1. Have a main goal
There is definitely a lot of stuff you want to do and achieve in a new year. But if you have 10 different ones, after a while, you feel like you are having 10 different jobs to keep up with. The trick is to pick out one that truly matters to you, focus on that one thing, do everything you can to work towards that goal. This one goal becomes your focus point, and you always keep it in your head. Example: want to save more money? Start cooking at home, make a list before you go shopping, and brew your own coffee. See? These are little things that ends up huge savings in one year. And it’s great driving factor to keep doing to achieve that goal.
2. Have a goal, not a wish
A wish is a goal without a plan. A goal is something that you have carefully planned and calculated on how and by when you can achieve the goal. A wish is, I want to save more money. A goal is, I want to save 50K by 6th September. A goal is something strong that you really want to make it come true; you do everything and anything to take a step forward to get to that finish line. So, make a goal, not a wish. Plan everything and focus on it. That will make your goal realistic.
3. Have smaller achievements on the way
Most of us have goals we target for and most often than not, we only celebrate our milestones. However, it’s important to celebrate the small successes just as much as the accomplishments.
A better way is to have smaller goals as well as the big ones. For example, have you actually shopped around for insurance quotes? We take it for granted that most insurance companies are quoting standard prices but you’d be surprised if you really care to look into the details like sum insured, occupation classification and so on.
Taking time to celebrate your small achievements will give you a sense of accomplishment which may help you tackle your larger goals. You can celebrate with small treats such as treating yourself to a nice ice-cream! It really doesn’t matter how you celebrate as long as you acknowledge your job well done.
4. Start with the end in mind
We all have obstacles we need to find a way around. In life, it may be balancing your family life with work, or perhaps squeezing in time to build your side business around your full-time job. Whatever your current situation, it may help to write down your obstacles together with a resolution plan to help you get over them.
For example, if you have very little time to build your business, write a realistic plan to keep you on track. Even if you only have four hours a week, it’s much more realistic to write that down than to aim for ten hours and end up disappointed.
5. Tell everyone
When you are planning on doing something big, tell everyone you know about it first. How does this action help you? You actually get more motivated and determined to achieve your goal. Just to prove those naysayers that they were wrong!