decisions Archives - The Goalden Lady

4 Tips To Planning Your Goal Effectively

We think up big and small goals on the regular. Anything from what we will eat in the morning to how we will plan for retirement. No goal is too great or insignificant, but it still involves mental and physical action to get the best outcome.

It seems like pursuing a goal should be as easy as moving forward with everything already in place, but it’s not magic. Your life is in your hands and the results come down to the basics of strategic planning and decisions.

Goal-Making Questions

Every goal should be actionable, but some will require deeper thought. Here are some goal-making questions to ask yourself:

What do you want? If you don’t know what you want, how will you get there? It’s a simple question, but a lot of people act without knowing exactly what they want. Knowing what you really want will give you the best possible results. Write it down, detail by detail.
How will you start? Some people believe you need to have all of the stars aligned before you can start. That’s not true – you simply start where you are, with what you have. Take note of your resources and figure out how to move the needle. Everyone doesn’t have the same advantage when starting – some will have more, some will have less, but you must make it a point to focus on yourself and start where you are. If you don’t, you’ll be in the same place as you were before.
What can you change? This is where a lot of people get stuck in life. They worry about things not going their way or some circumstances that didn’t turn out in their favor. Although you aren’t able to control what happens, you CAN control how you react and what to do moving forward. You can’t control everything, so learn to adapt and adjust. When you give up the anxiety and stress of worrying, you’ll quickly begin to see improvement.
What can I do to move it forward? Working on your goals and strategies takes focused work, but don’t forget to take some time and have a little fun. When you make time to take a break, you allow your mind to breathe and create more ideas and figure out challenges. Visualize and create your blueprint – improve it as you go along.

Productive Habits Will Get You There

It takes daily practice to drive yourself towards your dream. Prepare a set of helpful habits that will guide you into working on your goals daily. This helps out, even when you don’t “feel like” following through.

Self-improvement is a lifelong task. Having focus, discipline and resilience will make that journey a little easier. Once you accomplish one goal, there’s always a bigger and better one to go after. Put your goal in place with these tips and become the successful person that you visualize!

#BeGoalden

#TBT: Don’t Make Your Goals Harder Than They Are

Thinking about chasing our goals and dreams can seem intimidating. There are no instructions on how to get there, so you have to create your own path through trial and error. This causes us to overthink and make the task harder than it really is.

When we scroll through social media, we see endless posts of people who are supposedly successful and living their dream life. They appear to have already accomplished their goals and want to show you how awesome it is.

Living your dream can be awesome, but don’t get caught up with what you see. If you ask half of those people how they got there, most of them are unable to tell you because it’s all fake. They’re living in someone’s dream world, just not theirs.

Getting started is not as hard as you think.

Don’t make it difficult, just because you don’t have a blueprint. If you consider these 3 tips, you will be able to begin your journey and achieve your goals.

Get clear on what you are doing. Your mind is truly your best asset. Use it to think through your plans and set mini-goals along the way. Do your research and find out what you need, just enough to get started. Don’t be indecisive – you want a fair amount of information, but not too much to where you won’t begin. Once you become clear and take action, some of your journey will unfold before you and guide you to what’s next.
Being overwhelmed doesn’t have to happen. Things can seem overwhelming in your mind. When you see someone who has accomplished their goals, your mind instantly thinks, ‘how do I get there?’ You think of all of the things they had to do to get there and it seems like so much. This can lead to procrastination, but remember, if you don’t start, you won’t finish. It’s not going to happen all in one day, but the key is to take the first step.
Distractions will hinder your progress. There are a million distractions around us, waiting for you to give up your attention to them. Whatever takes your attention away from what’s in front of you is a distraction. Recognize what they are and keep them away. When you see or hear it, put it back in it’s place, somewhere where it won’t bother you. Your job is to remain focused on your task, so you can improve your chances of reaching your goal.

Success Isn’t Easy…

…but it’s not that hard, either. When you figure out what needs to be done and stop allowing your feelings and other distractions to get in your way, it’s very obtainable.

