5 Tools You Need to Ensure Your Goals Happen

Productivity is not rocket science. But, when you set goals and don’t reach them, it can feel just as impossible as receiving an advance degree in a foreign language.

We all have the tools available to us to be successful goal setters AND achievers. For some, these tools come from within and naturally. It’s true that some peoples’ brains are just wired for seeing the vision, breaking down the tasks, assigning deadlines, and meeting those deadlines without procrastination, overwhelm, panic, or any of the other feelings that the remainder of the population feels. The beautiful thing is that even if the tools you need do not come from within, you CAN access and use them!
You may have set goals for the New Year already. If not, I highly recommend that you do! You can at anytime sit down and think about where you would like to go. If you would like support in doing so, check out Launch, a semi-annual, strategic planning intensive.

Your next step is to ensure that your goals actually come to fruition.  Here are the 5 tools you need:

1 - Set the Time to Work On Your Goal - Your second step after the creation of ANY goals is to grab your calendar and find space to work on it either daily or weekly. Google Calendar, iCal, your paper planner. Write it in. Block out at least 1 hour a week towards your goal. If you don’t yet have room in your schedule for goal work then something else will need to shift. 

2 - Turn Off Distractions While Working -  There are apps to help you with this but the basic idea is to turn off all the things that go beep or pull your attention away for the entire time you are working on your goal whether that is 15 minutes or 1 hour or a full day at a time. Even when you think you can move seamlessly from 1 focus to the text, that context switching is slowing you down by at least twice the time if not more! That means, that BIG goal you have this year, won’t get finished until NEXT year. It’s worth it to turn off Facebook Messenger and shut your office door, don’t you think?

3 - Give Yourself Accountability - If a star sticker on a calendar works for you, then use it. Every day find a way to track your progress and ensure that you are using the time you set aside for goal work. This could be a sticker chart, a reminder on your phone, a checklist app on your phone, an accountability buddy or an Accountability Coach. Did you know that for less than $6/day you can have personalized accountability?

4 - Visualize Your Success - You don’t have to know how you are going to achieve your goal but you do need to know what success looks like. Otherwise, how will you know when you have achieved it? Take time daily (16 seconds is enough!) to imagine your end result and how you will feel.  Journal or keep a video diary or even post on Facebook Live as you talk about your success. This step adds clarity and energy to your work.

5 - Create An Environment That Supports Your Goals  - Like making time in your schedule, you need to make room in your space to work on your goals. A cluttered environment can make it difficult to focus on the work at hand. Even if you simply package everything up to give yourself a clear space to work, it is worth it (Someday you have to go back and sort out what you put away!). Your environment is more than just things. Think about the messages in your space and the people, too. Are they supporting your work?

Right now, achieving your goal may feel like wishful thinking but with these 5 tools you will be unstoppable. What would it be like for you to say, “This is the year that I used the tools I had available and I achieved my goals”?
If you would like support in getting there? Let’s find a time to talk: https://sappari.as.me/StrategyCall

Right now, Momentum Accountability Lite is taking applications. The program will be full at 30 registrations. Give yourself the support you need to get your biggest goals done.  
https://www.sappariconsulting.com/momentumlite.html