Do you set yourself goals or do you believe in the flow of life? I’ve tried both and can clearly resonate with the goal setting side these days. Maybe you’ve heard it before: A dream without a goal is a wish. A goal without a plan is just a dream.

I know it can be hard sometimes to stay on top of things but learning how to be consistent and disciplined will be the key to your success. So if you are struggling to stay motivated or even to get started, take this as your sign to take pen and paper and get to it – it will be worth it in the long run.

A year from now you may wish you had started today.

CAPTURE

Clear your mind with a brain dump. Write down all your desires and goals. Ask yourself what it is that you want? Where would you be, with whom, how would you look like, how would you talk, behave, think and act? Draw a detailed picture in your mind. Let it be colorful and wild.

Having this picture in your head: Why is this a must for you? What are you reasons?
What’s the measurable result? And when should each goal be accomplished by?

Write it down.

BREAK IT DOWN

Organize your goals into groups and break down big, impossible goals into smaller POSSIBLE ones you can achieve one at a time. That’s one thing I did, and also prevent me from actually achieving those goals. You get overwhelmed since the to-do-list seems to never ever stops growing. So my advice: be realistic.

If you don’t know how long it will take: make a approximate guess, track your time (for instance with toggl) and revise your goals for the next month.

COMMIT AND SCHEDULE

Convert the actionable steps into daily action items and commit to a completion date for each. This will help to find a structure and focus for each week. You can see it a little bit like a thesis you wrote for university, only this time you set yourself up for your life vision. Excitiing!!

So schedule your action items into your calendar and keep a promise to yourself to stay on schedule no matter what it takes. And if you are still testing how much time you’d need, forgot to include “rest days” or events come up which you weren’t aware of: don’t be too hard on yourself.

The most important part of this whole goal-setting journey is to get yourself closer to your dreams, one step at a time. You automatically start building new routines and habits which will help making decisions easier and staying consistent over a course of time.

CELEBRATE YOUR WINS

“You have to set goals that are almost out of reach. If you set a goal that is attainable without much work or thought, you are stuck with something below your true talent and potential “

BE AWARE OF THE CONSEQUENCES

What happens if you don’t get your tasks done on time? What do the consequences look like? Will it keep you from reaching your overall goal? Will it prevent you from delivering your work? Reminding yourself of your goals and dreams while visualizing what’s at risk might give you the kick that you need. A vision board can also help you visualize your goals and keep them front of mind – it’ll remind you why you started and where you want to end up. I usually create one for my phone wallpaper.

TAKE THE PRESSURE AWAY

At the end it comes back to your mind: do you have to or get to work on your goals? Sometimes we forget why we set those goals in the first place and stress only about the execution. Your intrinsic motivation though comes from what you want to achieve with this task, right?! So my tip : Just forget about how urgent you need to get your work don. Instead of stressing about it, just think that everything will work out and that you will get it all done in time.

And that’s it. That’s everything I keep in mind when I set myself up for the next year, quarter, month and day. I hope it served you in some way. If you’d like to stay in touch, pop yourself on my biweekly newsletter: every second Sunday I catch up with you to chat about what I’ve been up to, about weekly recommendations, latest updates and much more! 😊

Don’t forget to take some breaks from time to time. By “resetting” your mind, you will get a fresh perspective, inspiration, and energy to carry on.

Lots of love,

Lena