5 Ways to Stay Motivated and Reach Your Goals

We’re already heading into the final week of quarter one in 2021, and as we say in the business world, it is time to reflect on the start of the year and assess if your company is on track to hit their goals. Ironically even if we’re off the mark, we are also finalizing another set of aggressive plans for the next three months. 

Personally, I find that this is the time of the year where that January mindset starts to burn out. Between aggressive personal and professional goals, I have found that this is when I mentally fall into bad habits and patterns that I worked so hard on to address over the past ten weeks or so. 

This year has been different. I have said it a few times; 2021 to me is the year of offense. If 2020 was about defense, 2021 is about moving forward. One of the reasons I attempted the 4x4x48 Challenge a few weeks ago was just that, going on the offense and attacking something I didn’t think was possible. 

Let’s take a look at five ways to stay motivated and reach your goals. 

1. Think Short-Term

Difficult goals are a daily grind, not just a montage of work over time. Take action every day and plan for daily challenges that could get in the way of what you want to achieve. Implement small changes you can apply now--these add up fast. My business follows the Rockefeller Habits found in Verne Harnish’s Scaling Up book and one practice I’ve adopted is the OPPP or the One Page Personal Plan. This gives me the ability to map out goals over 30/60/90 days as well as visualize where I want to be personally in the next 25 years. Now, I just said think short-term, but you have to start visualizing how these changes add up to a lifetime of fulfillment (see #5).

2. Hard is OK 

You're trying to grow. Your goals should create pressure while having to make sacrifices. Your mind will be tested. Whatever you’re doing everyday or not doing everyday is easy. I'm not saying you’re not working hard, but if it’s what you do daily, then you’ve adapted and made those habits part of your everyday life. Goal setting shakes that up. You’re raising the bar to new standards (increasing your capacity) and in doing so, attempting new and probably hard things. Growth comes from pressure and pressure is hard. Embrace it and learn more about yourself through the process. 

3. Make Your Goals Known

No one can read minds. Nobody will understand or know unless you make them. Too many people keep their goals to themselves, always like they are afraid to admit them outloud. Well, I’m going to tell you that not only do the people who love you want to know, but they’ll likely turn around and tell you they want something similar or that they are willing to start setting goals because you are. Making your goals known also creates accountability. You can check in with someone and they can support you by pushing you not to give up.

  

4. Be Accountable (even if only to yourself)

Accountability can be self-driven. I don’t always recommend grading your own homework, but if you can be honest with yourself, then you can keep yourself on track. I created a scoring system for myself; daily tasks that add up to a score. If I slip, my score slips and if I fall under a certain weekly total, then I lose… and start over. Seeing data like that, showing progress and even failures really picks me up. It can create a lot of momentum.

My 2021 goal scoreboard

5. Visualize the Results 

Be inspired. As I mentioned earlier, while I attack each day as it comes, I also really try to focus on results. What it looks like when I achieve my goal, how will I feel, who benefits and what my life looks like with a consistent track record of reaching my goals. The OPPP exercise allows me to line up short-term actions with long-term goals. It covers things like family, finance, fitness, friends and faith. The cool part is these also snap professional goals and work/life choices into place. 

Conclusion

The overall idea of goals can be a tiring process that is certainly not going to happen over night. It takes time, and it’s not a steady climb. But, through this process, over time you will get to where you want to go. Just remember to think short-term, know that hard is OK, make your goals known, be accountable, and visualize the results. This will keep you motivated and allow you to reach your goals. So, as I said earlier, 2021 is the year of offense. And if we’re going to be on the offense in 2021, it’s imperative that we are motivated to reach new heights.

I’ll see you on June 30th.