Goal Setting and New Year Resolution Series: Keys To Success

Today I wanted to share with you the keys to success so you can achieve your goals faster than before. We will be talking about what we need to stop doing, magic time, and most of all how to be flexible with your goals. Last time we went over organizing time, finding time, background research, and what your goal really entails.

 

If you missed the previous posts on this goal setting series:

Click here to go to Goal Setting and New Year Resolution Series: How to Set Goals to Win

Click here to go to Goal Setting and New Year Resolution Series: Research and Organization

 

Let’s imagine…

It’s day 89 of the 90 days and you haven’t worked on your goal or just dabbled on it here and there. The worst feeling is coming up to a deadline and knowing that you won’t make it. There is no way this goal can be accomplished in the next 24 hours. So what happens? You feel frustrated, depressed, and full of anxiety.

You ask yourself, “what did I do with my time? Where did it go? Why couldn’t I just follow through? Why don’t I have the will power to just do it? I set the goal and the deadline, how did this happen?”

IF only I could turn back time, I would just do it because now I would be in a better place.

The thing we don’t realize with goals is that our goals are little stepping stones to our dream life. If we were the person we dreamed of, then all these new things would be a part of us. We would have reached that new height, moved up to that next level.

We need to stop filling our lives with everything that doesn't mean anything.Click To Tweet

 

 

Let’s break down a category just as an example. One of your goals is to have a beautiful and organized house. You scored it as a 3 when you went over the priority list. So this is score shows you are not happy with the way things are and it’s bringing you down.

What usually happens when we are so unhappy with our homes? We put aside cleaning it, we leave clutter everywhere, we basically ignore it because we want to escape it. Meanwhile, we are on Pinterest looking at beautiful houses and perfectly staged rooms. At the same time, we are watching HGTV just wishing that those designers would just come to our area so they can fix our houses for us.

We blame our spouses for the predicament we’re in. Why can’t you be more handy? Why don’t we have enough money to just move? We start getting into fights because we are so unhappy. We get depressed seeing all of our “friends” on social media with these perfect houses and perfect cars and perfect lives.

Everything we are doing is the exact opposite of what we should be.

So here is some tough love… Get off your butt and get to work. 

Turn off the tv. Get off of the internet. Start putting all that energy and time into your house and into your life and I’m telling you it can change overnight. What if you spent that last 30 minutes of your evenings just cleaning up the kitchen and putting everything away. Or started to put all the pillows back on the couches and folded up the blankets? Put the shoes away in the hall closet before you went to bed? Finally got rid of that pile of mail on the kitchen counter?

What if you set up a goal for yourself to organize your house as step 1, and do some updates as step 2?

Step 1: Organize the house. Sounds like a tall order. Is it?

If you remember from way back three weeks ago, each 90 days focus goal has 6 two week sprints.. to break this example down:

90 day focus goal: Declutter and Organize Major Areas in the House

The 2 week sprints would look like this:

1. Declutter living room and find a spot for everything. No spot, bye bye.
2. Kitchen and pantry declutter.
3. Entryway and hall closet declutter
4. Master bed/bath/closet declutter
5. Guest room or office declutter
6. Garage declutter

In 12 weeks you would have major areas of your house decluttered and filled with the things that you not only love but make you happy. All the junk would be gone and everything that you decided to keep would have a “home” in your home.

Pinpoint in your plan what the needle movers are and what needs to be done in order to move to the next step. You don’t focus on any other room in the house until that first one was completely done.

What does the typical scenario look like? We start in one area of our house and then get sidetracked and start on another area. Then two areas are a big mess because everything is taken out and then get sidetracked with room three. After all this, it becomes so overwhelming we just stop and forget about it because it’s too hard to deal with.

So focus on the task at hand.

Then set your goal for the next 90 days and set up your sprints in the same way.

 

Keys to Success Tip #1: Laser Focus

Forgetting Others Certainly Until Seized 

I came up with that! Insert pat on the back here! 😉

Don’t think about any other room until that first one is checked off. Put items that belong in another room in a box to be sorted when you get to that room. 

Think laser focus.

This reminds me of one of the games at the fair. You sit on a stool along a counter with other players and you shoot a water gun towards a target.  You have to push down 2 buttons and shoot water out of this water gun at a target and that moves a horse racer from the start line to a finish line. The first one to finish wins the big prize. Do you know what I’m talking about? I tried to find a decent photo but had no luck.

But isn’t this the perfect example of what we’re “aiming” for?! (pun intended!)  If you swish that beam of water around here and there aiming at other targets, no racer is ever going to cross the finish line. Knowing exactly where your target is and giving it everything you got, you have no choice but to get there.

 

Keys to Success Tip #2: Finding your magic time

We know that to reach our target takes laser focus and work. When do you feel the best? Which time in the day do you feel most motivated? Or less distracted?

You need to schedule at least 15 minutes a day to work towards your goal. Otherwise it will never happen. So why not do it first thing in the morning? Get it done and checked off the to do list.

I will sit down and do the thing that needs to be done for that day to move me forward first thing in the before the kids wake up. I have no distractions and no excuses.

 

Keys to Success Tip #3: Honoring Flexibility

We can plan all we want but we never know what the day will bring, right? In that case, we must learn to be flexible. Yes, we want to reach our goals, but this does take time. It takes patience but most of all persistence. If you get sick, just wait until you feel better. Regain your energy and your strength to give it 100%. That is the best part about the 2 week sprints, if something comes up, you can change the next set of sprints to account for that. Don’t beat yourself up, there is always a way to fix it.

Let’s do this. Live our best lives. Get those goals and dreams and show them who is boss. Because it’s you. And me. We can totally do this.

I can’t wait to check in with you in a few months and see how you’re doing! I know that we can get to our dream lives. It takes a target, laser focus, and action. I see nothing but greatness in you!

Take action and set your 90 goal and your 2 week sprints!