drhelvig
The last post explored the process of how to set overall goals for the whole year. However, a year can seem like a long time which is why people may get overwhelmed or have a hard time knowing where to start with their goals. Sometimes, when people don’t know where to begin with goal-setting, they either don’t start at all (action paralysis), or they start but give up before reaching the goal because they get stuck somewhere along the way.
If you have a big-picture goal for the end of 2023, you want to reverse engineer that goal and break it down into smaller action steps that you will take month by month, and ultimately week by week. This way, you start with small, manageable steps that build on each other and it becomes way easier to reach your goal. I’ll give you a few examples.
Example 1:
If you have a big-picture annual goal of being healthier, think of an action-oriented first step. One step, not ten steps. If you start listing a bunch of things, such as “exercise more, drink more water, eat more vegetables, eat less carbs, cut out sugar, meditate,” you will quickly overwhelm yourself which leads to the aforementioned action paralysis. Pick one thing first, preferably something that you think will make the biggest impact, and do that. Also, try not to be extreme in that one step. For instance, if your goal is to exercise more and you are currently exercising ZERO times per week, don’t say you’ll exercise daily for two hours because you are setting yourself up to fail.
If you set yourself up for success, it will cause increased motivation which sets you up for further success. So, you want to initially start with a goal that is small and very doable. For instance, if you’re not exercising at all, it’s way better better to set a goal of exercising once a week to start. That way, you end up excising twice a week, you will feel like a rock star. Conversely, if you say you’ll do it twice a week but only do it once, you will feel like you failed. You’re still exercising the same amount as the first scenario but feel worse-it’s all psychological. After you’ve been consistently exercising once a week for several weeks, you can decide whether you want to increase the frequency or add a different health goal. Keep it simple.
Example 2
Say you have a goal of saving for a specific big-ticket thing, e.g. new kitchen, wedding, vacation, etc, First, research total cost and your desired timeline and then use reverse engineering to see what you need to save per month to reach that goal. The key is then taking that money on a monthly basis and put it into a separate account for that specific thing if possible. Some online banks let you name your savings accounts whatever you want which helps to creates excitement and motivation. It’s far more motivating to put money into an account named “Tuscany Travels” than a generic “Savings” account.
You would apply these same concepts of breaking down big goals into action steps with all of your goals: career, relationship, mindfulness, etc. Start with the first step, and then assess how it goes and what may need tweaking before deciding what next step to implement the following month. In the next post, we will go into creating more specific weekly goals, as we move from taking our big-picture goals down to the detail-oriented part of achieving them.
Ready to set some overall goals? You can use a notebook, laptop, planner to create action-oriented goals but first map out your big picture goals using a free goal sheet. Just click on Get Started on the main page and enter your email.. Tip: old-fashioned hand-writing activates a different area of the brain than typing, so start out that way if possible. Want more help? Email me at drkristi@mindfulcareercoaching.com if you would like to set up a 60-minute laser-focused annual planning session with me.