Setting and finishing short term goals is much easier than working on a goal for years and sticking to it. But with dedication and looking at the goals in a different way and remembering why you have set them up for yourself can help you in achieving those goals and doing something wonderful.
Let’s look at the ways you can make a long term goal feel easier to focus on.
Set your goals right
You need to think before setting up a goal about why you’re setting up that particular goal. One should imagine yourself as if you’ve achieved the goal already, to know what this actually means for you. One needs to know if you really want to commit to it for months or years to come. And you need to know that you will be committing time towards it daily. Knowing all this in your mind will make your will towards working for your goal much stronger. This will cut down on the number of goals you have and you’ll be able to focus on what you actually want.
Write your goals down
This step not only includes writing your goals down like, ‘I will lose weight.’ or ‘I will become a musician.’. This also includes why you want that specific goal that you’ve set for yourself. You should write all the reasons behind it and what the goal means to you. Write it down where you can look at it every day to feel motivated to go work for it. Writing down also makes our mind commit to things so it’ll be helpful in committing fully to the goal you want to achieve.
Making smaller GoalPosts for your long term goals
Working for something for years without noticing any results is tough, By dividing the goal into various smaller goals, Effectively setting milestones for your long term goal. This way you can reward yourself when you achieve one of the milestones, Thus having something to look forward to in the shorter term. I’ve used this as I divided the work in a weekly manner for over a year. This enabled me to complete my goals. Because I now know that I am on track to completion as I’ve done my work for the last week.
Celebrate each small success
Celebrating small successes towards your bigger goal will help you in staying motivated. Motivation is the key when you’re trying to work on something bigger. And rewarding yourself in milestones and when you’ve achieved a sub-goal is a great way to stay motivated. You can reward yourself by eating what you like, having a visit to a restaurant, or whatever you prefer in your own way.
Reflect on the actions you’ve taken
While working on a long term goal, our paths can go in a different way. Which takes us farther away from the goal we intended to work on in the beginning. Reflecting as often as you can, by having a daily goal journal or a weekly journal for work done towards your goals. Can help you big time staying on track, And moving towards the right direction. Reflections can be done by being more self-aware, It can also be done by writing a daily journal and reflecting on yourself daily. And it’s a great way to improve yourself.
Try to make the process more fun
There’s no reason not to enjoy the process of working towards a goal. Instead, I believe that if you don’t enjoy the process of working towards something, you won’t really be happy when you will actually get there. If you’re changing your eating habits to become more fit. You can make it a lot more fun learning to cook new tasty meals. When you want to become the best programmer in the world, you can start coding the apps you want to use yourself and it’ll be fun for you.
Build smaller Habits towards your goal
Small habits can help you with staying on track to go towards your goals. Like when you would like to become a musician, you can put in 10 minutes in the morning for learning music daily. Habits keep you on track and make you stronger mentally, Thus helping you work towards your goals a bit more daily.
Work on Self Discipline
Working on discipline is probably the most important thing that can improve your chances of achieving your goal. And also help you in other parts of life. To have more self-discipline you can follow some ways listed below.
- Try having a quiet and calm environment when you’re doing a task. The world today is full of distractions, keep your phone and other devices on silent mode so that you don’t get disturbed in between the work you’re doing.
- Sticking to a schedule will help you in maintaining daily work time and will increase your chances of achieving your goal.
- Meditating daily, even for 10 minutes in a day will help you become more self-aware and mentally strong. It will help you by being more focused.
- Focus on starting things instead of finishing things, when you start things the momentum can help you finish them with much ease, But the actual tough part is to get started.