Are you Crushing Your Goals or Are Your Goals Crushing You?
Goal setting is everywhere in our daily lives. We are encouraged by our peers, family, and role models to set goals, and it is great to have a target to shoot for. They keep us accountable, grounded, and give us a purpose to keep going. They act as our guiding light during hard times and give you the extra push when you need it most. But the end goal often gets more love than the steps we need to take along the way.
We are going to clear the air to help you set attainable goals, learn how to follow through, and start crushing your goals instead of your goals crushing you.
1. Assess if the outcome is worth the pain.
Many of us have sat through a goal-setting session and had a stranger ask us, "What would you like to achieve?" or "What does success mean to you?". While this may get your mind excited about an idea for a little while, the momentum fades quickly because these are surface questions. The act of setting a goal is much easier than following through with it. What we like to ask is, what are you willing to pay to achieve your goals?
With every goal, there is a system. Your system is the action needed to reach your goal. While the goal determines the direction, the system determines your progress. When setting a goal, understand what it takes to reach it and determine if you are willing to bear the cost of getting there.
2. Ruthlessly Eliminate your goals
New goals require time and attention and will pull energy away from the goals you previously set. This is called goal competition. Your goals will compete for your attention and it is important to choose what needs your focus now and what can wait. One of the fastest ways to make progress with your goals is to simply press pause on the less important things and focus on what needs to happen now.
3. Group your goals with other habits
You are more likely to stick to your goals if you make a specific plan for when, where, and how you are going to perform a behaviour. Let's say your goal is to build your professional network.
Integrating steps toward this goal into your everyday life could look something like this - After my lunch break, I will send one email to someone I want to meet. This not only gives you a specific plan of action & time of day but also links it to something you already do each day. When linking a new action to a deeply integrated habit, it is easier to stick to it.
4. Align your environment with your goals.
Most of us have full intentions of following through with our goals but our actions get clouded by our surroundings. For example, let's say you are trying to lose weight and you want a snack. You have done well with your grocery shop for the week and refrained from buying unnecessary treats like ice cream. When you want a snack, nothing is stopping you from leaving your house, getting in your car, going to the store, and buying some ice cream but you likely won't. The task of obtaining the ice cream outweighs the reward of having the ice cream which will likely guide you to choosing a healthier option that is already stocked in your fridge. We naturally default to the most convenient option so if we set up your environment to make better choices the most convenient, better choices will be made more frequently.
5. Make your goals measurable.
The human mind loves to receive feedback. Create positive feedback by making your goals measurable. If you track your progress, you will clearly see if you are getting closer or further from your goals, and making adjustments will be easier to implement.
Goals can be made for any area of your life, they can be life-changing milestones or as small as a change to your morning routine. But no matter the goal, the secret sauce to crushing it is in the preparation and small daily actions the slowly tip the needle in your favour. So fall in love with the process, embrace the up and downs, and adjust as needed. Take the little victories as they come and keep crushing goals!