How to Set Goals and Achieve Them

Now last week we talked about our 365-day goal, our one-year goal and some people get a little bit overwhelmed and we’ve had some feedback. At a year and how you plan out a year because it’s a long time. So imagine when we were Olympic athletes, a four-year goal and how you planned out the four years. So to make sure you’re fresh, ready, physically, mentally and emotionally as we spoke about for that goal. So of course if it’s four years, you break it down into every year. So you have 12-month plans and some of you may use electronic diaries, which is great to remind you but I still believe in the good old fashioned written diary. I think you need both. So you map out the 12 months. You map out the activities that you need to do across the 12 months, milestones you need to reach. Now if it’s in sport then it may revolve around competitions. If you got a Cross Fit competition or if you’ve got a hockey competition or something then you know the dates of the events and how you get ready for those. And if you’re in business then you may just want to hit financial targets or if you’re at university it’s exams.

WORKING BACKWARDS TO ACHIEVE YOUR GOALS

So now we know an end date, right! We know the end date a year away or the competition that’s within that timeframe and we work backwards. So we always begin with the end in mind and we work backwards. And now we need to know what we need to look like, feel like and be like when the competition arrives. Now I’m going to say the word competition, it can just mean a date for your business or exams. So whatever you need to be like then, we have to now construct that, ok over the 12 months. So, ironically when you start today and you decide today what you need to be like, then start being that now. So I was an Olympic gold medallist two years before I actually won it because I made a decision that that’s what I was. So I walked differently, talked differently, acted differently, trained differently because I was an Olympic gold medallist. Higher standards. So you have to lift your standards to the level that it’s going to take to achieve your goal. And be like that now, don’t wait for you to achieve it and then go ‘oh well that’s me’. Do it now because if you do that over the whole year, I guarantee you’ll hit your goal.

BREAKING DOWN OUR GOALS

So we break it down, we break it down into a month or maybe three month chunks. If you’re doing quarterly plans, a monthly chunk, a weekly chunk and a daily chunk. So what are you going to do today and tomorrow to prepare yourself for your performance. So list the daily activities and then it’s like a to-do list and you tick them off. And then at the end of the week you prepare to get ready for the next week. So every night I make sure I’m ready for the next day. I don’t want to go to bed with things in my head, oh, what am I doing tomorrow. I want to know exactly what I’m doing tomorrow. The same with Sunday night, getting ready for the next week. White boards are great. Plan out in your diary draw doodles, write things, find pictures, stick them in your diary and get excited. Have everything you want around you and make sure you do what’s important first. Do the most important first or the hardest first. Often we leave them to last. So no procrastination! Get on with it; get stuck into your day. Break it down throughout the year into daily activities and go and be awesome and achieve your goals. And keep us updated with how you’re going! And feel free to ask any questions! I’m here to answer them! Have a good week.