I learned years ago to pace my goals so I don’t quit three weeks in, as so many of us do after making New Year’s resolutions. Whether you’re a practitioner of making resolutions or not, we all make plans and set goals. I’ve got some tips for you that I use myself to make sure I actually ACCOMPLISH those goals!
Ready to get started? Click the button below for a free printable that will help you pace your goals and actually reach them!
Prefer to read instead of watch? Here you go!
One of my favorite subjects is designing your life. We’re taught to do New Year’s resolutions every January, figure out how you’re going to be the new you. And all the research shows that by the third week in January, it’s all tossed out. Maybe you do one or two of them. But for the most part, eh.
I think sometimes it’s because we’ve only been taught to check in with ourselves one time a year, right? So, like with anything, in any aspect of life, if you only do it one time a year, is it successful?
Some of the research I read years ago said that your brain takes three months to figure out how to create the idea that you’ve put down on paper. You should never do things once a year. You should always be doing things quarterly.
You should always be reviewing things with regularity.
We have these big, huge, crazy, audacious goals of what we want to be doing with our lives. But when we break it down into smaller points, even daily, we know what we should be doing to make these crazy, big dreams happen. But then you’re checking in with regularity to keep yourself on task.
One of the things that we’ve always taught in my family is that sometimes, your brain takes time to figure out how to make your desires happen.
This is something that I’ve just always gone by. I’ve always taught my kids by. You can do this for your family, too, because I think it’s so fun and powerful.
So, let’s go through the steps (and when you’re done, click the button below for a free printable to help you put this into action).
Break it down
Step One – Make a brain dump page. Brain dump all the things you want to accomplish. This does not have to have a timetable. Like, I want to jump out of a plane. I want to own an island. I want to learn how to fly a helicopter. Those are some things on our family’s crazy lifelong dream list. Then you keep that running total. Have a piece of paper up and add to it whenever you get another idea.
Step Two – Sit down, generally once a year, and review your top five to 10 things you want to have accomplished by the end of that year. One of them that’s on our list is my husband gets to start residency. We know that’s going to be a big event, so what are some things that we want to do before he starts residency? We want to take some time off and travel together as a family. So that’s on that list. Plan what you want to do for the year.
Step Three – Then, we chunk it back. For this to happen, look at what must be done by a certain date (think quarterly). Then add those things into your calendar. Then if that must be done, what has to occur on a monthly level? And then, if that must occur on a monthly level, what has to occur on a weekly level?
Step Four – Check in often! I sit down with myself every week, take a little bit of space and time to sit down. I review the things that I need to accomplish this week so that I can stay on task for my monthly goals. And then once a month, I sit down and say, how did I do? Am I on task?
Here’s what I know needs to happen for the next month. And then I do it once a quarter. And then I do it at six months. And then, of course, I do once a year too.
Those micro-check-ins keep me on track to accomplishing my goals.
Make it fun
Have fun with this. Create a memory. We did this with our family with a tri-board.
Also, super helpful is to consider your values. It’s simple. You can print off 100 values, or go online, and search 100 values, and it will give you words. See what words resonate with you, what words you want somebody to speak about you, and what you want somebody to speak maybe about your family, or what you’d want your family to say. This helps prioritize your dream list as you compare your values with your goals.
It is time to get out the roadmap for your life and create it for yourself. Create it for your family. Teach your children how to do this, too. Watch how, if you start doing this with regularity, you will find that you’ll bump into the person you need to bump into. Somebody will know somebody. You’ll bring it up in conversation, and then lo and behold, the answer of the exact person you needed to talk to is there.
It has happened year after year after year. It’s so phenomenal. It’s so much fun to watch. And I can’t wait for you to do this with your family and then report back all the fun stuff that occurs! Leave your stories in the comments below!
Ready to get started? Click the button below for a free printable that will help you pace your goals and actually reach them!
Recent Comments