It's Not Too Late: Achieve Your 2020 Goals in the Last 100 Days
I will go out on a limb and say that 2020 didn't materialize quite how you expected. On January 1, you probably felt inspired, confident, and hopeful about the coming year. Then, like a bulldozer against a brick wall, those warm fuzzy feelings came tumbling down. Optimistic resolutions lost out to survival to those that struggled with decimated routines, various losses, and additional stress. Instead of reaching new heights and tackling challenging and rewarding goals, many of us were white-knuckling to hold on for another day, another week, or another month.
You know what? That's ok! It's normal! When challenged with the removal of comfort, stability, or routine, our priorities rightfully change. We go into survival mode to feel safe and supported. People cope in different ways, but if your goals for the new year fell away to other priorities or comfort-seeking activities, I'll be the first to congratulate you on making it this far. It hasn't been easy for a lot of people.
Life still may be crazy or even crazier for some people: Work from home while the kids are virtual learning? Anyone? But if this new normal is starting to stabilize, it could be an excellent time to start thinking about new goals again. A lot of people are willing to write this year off as a wash, with plans to begin anew in January, but I challenge you to consider if you have the capacity for a goal in the last hundred days of the year. It's not too late to end the year strong. Are you ready to salvage this year?
I don't intend to freak you out, but brace yourself: September 23 is the first day of the last 100 days of 2020. One hundred days is enough time to make a meaningful change towards our goals, but not so far in the future that we procrastinate or get distracted. With focused action towards our goals, we can achieve quite a bit in one hundred days.
Even if we weren't in a worldwide pandemic, many people make big resolutions at the beginning of the year and all but forget about them by March 1. Often the problem lies in the fact that there's too much time available to achieve that goal. We put off the daily actions needed until a new day or a new week or a new month because it seems like we have a lot of time. Then we either procrastinate or flat out forget until the clock runs out.
The last one hundred days of the year is an excellent opportunity to reevaluate our goals and the daily actions required to achieve them.
I've always been a fan of end-of-year resolutions, even during non-pandemic years. I've written about it in the past because they can help keep us focused during the time of year that it's typical to throw caution to the wind, with an I'll-start-over-in-January mentality. That kind of all-or-nothing thinking puts us further behind from reaching our goals and leaves us with a steeper mountain to climb in January. I am as guilty as any when it comes to these tendencies.
I'm not suggesting you go to the extremes towards your goals, because that rarely is effective, but instead, you focus on making sustainable, meaningful action consistently. It doesn't mean forgoing holiday parties (assuming those exist in 2020), passing on the treats, or spending all your free time in the gym.
A better solution is to take the small (even seemingly insignificant) actions every day that transform our habits, improve our skills, and bring us closer to reaching our goals. Those little actions can snowball into meaningful changes when we're consistent and deliberate.
Here's the framework for taking action towards your 100 days goals.
Decide on a goal.
It shouldn't be extreme, unrealistic, or require massive changes to your life to achieve. There's nothing wrong with having big goals, but for a 100 days goal, it should be something achievable for this time frame.
Your 100-day goal can be the first step towards a more significant achievement but respect the time-frame.
Be specific.
Your goal should be as specific as possible. Instead of I want to lose weight, think in terms of losing a realistic number of pounds of body fat.
If you're not specific, how will you know if you achieved your goal?
*These are examples, your specific goal and what is realistic and achievable depends on your current abilities and experience.
Choose a meaningful goal.
It doesn't have to be fitness related; my goals are primarily business-related while maintaining and building my fitness. It should be something important to you; otherwise, you'll lose interest long before the 100 days is over.
Why do you want to achieve this goal?
How will you feel once completed?
How will your life be better or different?
What does that mean to you, or why is that important to you today?
Ponder these questions, write out your answers, and return to them if you find your dedication to the goal wavering. Before you give up, have the resources to remember why you started.
Commit to a daily practice.
Whatever your meaningful, specific, time-sensitive goal may be, the most crucial step is to take daily action towards it. This part is where most people make a critical mistake. They go all-in, from zero to sixty in one day. They attempt to change everything about their day or life. Most of the time, this strategy doesn't work.
Our human brains and bodies will resist too much change, and we'll be seeking the comforts of our old routines within a week or two (or less)! This is normal and expected.
When I talk about daily practice, there is no downside to starting small. Spend five minutes a day at first, but don't let a day pass without some action towards your goal. You can always do more if you feel so inclined, but make a bare minimum goal, and never let a day pass with achieving it. The key is to make it so small to start that you can't fail.
Don't plan to go to the gym for an hour, but instead perform ten minutes of exercises in your living room. If you want to do more, then fantastic, go for it, but never miss your small goal.
I already know what you are thinking, an action that small seems too insignificant to matter. Will it make any difference if I exercise for five or ten minutes today? Surely ten minutes of exercise won't make any meaningful changes to my body!
It may not make any significant changes to your body this week, but it certainly will make meaningful changes to your daily routines and priorities. When you change your mindset and daily habits, you change your life. That five minutes of action towards your goal is the gateway to achieving bigger ambitions. The small actions snowball into bigger ones over time. It's easy to think that small steps don't matter, but when completed consistently over time, they grow into habits, and these new behavior patterns are the key to goal achievement.
Unfortunately, it works the other way too. One poor choice is insignificant, but poor choices repeated over time lead to negative consequences.
The upside is that five minutes of positive action today grows into a full-blown habit over time if you don't dismiss the potential of small actions. I used exercise as an example, but apply the concept to any goal. Study ten minutes a day, read ten minutes a day, take an online course ten minutes a day. You can always do more, but never let a day pass without work towards the minimum goal.
Track your progress
Tracking your daily actions can help you stay on track. Perhaps print a calendar and hang it on your fridge, mark an X every day you complete your daily activities. Don't miss a day! Once those Xs start stringing together, you won't want to break the streak. I'm a pen and paper gal, but others (read; younger) may prefer to track using an app or an online calendar. Whatever works for you!
Are you ready to end the year strong with me? I write these blog posts for myself as much as for you. I need as much help as anyone to make forward progress towards my goals.
Over the years, exercising, lifting weights, eating well have all become habits that are almost on auto-pilot (almost, no one is perfect, and I don't try to be). I tend to push off significant business and personal development goals because they are overwhelming! I will take these last 100 days and apply small actions to see where it will take me into 2021! Who's with me?
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Questions? I’d love to help.