product. Perhaps you have already come a long way with this. And you actually expect that you would achieve great success with this product in no time. But, is that realistic? An important question to ask. Be clear about this.
No plan, no focus
You have all kinds of ideas, and get very enthusiastic about the image that you see in front of you.
Very good of course, because it certainly starts with visualizing your dream and having it clear to yourself.
Do what makes you happy! But, without a plan, it becomes difficult. Your dream doesn’t just come to you, you have to do something.
Taking that first step is super important, but you’re not there yet: make a plan for yourself that is concrete and realistic.
You may recognize yourself in this: working with great enthusiasm without a plan. Then it is probably also recognizable to you that you often work without a clear focus. You are easily distracted, grab your mobile again to check the social media. Very frustrating, because you know it doesn’t help, but it does give satisfaction in the short term.
Seeing no results means giving up
A final example that I would like to mention is giving up as soon as you don’t see any results.
Very logical, because we all get a “kick” when something succeeds or when success has been achieved. Whether this is a compliment from someone else, the money you have earned with a product, an amount you have saved, or that you can come for an interview for a new job.
The point is often, there are results, but they are easily overlooked.
Achieving goals goes hand in hand with celebrating successes, no matter how small they are. It may also be the results you want to see, or you need a little more time.
Realizing a dream does not happen overnight. Patience is really needed.
The tips
Well, now we are going to the tips. Just do what you should do below.
1. Make sub-goals
Something that is absolutely number 1, as far as I’m concerned, is making sub-goals.
As mentioned before, it is not realistic to go from 0 to 100 overnight.
Think of it as climbing a mountain or climbing a flight of stairs. It is not possible to reach the top in one go. Do you want to achieve your goals? Then create sub-goals. By splitting it into small steps, you will automatically reach the top. It just needs a little more time.
There is only one way to find out how it will work out for you, and that is “just do it”!
In addition, there are always reasons and excuses to think of why now is not the right time. The time is now! You live now, make that change to your dream now!
2. Make your sub-goals realistic
The most important thing when setting sub-goals is that you ensure that they are realistic. By drawing up your sub-goals realistically, you increase the chance that is feasible to achieve, and that provides extra motivation to continue.
When a sub-goal is not realistic, you increase the chance that it will fail, and that makes you more likely to lose the courage to continue.
3. Know what you’re doing for
It may sound like an open door, but it certainly isn’t. As mentioned before with the pitfall of “setting the bar too high” or “setting goals too high”, it can be difficult to continue to enjoy the journey to the goal.
What are you doing it for? How cool is that you are working on? Or how beautiful is the dream that you want to achieve? Enjoy all the steps you are taking in that direction. And even if something goes wrong, don’t give up right away. Hold on to your motivation! Find out how you discover your motivation if it’s needed.
4. Focus
It is necessary to set up your focus, also to set priorities, to make the right choices, and not to let you be distracted.
I often have a lot of energy to start with an idea, I want to look something up. And before I know it, I’ve been scrolling on Instagram for 15 minutes.
Or I have to think for a while while I’m writing this blog, and I’m distracted, and I’m on the phone again.
In other words, my focus is gone.
Very clumsy and this ensures that at the end of the day you can quickly be disappointed because your to-do list is not finished, a shame!
In addition, it is useful to know for yourself when you are most productive. Is this right when you wake up? Are you a morning or an evening person? Do you collapse after lunch? All things that you take into account should be in achieving your goals. Adjust to this.
I know I’m often not as productive after lunch, but get a boost again around 4 am. It is, therefore, better not to perform a task that costs me a lot of energy after lunch.
In this term, it’s important if you still stay motivated. Because your focus will take tons of energy. So put any motivational words on the door you go through every day.
5. Evaluate your planning
Achieving your goals without a plan is difficult. I first recommend you to plan your goals and sub-goals in a handy planner or in a (digital) agenda. Planning and making to-do lists alone are not enough.
Actually keeping to these agreements is the most important thing. Of course, unforeseen things sometimes happen. Something that does not work out or what you have planned may cost you more time than expected.
That’s not bad at all. Make sure you schedule a moment of evaluation for yourself. Here you can reflect on what goes well and what needs extra attention.
Did you manage to achieve your goals? Please let me know and send me a message. I am very happy if I am able to help you further with this article.
