Chances are if you’ve done goals before and you’re watching this video and searching for this kind of thing, then you’ll understand that you can’t just put the goal of “Save the World” down and expect to get it accomplished. There are different ways to approach goals and I don’t think there’s one tool or one method that works for every single goal. For instance, if it’s a really detailed goal, then you probably need to make it smart: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound.
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However if it’s not that specific, maybe it’s a little less stringent, than you can go something like the standard, “What’s the purpose? When do I want to get it done by and what’s the first step I can do?” There’s different ways to do things and different techniques. But either way, just about any goal you have on the worst day you’ve had in a long time is going to seem insurmountable and completely, utterly boring and dwindling to your motivation.
It’s those days when you need to have small enough chunks that you can check off and consider “wins,” like little boosts, little bursts of fuel to your goal accomplishing and motivational rockets. Now, if this is a matter of saying, well, I want to do Task A and there are four steps to it. The first one is making sure I’ve planned what’s going to happen in ten steps or less. That takes 10 minutes or less.
Boom, you’ve got a mini goal that you can check off and you’ve gotten started, and that’s a tiny win. The next time you look at it, even if you take a break right then and there, you can tell yourself, “Hey, I’ve already started this project. The wheels are in motion. I’ve got something down, now I just need to follow it and implement it.” That’s what you have to do. You have to have, not necessarily external, but accountability to yourself, and it just feels good to win. I know there are differences between motivations and how people like to get things done.
Some people are motivated just by the task and don’t like to have the final goal done for various reasons. One, probably because there’s nothing right after that and that can be kind of bothersome, and I’d say “Well, do more stuff.” But some people really, really have to have a regular checking of those goals and accomplishments before they feel fulfilled and motivated to keep on.
If you’re one of those people -which I fall into that category a lot of times – I always boil things down into chunks that I can do in 15, 20 minutes or an hour time blocks. If I’m feeling really junky, I’m aiming for those 15 minute tasks. Because you know what? I can do those 15 minutes.
Even if I have to get up, walk around the house a little bit, read something, do some push ups, whatever, and come back and do another 15 minutes – well you know what? That’s 15 to 30 minutes that I didn’t have done before and closer to that hour goal of being where I need to be. So use small chunks to get you that motivation and to get your goals that much closer and you can feel like a winner too.