It is February, which means that our New Year’s Resolutions are likely beginning to wear off. Maybe you missed a few days at the gym or got rejected from an awesome pitch you landed, but rather than let it slow you down, we want to give you some easy tips to help stay inspired to achieve those goals. Once you lose your drive, you lose everything, so don’t be a statistic. Instead, keep your momentum rolling and if you got off track - let’s get you refocused!
List your reasons.
Often thought of as your “big why,” it is essential to your success that you not only know why you’re pursuing your goals but why you need to stay on track. During business planning sessions that we run, we do a lot of work about knowing why you’re chasing those big goals, but after a few false starts - it is easy to lose sight of that. Much like a pros/cons list, the act of writing out the list can be extremely helpful to remind you of your why. Furthermore, it is really common to see your why to evolve over time, so writing a list periodically can include new motivations and desires as well.
Look to others for inspiration.
It may sound cheesy, but others can provide a huge motivation/inspiration for you to stay on track with your goals. We try to help deliver this inspiration with our 10 Questions and #FeatureFriday series which we run on the blog and our Instagram. To hear how others are accomplishing great feats can give us the extra boost we need on a particularly tough day.
Create a visual representation.
While some people aren’t particularly competitive, visual representations can serve as a huge inspiration to stay on track. This is why the act of habit tracking or “streaks” can be so effective because you begin to convince yourself that breaking the streak is not worth whatever trade-off you’re momentarily seeking. For some, this is a photo or quote; while for others, it is a chart of their progress. Whatever suits you, having the unavoidable visual reminder is a powerful symbol of the commitments you made.
Make strengths-based goals.
When you arbitrarily set goals, it can be easy to get off track. They aren’t aligned with your core sense of who you are much less what you actually want to do, so when your mind is reviewing the trade-offs, the answers often seem simple. Instead, if you focus on making goals that are aligned with your strengths, you’ll naturally be more likely to do what it takes to achieve them.
Regardless of what your goals are, it is all too common to lose steam. The question is not if you will get off track, but when. So rather than feel unprepared when that occurs, make a plan for how to get back on track and crush those goals you want so bad!