Why not think that you are able to do it? Believe in yourself and disable the negative chatter in your head. It’s just as easy to say, “I can do it, ” as it is to say, “I’ll never be able to do it.” Always put your energy towards positive thoughts.

Take Ownership Of Your Choices

Be aware of your outer environment, as well as what goes on in your head. You could be the reason why you haven’t started – it’s not always something on the outside. You are in charge. Make the right decision and believe that you can do it.

You can only blame your circumstances and your upbringing for so long. Be in control of your thoughts and know that it’s not as hard as you make it out to be.

#BeGoalden

You Know What To Do, So What’s The Hold Up?

Why do we have to trick ourselves into building habits and reaching our goals? There’s a hack for almost everything, but deep down inside, you know you can do it without all of the bells and whistles.

Our ancestors didn’t need hacks to do anything. It was a matter of life or death and they just did it. Have we become so lazy that we need incentives and tricks to force us to do everything?

Making The Right Decision

You know what you need to do. Making it pretty and convincing shouldn’t keep you from achieving the end result. Stop looking for ways to make it easier and just do it.

If you know you need to lose weight, lose it. There’s really no need to join a weight program. Some people do it for the social aspect of it, but essentially, you can lose weigh on your own.

We’ve become soft. We want someone to hold our hands and tell us that everything will work out and be okay. We want someone to tell us how proud they are of us for showing up 3 days in a row.

Ultimately, you make the decision to lose the weight. It’s nice to have a partner who is holding you accountable, but it’s not necessary. In most cases, it only makes you more dependable on them and not yourself.

It Doesn’t Need To Be Pretty And Right

So what if you did it wrong? As long as you’re still breathing, you have another chance to do better.

Taking action beats perfection. Perfection is a form of procrastination and it will keep you in the same place for long periods of time.

It’s like when you are writing and you’re afraid to hit publish. Why? Because you’re scared of what others will think and say. It doesn’t ‘feel’ right.

You don’t need to go through a 12 step program in order to hit the publish button. Yes, it’s scary, but what’s the worst thing that could happen? You never know who will gain value from reading what you wrote. Even if you gain a couple of trolls, that just means you’re doing it right because they’re paying attention.

You Already Know What To Do

Whatever it is you need to do, you already know the steps to accomplish it. The challenge is in your mind and starting.

Continuing with the weight example, you know the consequences of not eating healthy. For some reason though, you feel you need a pretty little app to get started and a weekly group to report to.

Have faith in yourself – you already know what to do! Stop overthinking and depending on other little gadgets and groups to pull you through. Don’t make it hard on yourself. There’s no need to pay $50 a month for someone to tell you something that you already know how to do.

It’s All On You

In the end, it’s all on you and the actions you decide to take. In your heart of hearts, you know what needs to be done, but your mind has to make the connection to the activity, in order to achieve the result.

We encounter many distractions and it’s difficult to find our own thoughts and think for ourselves. It’s easy to go along with someone else’s idea, but what about your idea? What do you think?

It’s nice to have an accountability partner and join groups that help us get to the next level. Having that support can make things easier to handle and accomplish, but it holds you back when you begin to depend on it to reach your goals.

It’s Like Riding A Bike

When you learn to ride a bike, there’s someone there to guide you and hold your seat so you won’t fall. Once you gain your confidence, they let go and you can ride on your own. Even if you fall every now and then, you know how to get back on and ride again. There’s no need for them to hold your seat again, because you know what to do.

Later in life, when you’re older, do you look for that person to hold your seat? No, because you know how to do it on your own. You can have bike buddies who ride along with you, but you are also capable of riding by yourself.

It’s the same with life. There are times when we need guidance and for someone to show us how it’s done, but when you learn it, you can go on by yourself without needing and depending on them all the time.

You don’t need other people like you think you do. Bet on yourself. You can do this. You’ll be surprised at the great amount of progress you can make independently.

Today, choose one thing that you will do by yourself, without relying on someone else. You know what to do – do it and make progress with your life.

#BeGoalden