Well, you’re not alone. Following through is one of the most challenging tasks, specifically when it comes to something you are doing for yourself. I say this because if you were working at a job for somebody else, I am sure you have no problem completing the task on time, and following through to the end. After all, your job and weekly pay depend on it. However, for some reason, when it comes to your personal goals, you let things slide. What gives? Why the hell do we work harder for others than ourselves? Isn’t that a little backwards? Don’t your dreams matter? If you said, “YES!” I have 3 ways to get you to follow-through on your goals.
1. Decide If You Really Want It:
This is a tough one. There are things we think we want, and then there are things we really want. Imagine you say to yourself, “I want to start taking Zumba classes.” Yet, you don’t follow through. When you don’t follow through, you need to ask yourself if you really want it. If you just say you want it because your friend is doing it, or because you read somewhere that it’s fun, then you won’t have the inner motivation to take action. However, when the motivation comes from within, the desire to take action is a lot stronger. Basically, you need to get honest with yourself, and decide if you are intrinsically motivated to take action, or if it is merely something you think you should be doing.
2. Wash Fear Aside:
Once you establish that you want it, you may still encounter fear. You may think, “I really want to try Zumba, but I am afraid I will look silly… or, what if I don’t know what I’m doing?” Those are the old fear patterns that are bound to come up. When you REALLY want something, the want must overpower the fear. This is where giving yourself a pep-talk works wonders to get you to take action, despite the fear. Just think about what I said earlier: if this was a job requirement, you would do it anyways. Well this is Project YOU. Decide to give yourself as much care and attention you would to your job. There will never be a magic pill to get you to take action. Life is too precious to not follow your dreams. Pep-talk yourself until you get yourself taking action. Imagine your life depends on it. Oh, it does.
3. Schedule it in:
Once you have decided that you want something and that you are ready to take action, you need to make sure you take action. Not all things can happen right now, in this moment. If they can, get to it! Otherwise, you must schedule it in your calendar, the same way you do a doctor’s appointment or important meeting. Recognize that your commitments to yourself need the same care that commitments to others receive. Furthermore, when you write it down, it makes it more concrete. It is the first physical step to taking action. This action alone starts to build the momentum you need to continue taking action to following through on your goal.
BONUS TIP:
Once you take action, you will need to take further action. For example, if you make it to your first Zumba class and LOVE it, you need to make sure you schedule in your next class. If you started a project and took the first step, make sure you schedule in the second step. Projects and dreams are rarely a single action. You must maintain momentum through consistent daily action to reach your dreams.
Take The Challenge:
Right now, get started on turning your goals and dreams into reality. Run through the checklist above and report in the comments below what action you plan to take. Let’s inspire each other to make our dreams come true.
title: “3 Surefire Ways To Follow Through On Your Goals” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-21” author: “Gloria Josey”
Deciding on a goal is easy. Following through, on the other hand, is not. Here are three surefire ways you can give yourself a helping hand and follow through on your goals.
1. Go Public
Very few things are quite as motivating as public accountability. Once we’ve announced to friends, family, co-workers, and the general public that we’re working towards a certain goal, we’re far more likely to actually complete that goal. Why? Public accountability works for two main reasons. First of all, we don’t want to look bad. We care what our nearest and dearest think of us and we don’t want to seem flaky. If we publicly announce a goal and don’t complete it, we have to face up to everyone who asks “Hey, how did that marathon go last summer?” As much as we might be able to justify prioritising our long lie-ins over long runs to ourselves, trying to explain that to someone else is going to be pretty embarrassing. The second reason that public accountability works is more positive. Just as we know we’re going to have to ‘fess up if we don’t complete our goal, we also know that we’ll have a lot of support from people around us when we do complete our goal. This in itself can help motivate us to push through the more challenging times. So if you’re working towards a goal and want a simple yet effective way of sticking to it, get on Facebook, send a group email, text everyone on your contacts list, and watch your motivation levels soar.
2. Set milestones
One of the biggest barriers that stands between you and your goals is becoming overwhelmed. Goals always contain a series of action steps, which have varying degrees of difficulty. When we look at the goal as a whole, we might feel discouraged by how far we are from the completion point. Breaking the goal down into several milestones, however, helps keep us motivated. Instead of focusing on how far we have to go until we complete the big goal, we can shift our focus to the smaller, more manageable milestones. Not only do milestones give us cause for celebration on the way to completing our goal, they also help us stay on track with completing our big goal by a certain date. Setting a deadline is one of the key hallmarks of achievable goals: if you don’t have a deadline, other commitments will get in the way.
3. Incentivise success
You can incentivise yourself to complete your goal in two ways:
Rewarding completion Penalising non-completion
In practice, rewarding completion of a goal or milestone might look like treating yourself to something when you reach that particular target. At the same time, you can commit to a certain penalty, such as donating $100 to charity, if you don’t complete a certain milestone or goal. These incentives are most effective when you agree to the details in advance. If you wait until you either reach or don’t reach your milestone or goal to decide on the specifics, this method won’t be as much help. We are masters at self-justification, so if we don’t agree to rewarding ourselves in a certain way at a certain time when we reach a certain goal, then we’re more likely to cheat, or forgo the reward altogether (and rewards are important). Equally, if we don’t complete our milestone or goal and haven’t agreed a penalty in advance, it’s going to be a lot easier for us to reason our way out of sticking to the penalty. Decide which rewards and penalties you’re going to commit to in advance, and you’ll be far more likely to stick to them.
Which method is right for me?
Any one of these three methods will help you reach goals and targets. You know yourself better than anyone so you’re in the best position to decide which of the methods above will be most helpful to you individually. If you’re really serious about achieving your big goals, however, you’ll give yourself the best chance of getting there by implementing all three at once. What are your surefire ways for following through on your goals?
