Action Plan For Achieving Your Goals

Be Specific

If you want to achieve anything you need to have a very clear idea of what you want to accomplish and why. Write your goals down, including whys. I want to earn $60K a year isn’t enough. I want to earn $60K a year so I can buy a new car and live in a nicer apartment is better. Adding the why to your goal helps you stay motivated. It keeps you on track. 

Give yourself a deadline

If you want to achieve a goal sometime in the future then you’ll probably get around to it sometime in the future. If you’re serious about achieving your goal then set yourself an achievable deadline. Not too close that you’ll freak out about not having enough time and not so far away that you can put off working toward it. A Goldilocks deadline that keeps you on your toes and motivated to keep at it.

Keep a running list

Maybe in order to achieve your goal you need to take a class or have lunch with a certain individual or achieve a smaller goal first. In order to keep yourself on track it’s helpful to keep a running list of what you need to accomplish on the way to achieving the goal. The list isn’t something that needs to be written in stone. It’s more fluid and changeable, something that grows and shrinks as the goal evolves.  a list of everything you can think of that you are going to have to do to achieve your goal. As you think of new items, add them to your list.

Prioritize

When we have a list of things to do, sometimes it’s tempting to do the easiest things first, or the ones we like to do most. Which leaves the hardest things and the things we least want to do for the end where they may fall through the cracks left by a loss in motivation. Look at your list and prioritize it, then set about accomplishing those things in order.

Keep the momentum going

Work toward your goal everyday. Accomplish something toward it, big or small. Give yourself reasons to stay motivated and continue believing in yourself and what you can accomplish.