Goals - 8 actionable tips to achieve your goals

8 Tips you can act on immediately to live the life of your dreams and become happy

Goals – no matter how big or small – pave the way to the life of your dreams. That´s why everyone is talking about goals and how to achieve them.

730 Mio. search results on google for “achieve goals”. That says it all right?

But in order to achieve your goals, you must have a dream, a direction to where you want to go, so you set your goals.

And setting your goals is only the first step of many. Otherwise you would have achieved all your goals by now, right?

Se let me share with you how I tackle my goals and how many successful people do as well.

Keep a Journal

If you only do one resolution this year. Make it keeping a journal.

Journaling makes you happier, more forgiving to yourself, more successful in whatever you do and so self-aware.

Personally, I started keeping a journal only three months ago. It changed my life!

I am more balanced and happier. More forgiving to myself (and my husband). Have my skin picking under control. Exercise nearly daily. And finally signed up for an online community for female digital nomads (which I intended to do for so long). And continued this blog. 🙂

Find out what kind of journaling works best for you. Have one for all or multiple journals. Write daily or weekly. Have a gratitude or career journal. Most importantly, start writing!

Reflect on the past

Before starting to change your life, take some time to reflect on your past and be thankful how far you have come.

Be thankful for your successes AND your failures. Failure always teaches us something. And only with learning we can develop.

Write it all down. You will see patterns in your life. What works for YOU and what seems always come between you and your goals?

Last year, I started reflecting very general. Places I´ve visited. House- and petsits I´ve done. People I met. This year I went a bit deeper and realized I needed this year to get to know myself, my values, my priorities.

Embrace the struggle is the best advice a book could give me this year. And now I am ready to start thankful and full of motivation and inspiration!

If you need some help to get started. There are many freebies out there to help you reflect. I used a guide by Digital Nomad Girls. They also have one to review this decade. It takes some time. But it´s so worth it. To think about where you´ve been 10years ago.

(Me in New Zealand, right between finishing school and studying Medicine. How plans can change…)

Find out your wHY

Knowing your WHY helps you to commit. It keeps you motivated and focused when you get distracted and want to bail on your goals.

This year I quit dairy, which was hard for me. I love cheese. And coming from Germany nearly all dishes I used to cook contained some sort of dairy. So basically I had to change my whole diet. But knowing that I did it to treat my acne and to heal my thyroid helped me to go through.

Your why has a lot to do with your values. Once you know your values you see why you are where you are. Why you are happy or maybe not (yet).

Making decision gets so much easier when knowing your WHY. And it helps creating and concentrating on the bigger picture. Especially for business goals/career goals.

Define your HOW

So you know your WHY. Now it´s time to define HOW you want to achieve your goals.

Knowing your how is about dividing your goal into little steps. Steps you need to take to get there. It´s about creating new habits. And changing existing habits.

For every goal, there is at least one habit you need to change, leave behind or create. And that isn´t easy. So understand what habits are and how they work. To make them work for you.

Habits help to reach the steps along the way to success. But habits take time. Which is why having too many goals at once can be counterproductive.

One habit at a time

It´s the new year. You have all these New Year resolutions and goals and are highly motivated. But after the first month it´s hard to keep up all the changes. To work on all your goals you want to achieve.

So prioritize! Make a plan! And change your life one habit at a time.

One resolution for me in 2019 was to read more. Which I did. Not as much as I wanted. And not as frequently as I planned. But I read about a book a month. And that is an improvement. One book I started and definitely will continue in 2020 is “52 small changes for the Mind” by Brett Blumenthal.

The book is great to implement healthy habits without having to make all the research what you should do for a healthier, happier you. It also is about taking the time to implement a new habit. The book suggest one new habit each week, making it a perfect good night reading on a Sunday night.

Nowadays we want it all at once. But changing/creating habits takes time. We need time to change.

Track your goals

And when you read your new habit for the week. Why not track your habits/ goals from last week.

Because sometimes we forget our goals. Or forget how far we´ve already come. So tracking your goals in your journal, a goal planner, an app, whatever you like, helps to focus, to stay on track and to stay motivated, to keep going.

The best way and frequency to track your goals and habits depends on the goal and on you.

For my blog I use the monthly meetings at my online community. For everything else my journal and my Clever Fox Planner (an undated daily planner for 6 months).

Just try and find out what best works for YOU.

If you are more into apps I highly recommend “Repeat Habit tracker”. Its simple, intuitive, free, has a reminder and is perfect if you travel a lot. Just create a habit you want to implement and set a reminder. It also lets you divide your habits into groups and writing down your WHYs. It takes a while to put everything in it. But it is so satisfying to mark it all as “done”!

Just Start

For a very, very long time, actually til this year, I thought all I need is the right motivation.

I thought that motivation will strike one day and I will finally start and achieve all the things I always wanted.

Have a successful blog. Be fit and do all the things I always wanted to do.

Last year I finally realized motivation is not magically going to strike. Motivation comes AFTER you start doing things. And it´s been a game changer. Read “The motivation myth” by Jeff Haden and you will understand.

Don´t wait for motivation. Don´t wait for the right time. Don´t wait for life to happen! Skip the excuses! JUST START!

Reflect and adapt

Once you actually start. Things will happen. Good and bad. Successes and failures. Make sure to take the time to reflect on your goals to keep you on track and to be proud how far you came.

Yes, life can be so busy that we often don´t have the time to reflect on our goals. But it´s important to reflect. And at least once a month you should reflect. Set up a meeting with yourself to celebrate all successes AND failures. Put it in your journal.

If you succeed, be proud. Enjoy the moment. Treat yourself. Look back on how you achieved your goal and apply what worked into your other areas of life.

When you fail (and you will, it´s part of success), take the time to embrace it. And get to the reason. Was the goal too big? Did something change in your life? Any unforeseen circumstances? Lack of commitment? Lack of motivation? Go back to your why and how. Adapt your plan, adapt your goal and continue.

Commitment and grit is what makes you succeed. Read “Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance” by Angela Duckworth and you will see your life and other peoples successes in a total different way.

Hold yourself accountable

Accountability is about taking responsibility for your actions. Giving you control over your goals. Leaving you in charge. In charge of your life.

The best way to keep yourself accountable is writing. Write down your goal, the steps towards it, a deadline and your reward when you reach your goal.

Let me know in the comments what goals you have and how you plan to achieve them. Maybe you have some tips for me?! I´d love to hear them!

And as always sharing is caring. So share this blog post with your friends, family and social media to help them achieve their goals.

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Just start. Reflect. Adapt. Keep doing the work.

nanesworld.com