I’ve had loads of questions about New Year’s resolutions and people wanting to know a bit more about how to keep them!
The trouble with setting Goals is that we tend to set something that our unconscious mind doesn’t really believe we can achieve – this means that we are destined to fail: when we fail, it just reinforces in our unconscious mind the ‘belief’ that is holding us back from achieving these goals.
However, it is important that we set ourselves some ‘Intentions’ – we all need to have a direction that we are heading in, otherwise we simply stay where we are instead of moving forwards.
I always have Intentions that I want to achieve for the year and I write these in my journal.
My Intentions are broad, they might be:
- Double my turnover
- Treble my clients
- Have 2 holidays
- Go to the theatre once a month
- Increase my fitness etc etc.
Then I break them down into 90 day periods as I find that easier to work with.
So, for example, if I want to treble the number of clients I have in a year, I break it down to, let’s say, 30 new clients in the next 90 days.
Then I write out the tasks I need to do to achieve this; for example, advertise in local papers, leaflet drops, Facebook adverts, referrals etc
Next I take each task and break that down into smaller lists, so to advertise in the local paper, I would need to:
1. Find out the cost and when they need the copy by
2. Write the copy for the advert
3. Put together with my Logos
4. Set up a link so I can track the advert’s success
5. Send to the paper for approval
These are added into my default diary – the diary that I work from daily, with everything that needs to be achieved that day. It’s ticked off when it’s completed, or if not completed, then added to another day.
Doing things this way means that all the tasks I need to do to help me achieve my Intention get done. Every day I am doing something towards achieving my Intention, but it is so much more manageable as my focus is on the small achievable goals, rather than a large end goal that can seem too daunting.
Basically, by focusing on the journey rather than the destination, it is far more likely that you will achieve your Intentions. Your unconscious mind doesn’t start to self-sabotage either as it truly believes you can easily achieve the small tasks you do each day 🙂