It’s surely happened to you: When you begin new cycles in your life, you often set new resolutions with the goal of achieving them. These are achievements that people set out to accomplish in a short period of time: joining a gym, starting a diet, finishing their degree, starting their own business.
But little by little, the goals you set begin to slip away, and you find it increasingly difficult to achieve them. This is often met with various explanations that are nothing more than excuses for not doing what you had planned.
If you’ve reached the middle of the year and are wondering what to do to achieve your goals and get back to your resolutions, here are some tips to help you turn dreams into reality:
Below you will see 7 tips to achieve your goals step by step:
- Define goals
- Dimension the desired results
- Order your priorities
- Set dates
- Divide your progress into stages
- Develop the action plan
- Act now
1. Define specific goals
The difference between wishes and goals is that the former are merely ideals that you hope will be fulfilled over time. A goal, on the other hand, is an objective that you set for yourself and for which you develop a plan of action. As obvious as this detail may seem, you must be clear that, unless you truly decide to take action to achieve your projects, your dreams won’t come true on their own. Before asking yourself , “What should I do to achieve my goals?”, the question you must ask yourself is , “What do I really want?” This is important to know where to start.
For example:
Would you like to open a food establishment? Your own craft shop? Learn something new? Think about what you really want to achieve , how you want it to be, and be prepared to work on it.
Be as specific as possible about what you want to do. Write down your goals in a notepad or notebook. Making a list of resolutions will help you focus and feel like you’re actually working toward something concrete. It’s much more effective than just saying it, as your brain has a “visual reinforcement” of the resolution.
2. Measure the desired results
Once you have your list of goals to achieve, define how far you want to go with them in a year: One-Year Objectives. Define each of your objectives so that their achievement is measurable and you can later evaluate how far you’ve come.
For example, if one of your goals is to save $2,000 for a trip, don’t just say “I want to save.”
You have to put numbers to it: “I want to save X amount of money each month until I reach that amount in December.”
The idea is that, starting with your goal achieved that year, you can set new milestones. So, next December, if you’ve already saved US$1,500, you can set a closer date for the US$2,000 you’ve been aiming for.
Same with the rest of your goals, write down how many of them you will achieve over the course of the year.
3. Order your priorities
If you have several projects in mind, define which ones have priority and which ones you will work on the most. Maybe you’re not as urgent about launching new services for your business as you are about acquiring new clients. Or maybe saving for a trip isn’t as important as investing in a postgraduate or master’s degree.
Prioritize each of the goals you want to achieve so you can focus on what you most need to accomplish. This way, by having an action plan, you’ll know what to focus on the most.
4. Set dates
Just as important as knowing where you want to go and what you want to achieve first is defining when you need the results to materialize. This way, you commit to working toward meeting the established deadline. What doesn’t have a date probably never gets done.
For example, if your goals are to join the gym and study something new, set a date for your gym start and what time you’ll sign up. Call and ask for the time you’ll sign up, set aside the money, write it down on your phone’s calendar, and have them let you know the day beforehand that “tomorrow at such-and-such a time you must go and pay the registration fee.” Make a commitment to yourself to go and pay for it.
Then, the course: Schedule when you’re going to start, how long it will last, and what time you’ll do it. Write it down and schedule it as if it were a commitment someone else had made for you. And don’t let it pass.
The same goes for any goal you have. Set a start and end date.
5. Divide your progress into stages
At first, your goals may seem difficult to achieve, whether because they are long-term or because you consider them ambitious. But you don’t have to feel intimidated. Achieving your goals requires taking it one step at a time.
Think about how each project should progress and define stages where you can stop to observe and review results .
For example, if your plan is to develop a new product, define:
- When will you have the finished design?
- Date on which you will manufacture the prototype
- Testing and bug fixing
- Production start date
- etc.
This way, you’ll be delving deeper into the details of your New Year’s resolution and you’ll be able to take the next step.
6. Develop your action plan
Once you’ve defined what you want to achieve, how much, and by when, it’s time to start defining how. That is, what specific actions you will take to start your new venture and achieve your goals. If, for example, you want to manufacture something new, you can write down things like:
Conduct a market analysis, enroll in a course to train you in its production, obtain raw materials, acquire new equipment to produce it…
A list of actions to take to make it happen, each with a scheduled date. Everything in as much detail as possible.
Define each step within the stages of your project, considering what and how much you will need to carry them out.
7. Stop procrastinating and act: Get to work right now
As simple as it sounds. Stop saying you’ll do it and just do it. You’ve got the plan, the next step is executing it.
Don’t wait for the new year, or next semester, or next week … If there’s any reason you’re not starting to work toward your goals today , let it be because you already had another commitment scheduled that you need to honor.
*See how to eliminate distractions and be more productive
But don’t ever allow yourself to say “I’ll start next week,” because what will happen is that week you’ll decide you’ll do it on the weekend; on the weekend you’ll say you’ll do it on Monday; and on Monday, you’ll do it next month.
This is how time flies for many people. Work time passes, vacation time arrives, then they go back to work, and then they forget about their resolutions and goals.
Don’t let it keep happening to you. Start now, because “later” is just an excuse not to commit to achieving the things you want today.
In summary
There’s a famous saying that people don’t get what they deserve, but what they bargain for. Or in this case, what they work for. Work for what you want to achieve and leave the excuses behind.
There’s no better time than now. Follow these tips to start your new projects, achieve your goals, and accomplish everything you’ve set out to do.
Now that you know what it takes to achieve your goals and how to create a follow-up plan, it’s time to get started. Good luck and success!
