Does it feel like every time you set up a goal it falls apart? Do you start something new and run with it for a couple of weeks but after one slip-up it becomes a challenge to get back into it? Whatever the reason for those slip-ups, I’m going to tell you about a few tips and tricks that have helped me achieve my goals without giving up; starting with SMART goals.
You’re so SMART
If you haven’t heard of the term “SMART goals”, they are the SMART way of creating goals… see what I did there? When your goals are well-defined, they help you have a clear understanding of what needs to be done to stay on track.
“SMART” stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Since this topic has been covered numerous times, I’ll link to a University Article that explains how to create these goals in great detail.
When I first created goals, they were basic. I would say something like “I want to lose weight”, but not have a well defined plan on how to achieve it. When I changed my goals to SMART goals, it helped me lay out a plan kind of like an outline.
My new goals started sounding something like – “My goal is to lose 25lbs by June by following a workout regimen and spending 5 or more hours at the gym every week. This will increase my happiness by giving me the body I want before our summer vacation.” As you can see it’s a lot more detailed and helps break your large goal into smaller chunks.
Goal setting is extremely important. Once you’ve created your SMART goals make sure to write them down somewhere that you pass by every day. If you read your goals every day, they will help you stay motivated. Once you have created your SMART goals, it’s important to stay consistent.
Consistency
We know it’s important to be consistent so why is it so hard to stay consistent? I know it’s happened to me before, I get hyper-focused on something for a month or two then switch hobbies because I didn’t get the results I wanted. Even with SMART goals this happens. I believe it’s because we’ve been raised to want immediate results. Why would we want to be consistent in something that isn’t producing immediate results?
Think about it; if you rent a movie at home, purchase an app or add-on, or go through a drive-thru restaurant, you’re going to want that purchase immediately. If you had to wait a couple of hours for your purchase, you most likely would be turned off.
Nowadays, we even complain about internet speeds and other technologies when they are slow. What we tend to forget is that things take time. And to get good at something, not only does it take time but practice as well.
I like to use running as an example. Whenever my friends ran with me, they got discouraged because I was never tired and my heart rate would always remain low compared to theirs. What they don’t understand is that it took me years of consistent running to achieve that. It didn’t happen overnight, although I wish it did. I trained for my marathons by running a certain mileage every week and slowly increasing it. It took a long time to train for a marathon and even then I wasn’t well prepared.
“Just be consistent” is easy to say to someone. Although this is one of the major challenges in completing something, another tough challenge is fighting the negative thoughts that arise.
Strengthening Your Mind
I’m not perfect. I’ve had plenty of negative thinking which has caused me to drop hobbies on the fly. If you want to achieve your goals, you have to learn how to overcome your negative thinking and strengthen your mind.
When I start a new hobby or goal, I will dive deep into it. A couple of weeks into the goal, I will start comparing myself to the professionals in the field. This causes me to question why I’m pursuing this goal. “I’m not good enough”, “I will never learn”, “People will judge me”, “Why am I doing this?”. These are some of the things that pop into my head that cause me to back out of my goals and hobbies.
What I found helpful for these situations is to meditate. Meditation is a great tool that has helped me live more in the moment. The issue I had before was that I compared everything to a future self that I saw. An example, I had just started a YouTube channel and expected to have thousands of followers within a month because I was doing everything “right”. Not only was this unrealistic, but it made me focus on views instead of enjoying my content and the creation of it.
I believe everyone should spend a couple of minutes meditating every day. Being “in tune” with your mind is so important to help combat negative thoughts. I’m not affiliated with any company, but the meditation app I use is Meditation by Down Dog. They do guided meditation so it’s perfect for beginners. I know it seems like I’m selling the app, but I’m just very passionate about it because that’s what I use for daily meditation and yoga and it’s truly changed my life.
Life Changes to Achieve Your Goal
During your quest, you may have a lot of negative people in your life telling you what you’re doing is stupid or unrealistic. This is one of those situations where you have to direct their negativity into positivity.
I can’t tell you the amount of times I started a new hobby and my own family and friends wouldn’t be fully supportive. Sure, they would say “yea, you can do it/I love that idea”, but deep down you knew they wanted you to do something else. Having to be constantly told to find something stable can be frustrating. What I find helps in these situations is to turn that into a challenge. If they say you will fail, try to take that as a challenge to prove them wrong.
I cut a few negative people out of my life. They kept bringing me down anytime I wanted to start something new. That may be a bit extreme, but what you can do instead is to make new friends and surround yourself with positive people. Join clubs, forums, or any other group gatherings of people who enjoy doing similar things. Once you join these groups, they will be supportive as they are all working towards the same activity.
Whenever I was into a new hobby, I would join a club to keep me engaged in that hobby. Run club, beer brewing, writing forums, and many more. I made friends and they encouraged me to go above and beyond. I also learned a great deal from them. If I had a hobby where I didn’t join a club, I ended up giving up on that hobby early on.
Surrounding yourself with positivity goes a long way. The people you interact with should always help and push you towards your goals.
Conclusion
In order to achieve your goals, it begins with the creation of a SMART goal. Once you’ve thought it out carefully, you will want to be consistent with that goal. The easiest way to fail at a goal is by letting your negative thoughts take you out of a consistent flow. If you’re able to strengthen your mind, overcome negative thoughts, and surround yourself with positivity and people that enhance your life, you’ll be able to achieve anything.
If you’re interested in some of the challenges I’ve faced and the hobbies/careers I’ve done, check out my About Me section.
I challenge you to create a SMART goal and share it below. Let me know what you’re trying to achieve and how far along are you in that process.