A Wish with a Vision becomes a Dream
A Dream with an Action Plan becomes a Goal
A Goal with a Deadline becomes an Achievement
Challenge Yourself
A good goal is the one that scares you the most. We have to challenge ourselves in life otherwise, there might never be growth. To reach new goals you set for yourself, you must step out of your comfort zone.
Your comfort zone is the place in your life where you are content. You feel safe and secure in the everyday familiar things. You have to step out of this and challenge yourself.
The moment you step out of your comfort zone to take a chance on new things, you will step into the fear zone. At this point, you will start giving yourself excuses and “reasons” not to try this new venture or chase this new goal. This is where low self-confidence and self-doubt creep in, and we tend to listen to the opinions of others even though it has no merit in our journey.
These two zones (the comfort and fear zone) are very disempowering, and you need to get out of them as quickly as possible if you want to make any progress toward your new goal. Stop listing to others. Stop doubting yourself. Start believing in yourself and start taking chances.
The next zone you will step into if you get out of the fear zone is the learning zone, where you will start learning new skills, get new knowledge, and start to grow. You will gain confidence, and you will start feeling a lot more motivated.
The last zone is the growth zone, where self-actualization happens. You will find your purpose, mission, and vision. You will start feeling fulfilled, and you will achieve the dreams and goals you have for yourself.
The important thing to be aware of is that this will start to feel comfortable and familiar at some point. You will fall back into your comfort zone. This is when you need to challenge yourself again to repeat this process.
Select a Goal
Now that you are aware of the states or zones you can be in, you need to start working on your goals. It is good to have a few, but for now, let’s select only one to start with. A goal can be as big or as small as you want it to be. A big goal can even have multiple smaller goals, each with its own strategies.
If you do not have a goal yet, here are a few ideas for you to think about:
- Do you want to buy a new house/car?
- Do you want to start a new hobby?
- Do you want to enrol in a course or get some sort of education?
- Do you want to get your Degree/Honours/Masters?
- Do you want to relocate to another town/city/province/country?
- Do you want to go on THAT holiday that you’ve always dreamed of?
- Are you planning to get married?
- Do you want to lose weight?
- Do you just want to start living more healthy?
- Where do you want to be by the end of this year / or next year?
- What position do you want at work?
- What achievements do you want?
- Do you want to start a new career?
- Do you want to start your own business?
- Do you want to work for another company?
Write down a few ideas and see what stands out for you. What do you feel is the most important thing you want to focus on NOW? Let’s start with that goal.
Do a “Brain Dump”
Grab a packet of sticky notes and a pen for this exercise. This exercise is now focused just on the one goal you selected, and everything you do from here on relates to that goal.
Step 1: Write one topic/idea/thing on each card. Anything you can think of relating to that goal you chose. Only one word or idea per card.
- What resources do you need for this goal?
- What resources do you have for this goal?
- What tools and technology do you need?
- People – Who do you need to help you? A coach, mentor, friend?
- What budget do you need, and how will you get the funding?
Write down as many things as you can think of.
Step 2: Arrange them in similar groups/categories.
Step 3: Give each group/category a name on a different colour note or in a different colour pen
Build your “Grid”
Take all the sticky notes/cards and build a grid. Each category with the topics underneath.
In this example, the Magenta note is the main goal. The Green notes are the categories. The others are all the ideas and topics you came up with.
On the back of each note/card (or in front if you have enough space), write down the answers to the following questions for that specific topic on the note:
- What do I need to do to get/do/find/afford/achieve/complete this?
- Level of importance: Low / Medium / High?
- By what date will I complete/get/do this?
This entire grid that you built now forms your to-do list for your goal. Now you do not need to focus on the big goal, you only need to focus on the smaller individual steps/micro-goals.
Use this grid as a checklist. Draw a line or a cross through each one as you complete it. This will give you many smaller victories on the way to the big goal and help you stay focused and motivated.
Another important thing to do is to celebrate each little victory. Every time you cross one out, be sure to properly celebrate it in any way you want.
Mindset & Planning
To help you stay motivated and prepare for the unexpected, here are 10 questions I want you to answer in as much detail as possible.
Question 1
By when do you want to complete this goal?
Give a realistic and specific date that you can aim for and stick to. If one of the items on your list will take 5 months, don’t make your goal date 2 months from now. Look at your grid and calculate how long it will take you to complete all the steps in your to-do list.
Question 2
- Who can support you while working to reach this goal?
- And when will you contact them to ask for their help?
Mentor/Coach/A Family Member/A Friend/Accountability Partner/An Employee or Employer?
Question 3
HOW specifically can they support you?
- Do/get something for/with you?
- Guide you?
- Teach/train you?
- Hold you accountable?
Question 4
Is there anything that can get in your way or stop you from achieving this goal?
- Fear
- Self-doubt
- Other people’s opinions
- Time
- Work
- Family
- Other responsibilities
Question 5
How will you prevent this?
Give as much detail for each (in question 4) so that you’ll be prepared to deal with it if and when it happens.
Question 6
How will you know you completed this goal?
Will you see/hear/feel/taste/smell something? Will you hold something in your hand? Will there be a physical thing in place? What will the end result be that you will physically observe/experience?
Question 7
How will you celebrate it once you achieved this goal?
- Party
- Champaign with someone
- Celebration dance
- Skydiving
- Picnic on the beach
Question 8
Who will you celebrate it with?
When will you contact them to inform them that you are working on this goal and they must celebrate with you once you achieved it?
Question 9
What should you START and/or STOP doing TODAY to help you achieve this goal faster?
Question 10
What is the first step to getting started, and WHEN will you take this first step?
Whenever you feel stuck, instead of “I can’t do this!” rather ask yourself, “How can I do this?”
Recap
- We determined the goal that you want to focus on first.
- We created a logical outline and to-do list for you to follow with all the steps you need to take.
- We wrote down what you needed to do to take each of these steps.
- We gave each step a level of importance so that you can prioritise them.
- We figured out what you need, who you need, and how you will achieve the goal.
- We determined how you will know that you’ve completed it, how you will celebrate it, and who you will celebrate it with.
- We made a list of possible obstacles and determined how you would deal with each if it should come up.
Want to delve a bit deeper into your goals?
I hope you can see that you now have a great strategy to reach that goal that almost seemed impossible?
You got a great strategy today, but you can go even deeper into this if you wanted to.
If that is something you’d interested in, book your 2-hour private goal-setting workshop today.
