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Giving up on goals

This week I’m asking you: Have you abandoned any goals or commitments in the last few months?

For most of us, the answer to this question is “yes”. It’s just after the first quarter of the year and that is around the time that the wheels can start to fall off our carefully laid plans.

In some ways this is a natural thing. For example, if you set too many goals in January that were all due for completion in the first half of the year, you’re likely giving up on a few of those by now. 

Then there are the other reasons why we’ve thrown in the towel in the 4th month of the year. This is what I want to discuss today. It’s these other reasons that contain within themselves the key to your success.

Yes, paradoxically, the reasons you give yourself for giving up, are also the doorways to your success.

Huh? How does that work?
Well, the excuses that we give for not committing, not following through, actually reveal the exact obstacle we need to overcome. Think about the most common excuses given giving up on a goal:
“I didn’t have enough time, I’m too busy”. Not enough time.
“I’m too old/young/late/early..”. The wrong time.

You would be forgiven for thinking that these excuses are about time itself. On the surface it looks that way. But what if I ask you:
Is that really true, that you have no time?
Can you be 100% certain that you have absolutely no time?
This is when the excuse starts to get a little shaky. A tiny spec of doubt starts to creep in and the absoluteness of your answer/excuse starts to waiver. 

Perfect. This is exactly where you are meant to be.

You see the excuses that we give ourselves and reasoning we use are just stories that tell ourselves. I don’t meant that your purposely lying to yourself. I mean that we all construct stories (mostly unconsciously) to make sense of the world and our experience in it. It is these stories that will ultimately confine us or set us free.

For most of us, our stories have been playing over and over in our minds for years without being questioned. Stories actually do help us manage our way in the world but they do need to be updated from time to time when they are holding us back.

If you want to change your story you can start by questioning it.
What’s my excuse or reasoning?
Why did I give up on that goal?
These are the first steps to questioning your story. These questions will reveal your story to you.

Then ask yourself: 
Can I be 100% certain that that is true?
What would happen if it was not true? What would I like to do then?

These questions create awareness of your story and give you the opportunity to decide if you want to keep your story. It will open you up to options that you otherwise thought you never had.

Remember to approach this process with genuine curiosity and less like you’re interrogating yourself or beating yourself up. There is no judgement here. It is a process that works best with curiosity to learn about yourself.

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Don’t Start 2019 Until You Do This!

Before you embark on the goal-setting process and planning for 2019, you must review what happened this year. Before you even start dreaming about what goals you want to achieve next year, you must take a moment to look back at what has happened this year. This is is actually the first vital step in setting your goals for next year.

The review process is quite simple and really is just a matter of answering a few key questions. The answers you get will be so powerful and enlightening that you will unearth information that will assist you to do even better next year.

Your best year in business starts with reviewing the previous year.

Review is important because it forces us to look at the facts. Was what you set out to do at the start of the year and what you ultimately ended up with at the end of the year? What was easy? Did things take longer than expected (always, right?). The review process will help you to understand exactly where you are and to really take note of what the year embodied for you and your business.

The process of looking back offers the opportunity to learn, to understand your strengths and weaknesses and to therefore be better prepared to plot your course for the next 12 months.

Keeping it simple, here are some basic review questions that you can answer that will reveal valuable information to you about you and your business:

Did I achieve what I set out to achieve at the beginning of the year?
If not, why not? (Was it lack of resources? Did you just give up? )
Are the things I did not achieve, still important to the health of my business?
How can I ensure I achieve these goals next year?
What worked really well in my business?
Why do I think it worked well? (You have skills in this area/ you enjoy it/ it’s easy for you etc.)
What did not work well this year? What areas of your business are feeling a bit stuck?
What do I think would get me out of this particular rut?
What did I learn this year? (skills, philosophies etc.)
What was missing from my business this year?

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Have you set your goals for 2019?

Have you set your goals for 2019 yet?

Yes I’m serious. Have you written your goals plan for 2019? Or will you just wait until January, after you return from a break to then start working on your goals? The answer to these questions impacts your business bottom line. Yes, what you are doing, or not doing, in the next months will show up on your P & L next year.

Planning is invaluable. I can’t stress enough how truly valuable it is to plan ahead for your business. The most common problem in smaller businesses is the time spent (wasted) on fighting fires- dealing with “urgent” things that have come up. Planning is not done because there is “no time” to plan! The irony is, the more you plan, the less fires you have to fight!

