Working toward Success
Once you have set your goals and have actually worked out a detailed plan, you may feel that you have completed the most difficult part of the process. You are mistaken. While setting goals and devising an action plan to achieve them are very important to actually achieving them, the most challenging part is to keep working on them till you gain success. This is easier said than done and you will find yourself facing many hurdles as you try to get closer and closer to your goals. The steps outlined below will give you some useful advice on how to find ways to keep working on your plan.
1. As you start working on your goals, it is very important to periodically review the progress you have made so that you can understand where you stand, whether you are moving at the required pace or whether for some reason, you are falling behind deadlines. One of the reasons for falling behind maybe that you have decided to aim for too many goals. Select just the important few, in fact, if you so desire, choose only one. This will help you focus all your energy on achieving that one goal, at the end of which you will feel sufficiently inspired to start aiming for others.
2. The best way to start your process of working towards your goal is by starting simple. Do not aim very high. Think of something that you enjoy doing occasionally and may want to do on a more regular basis. Like working out or painting. You may find yourself reaching this goal fairly quickly, which should give you the self-confidence to aim higher; and to try and achieve tougher goals.
3. The best way to work on a goal is to break it up into small, very manageable pieces that you can work on bit by bit every day. Further, from these small steps identify a few, which you can mark as important milestones. Reaching these milestones is a way of reminding you that you are on track and also gives you an opportunity to reward yourself with a small treat.
4. Writing down your goals is a wonderful way of specifying what exactly you want to achieve and what achieving that goal means to you. Writing down something keeps reminding you that this is important to you and you have to be constantly working to achieve them.
5. Take a look at where you are holding from time to time. You should review how far you have reached towards achieving a goal, whether you are meeting deadlines in time and if not what is holding you back. In fact, it may be a good idea to review your progress on a daily basis probably at the end of the day so that you can take the necessary steps to get back on track starting the next day.
6. You may have set some goals in the mistaken notion that the prestige and money that achieving some of them bring, will make you happy and give you a sense of success. However that is not true. What will bring you a sense of success is achieving something that you truly wanted to for the betterment of yourself or your life.
7. The most heard about excuse when you start falling behind deadlines while working on your goals is that you do not have enough time. You may already be working on a job but may want to complete a degree. Attending an evening college may be your only option but then again that is not going to be easy. You are going to have make time for attending classes, working on assignments and preparing for exams. Or you may be a father who has a family to take care and yet you desperately want to get back to painting sometimes. There are many time management tips that you can use to make the most efficient use of your time. Here are just a few.
? Learn to prioritize: After a long tired day, it is understandable if you would like to spend a few hours in front of the TV relaxing. You are hoping that this will help you feel more refreshed so that you can tackle other tasks including those that are mentioned in your action plan. However, the same time could have been used more fruitfully in working towards your goals.
• Learn to say No: When you are already hard pressed for time, you have to learn to say no to those who invite you for social events or even those who ask for your time, even if they may be friends and family. Saying no is sometimes one of the hardest things to do but doing so will save you a lot time.
• Learn to make time: If you do not learn to make time to work on your goals, you will never be able to achieve them and certainly not within the deadlines that you have set for yourself. You have to decide what a good time for you to work on them is – perhaps when the children are at school or maybe early morning when you are really fresh.
8. There may be many times when you feel that you should be satisfied with a much simpler goal, something more easily achievable. Stay firm when doubts start creeping in your mind. You of course, should review your goals and make adjustments to ensure that they stay realistic. However, making them too easy will take away any sense of accomplishment that you may feel when you achieve a tough goal.
There are various tools you could use to keep track of the progress that you are making.
? Write down the action plan down to the last detailed task in a calendar. Write down the starting dates and the deadlines by which you expect the task to be done. The calendar can be any size that is convenient for you. If you would prefer to see it on the wall, pick a bigger one else a handy pocket book calendar will also be good enough. You can enter your notes for each goal, the progress you have made for the day and then when you complete a task, you can have the pleasure of striking it out.
? Keep a journal. This is a very good idea of keeping track of your progress. Not only can you note down all that you managed to accomplish while working on your action plan but you can also include comments that others may have made to you – like some encouraging words or perhaps something inspiring that you read that day. All these will help you stay focused on working towards your goal.
? Share your thoughts, plans and concerns with a friend or family member, someone whom you trust. Review your progress with them regularly so that you can get a different perspective on your problems and maybe get a word of advice on how to handle them.
