Achieving Personal Goals

Did you ever want to remember to put something in your car in the morning, so you leaned it against the front door so you wouldn’t forget? Or put a Postit note on your computer monitor to remind you to call someone?
 
That’s what this page is about. Things you can do that will make it easier to achieve your goal. Each time you read this page, just try to take at least one idea and implement it in your daily habits to help keep you focused and on track:

• Review your progress toward your goal regularly. This may be the single most important thing we can do, because it helps keep the target in sight. A goal, especially one set to a deadline, will inspire our natural desire to achieve provided we review our progress. Most goal setters create their goal, maybe even write it down, but then go on about their life with the idea that they will just remember the goal and remember to work on it. More often than not, that leads to failure. Track your progress and review them regularly will help keep your motivation alive. That tip alone will greatly improve your results if you will follow it. For more on how reviewing results works, read this page.
   
• Plan your day. This not only helps you live intentionally, but gives you the opportunity to consciously include at least one activity from your Goal Action Plan into your daily plan that will move you closer to your goal. Remember, you must do something every day to keep you moving closer to your goal.  Slow and steady wins the race.
    
• Post-It Notes. Write your goal and the benefits you will get (important!) by reaching it on post-it notes and put them somewhere you will see them. This is not genius, but it works. I like to put them on the computer monitor, in the kitchen or on the dash of my car. This way they are frequently in front of me on my mind, which helps my keep my focus where I want it to be.
   
• Images. Create a notebook or folder of pictures, images and other symbols that remind you of your goals and why you are pursuing them. You have identified benefits to achieving this goal when you originally chose it, and reminding yourself frequently what those benefits are is a huge aid to keeping focused and on track. Visualization is a powerful motivator, and having something tangible to look at makes the visualization process much easier.
   
• Reminders. If you have a smart phone (or any text messaging cell phone), send yourself text message reminders throughout the day. I use Google calendar to set up simple recurring events which send automatic messages to my cell phone as reminders of one or two key objectives from the goal plan throughout the day. It’s easy, it’s cheap, and it works.
   
• Daily Reading. Read about your goal. This helps is 2 ways: It keeps your mind consciously and unconsciously focused on your goal, plus it gives you the opportunity to add knowledge that may give you better ways to achieve it. Knowledge and awareness – a powerful combo.