If this is you, it’s time to get out of this tail-chasing circle. You need to embrace planning to create results in your business. The other benefits that also go hand-in-hand with planning are: increased momentum , increased productivity and increased enthusiasm. Certainly worth trying out with these added benefits, surely?

Now is the time to think strategically, to take the time to write down your ideas and goals that you want for yourself and your business in 2019. Now, before the party season kicks in and you get swept up in the busyness. So, can you commit to taking an hour or two this week to put pen to paper or open up a doc and start typing?

What you commit to doing now will bring you rewards next year. When January comes around, you can hit the ground running. You can walk into 2019 with a clear vision of what you will be creating and working on. Wouldn’t that be a great start to the New Year?

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How you waste time…

When you sit down to do a task, do you just start? Okay, you may think about where you’re at with the project so you can jump back in to where you left off. Is this how you are working on your tasks and projects?

Often, I’ve found, the majority of people start a task without the most important things in mind. It’s this basic error that truly limits your productivity capabilities. There are 2 specific parameters you must define before you begin working on a task or project:
1. What is the specific outcome I will achieve?
2. What specific amount of time will I set to complete it in?
Let’s start with Number 1: A specific outcome is measurable. You either achieve it or you don’t. There is no confusion as to whether this has been achieved or not. Doing “more”work on your blog post is not specific. “More” is not measurable. Here’s an example of a specific outcome: “Complete the introduction and outline of 3 blog posts.” It’s specific so you can easily tell if you have achieved it at the end. The result must be 3 outlines and 3 introductions. Rather than sitting down “to work on” something, create a very specific outcome…with a specific time-frame (this is part 2).

Part 2: A specific amount of time. Again it’s all about measurement. You need to define a specific amount of time in which you will complete the task. The common mistake is that we often think “well, I don’t know how long it will take” and decide not to put a time-frame on it or allow a huge amount of time in which to complete it. These critical mistakes will severely limit your productivity. You must have a specific time-frame in which to complete your specific task. And don’t be afraid to make the time-frame tight. Here’s why: If you give yourself 2 hours to write a report, you will take 2 hours. If you make sure it has to be done in 1 hour, you will take 1 hour. Don’t be fooled into thinking that you can’t get the same task done in a smaller space of time because you can. Ever procrastinated? Done something right at the last minute? In a very tight time-frame you produced a large amount of work. How? You had a tight deadline and it made you focus. You can apply this to your normal workday tasks to increase your productivity dramatically.

The easiest way to start doing this is to implement a basic tool: a timer. Set a timer for the time you’ve allocated for the task and work towards getting it done before the time runs out. You will find that when you have a tight time-frame and a specific outcome and the timer running…you focus, you block out distractions and you go to work! You will surprise yourself with what you produce and how good it feels to work in such a clear and focused way.

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Celebrate your wins

When was the last time you celebrated a milestone? Can you remember? Was it an anniversary, a new job, the completion of a big project?

It’s so important to pause after reaching a milestone and give yourself a moment to celebrate. You don’t want to just keep driving on to your next goal and only give that achievement a slight backward glance. You need to take a moment to acknowledge what you have achieved and savour it, just for a bit. Developing the habit of celebrating your wins will actually benefit you (and those around you) in a number of ways:

It reminds you that goal setting works. This is important, so you will continue to set goals and not just decide to float along and see what happens.

It imprints progress on your mind. When you celebrate, you’re choosing to create a significant event. Effectively you’re putting a marker on the track that you’re walking on and saying that this is a significant step. It helps your mind recognise that you have actually made progress. This is particularly important when you’re working on larger goals which can extend across months or years. You need to celebrate the milestones on the way to the final goal.

It motivates you. Success feels good and it is a huge motivating factor. Ever noticed after hitting a goal how motivated you felt, ready to tackle another? This is the dopamine hit, the feel-good chemical. After you achieve a goal and celebrate it, you get a dopamine hit. Then, inevitably, you want another. Celebrating success helps you maintain positivity, energy and motivation.

It’s a chance to share your success with others. If you work in a team this is totally imperative. You must celebrate with your team and recognise their efforts and achievements. If you don’t work in a team, it’s just as important to involve those you are closest to in your celebrations. Be it your significant other, your best friend or family, remember to include them in your celebrations. This is beneficial for all involved, as they get to become part of significant life events with you and understand your values. And you get to include them in on your positive vibes.