Hands up if you’ve had a New Year’s resolution and you’ve always broken them. Each year you tell yourself that this time will be different, you will go to the gym, lose 10lbs, start that diet you’ve always been meaning to try, go travelling by yourself. Whatever the goal was, whether big or small, something always held you back. Well, not any more! 2021 is the year to refocus and smash those goals.
Choose your goal
When choosing your goal, it is important to choose something that you actually want. Sounds obvious, right? Well, sometimes we do the exact opposite. Sometimes we feel compelled to pick a goal that just sounds good on paper but doesn’t actually excite us, or sometimes we choose a goal based on what we think someone else would want (such as a partner or loved one). If this sounds like you, then we are not shocked that your goals have failed previously! You must choose something that excites you or challenges you, something that you really want to do. It helps if your goal is measurable so that you know when you have achieved such goal. Once you have chosen something, write it down on a piece of paper and include the date you want to complete it by. For example, ‘I am going to save £3,000 by December 2021. I will do this by saving £250 each month’.
Choose your Mindset
We all go through phases of feeling confident, driven and determined to feeling incapable and self-doubting – that is part and parcel of being human. However, this does not mean that we are not in control of our feelings. When you choose to feel confident and driven you can alter your own mindset. This takes practice but can be done and through force of habit you can learn to re-create these feelings time and time again. So, get your positive cap on and start telling yourself that you will smash your goal and you won’t quit until it is done.
Create the Steps for Success
It is all fair and well choosing a goal and telling yourself you are going to do it, but in order to smash your goal you need to identify the small steps needed for success. So, using the example we used previously, the steps for success could be:
- I am going to apply for part time weekend work in order to generate the additional £250 a month
- I am going to set up a direct debit from my current account to my savings account
- I am going to set up an account on eBay and sell my old Playstation
Commit
Even with the best will, the best mindset and the best steps in place your goal will require commitment. So, do whatever you can to prevent any obstacles from getting in your way. If this means setting a reminder each month on your phone – do it! If it means creating a to-do list and ticking things off when you’re done – do it! Make your life easier by organising and taking control of your own goals.
What goal are you going to smash in 2021?