Why you’re not achieving your goals (and how you can)
We’re a week on from ‘Blue Monday’ which is officially the most depressing day of the year. You’re statistically most likely to give up on your New Year’s Resolutions today. Maybe you’ve already skipped a few gym sessions or that ‘cheat day’ slid into a week... Before you quit completely, give me a chance to change your mind with this quick blog post.
The message
I’ll get straight to the point: any goal without clear actions is just a wish list. So firstly, ask yourself: have I created a goals list or a wish list? Be honest with yourself.
No one is going to deliver you a wish list. There are no fairies coming to pop your dreams under your pillow for when you wake up in the morning.
The number one reason you’re not achieving your goals is because you haven’t translated your vision into a series of actionable steps to get you there. It’s that simple.
Ok, now you know why you’re not achieving your goals, what can you do about?
The solution
Set your vision and then list out all the actions you can take to bring this to reality.
Here’s an example.
My main goal for 2022 is to diversify my income streams. (I’ll make a separate post on why everyone should do this). Until I put clear actions to make this happen, it’s just a wish.
My action list looks like this:
· Reignite my blog and post at least weekly
· Carry on posting one video a week to my YouTube channel
· Property investing
· Flipping clothes
· Launching my Digital Marketing agency
· Personal training
· Become a running coach
Clearly, I can’t do all these on day one but I’m doing the top 5. How can I do these 5 things alongside my day job? Ruthless time management and hyperfocus but I’ll make another post about that.
You’ve got your vision and you’ve listed all the actions you can take to make these a reality. Now look at which ones inspire you most. Start with those; it’s as easy as that.
Let’s do a common example.
Vision: ‘get fitter’
Firstly, you need to define what you mean as this is way too generic. Let’s say you narrow this down to ‘run 5km continuously’.
Now let’s make the action list:
· Download a couch to 5k app/plan
· Schedule time in your diary to go running / set a reminder
· Join a local running club
· Find a friend who’s your accountability partner
· Sign up to a 5km race or a Parkrun
Looks a lot at the beginning but let’s say downloading an app and finding an accountability partner inspire you most. Start there.
It isn’t plain sailing
Life can get in the way but if you’re consistently not doing the actions that take you to your goal you need to ask yourself some questions.
If you reflect on the actions to achieve the goal and that goal isn’t right for you anymore, it’s ok to dump a goal that isn’t working for you. Throughout the year you’ll change and grow and it’s right that your goals should too.
If you still want the goal but you’re struggling to prioritise it amongst all the other pulls on your time, then reassess your action list. How do you need to tweak it to ensure the actions inspire you enough to bump them up? Once you know the answer, repeat the cycle again.
Everything else you hear about sticking to your goals really boils down to these simple principles. You can achieve more than you know possible, don’t let Blue Monday get to you.
