It's April already. I don't know why but it seems as if the time passes by at a faster rate every year. It wasn't that long ago that we were all making our New Year's Resolutions. Hope, optimism, and ambition were in the air. If I could bottle and sell that level of motivation and commitment to goal achievement I probably wouldn't be writing this right now, I'd be off living on my own personal island.
But something inevitability happens between January 1st and April 1st. Time passes, life gets crazy, we get busy, we forget, and at the same time, we remember how hard goal achievement can be. One day we're excited and motivated and then slowly, as the days pass, we forget about it all together.
It's not just you. It's literally everyone on some level. When I reviewed my own resolutions I found there were some I've been upholding, some that have fallen off my radar and some I honestly forgot about altogether. It's normal. I cringed when I thought at first about reading through my resolutions because I could vaguely remember what I wrote and I was sure I didn't follow through with everything.
The start of April can be the perfect opportunity to reevaluate our goals, determine what is still important to us, figure out what (if anything) held us back these first few months, and what we can do differently in the coming months.
The Resolution Reboot: 5 steps to get back on track. Save to your favorite health and fitness Pinterest board for later.
Don't wait nine more months for another new year to get excited about goal achievement again. I'll tell you about some of my goals and how I am reevaluating in order to help walk you through the process of following through to achievement.
STEP ONE: REREAD YOUR GOALS
If you wrote down your new year resolutions, April is the perfect time to review them. If you didn't write them down, that may be one of the reasons you didn't stick to them. Simply writing down your goals increases the chance that you'll achieve them. Review your goals daily to keep them top of mind. With so much going on in our lives, it can be easy to simply forget about goals that once seemed important.
Are the goals you set in January still a priority for you? If not, lose them. Focus on what matters most. Maybe your priorities changed since you made those goals. Maybe your circumstances changed or maybe YOU changed. Or maybe you just got off track and are ready for a resolution reboot.
Rewrite your goals for April. If you had goals that fell by the wayside, add them to a new goals list and start fresh.
STEP TWO: EVALUATE WHAT WENT RIGHT SO FAR
What have you accomplished this year? What were the circumstances around your success? One of my goals was to run at least one mile a day in a run streak. I've never missed a day. Why? One of the big reasons is that my husband is doing it with me. Support plays a big role for me in goal achievement. Determine the factors that have helped you stay consistent so far and think about how you can apply those concepts to the goals you have yet to achieve.
STEP THREE: EVALUATE WHAT DIDN'T WORK
What is not working? What do you commit to in the new year that you have not followed through on? Why not? Be honest with yourself.
When I reviewed my resolutions there were two that fell by the wayside. One was that I planned to deep dive into learning SEO, copywriting and my DSLR. I haven't done much of that at all. I attended an SEO conference, but haven't invested any real time into learning and doing on my own, which was my goal.
I gave myself monthly income goals for my business but I honestly have no idea if I met them or not. It's great to have specific measurable goals, but it doesn't do you any good if you don't track them. It would be like setting a body fat percentage goal but then never measuring to see if you were on track to meet that goal.
STEP FOUR: FIGURE OUT WHAT'S HOLDING YOU BACK
What kept you from achieving your goal? What did you think you would do that you didn't? What stopped you?
It seems I continue to skim the surface of topics I want to learn without taking the time to go deeper. I know that social media is holding me back. I often claim to not have the time for a deep-dive in learning new topics, but then spend an hour on the couch with my phone to "unwind" at the end of the night. Recognizing the things that are holding you back is the first step in making changes.
STEP FIVE: DEVISE A PLAN FOR FUTURE SUCCESS
Now that you've thought about what has made you successful so far and considered what had been holding you back, you can devise a plan to take advantage of your successes and overcome your limitations.
Personally, I will review my goals on a daily basis. I stopped reading my goals after the first couple weeks and eventually lost track of what I was trying to achieve.
I need to come up with a support system for all my goals, not just the ones that my husband is involved in. Whether that means friends, community, coaches or mentors, I know that when I have a support system that I'm more likely to achieve my goals. Now I need to a plan to apply this concept to the goals I have not yet achieved.
Since it seems that social media is eating up precious time that could be spent on more productive activities, I will add some personal limitations on my social media usage. How about no social media after dinner? I think I can do that. It will free up time and limit the likelihood that I'll get caught up in non-productive activities in the evening when I could be more productive.
By not tracking my income, I am limiting my chance of success. What gets measured gets managed. I will create a spreadsheet that I will update regularly to hold myself accountable to my income goals.
How can you apply these principles to your own goals? Think about what is working, what is not working, what is holding you back and how you can use this information to take action to achieve your goal in the coming year. It's not too late to achieve your new year resolutions!
Try to remember that strong desire to achieve your goals you felt in January and apply that same level of commitment and motivation to your goals going forward. We don't need to wait for a new year, a new month or a new week to start living our dreams and working towards our goals. Start today. What one small action can you take today to work towards your goals. It's enough.
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Are you someone who feels the tension between what you should do and what you want to do and hopes to make better choices and decisions to enhance your long-term health? I will cover some tangible ways to revise your thinking, environment, situation, and habits for the best chances of success. People with greater self-control are more likely to achieve their goals