Remember the enthusiasm that many of us started the year off with? New Year’s Eve is a time that many people set new personal and professional goals and then as February rolls around we find ourselves caught up in the day to day. Sound familiar? Well it’s not too late to change your story and get back on track. Here are my quick tips for helping you to get back on track.
- Set Goals Realistic Goals and Write Them Down: research shows that when you set clear and realistic goals and write them down that your changes of achieving those goals are 80% higher than those who don’t write them down. If you really want to amplify your success announce/post your goals to friends, family and colleagues – this will hold you accountable and you’ll be less likely to quit or give up. I should also point out that it is important to set realistic goals so you don’t set yourself up for failure.
- Effective Management of Your To-Do-List: most of us pride ourselves in being “busy”, it’s almost as if the busier we seem, the more successful we are. However, when you peel back the layers of your busy life you may find that some of your activities are leading you further and further away from reaching your goal. The key to success is to schedule daily action oriented activities that are directly tied into your goals. For example, if you are looking to increase sales for your company – what action do you need to take daily to make that happen? Your action item could be something as simple as taking one hour a day to do marketing or connect with prospects – at the end of the month it adds up. I recommend scheduling these tasks into your calendar and treating them as high level appointments that cannot be cancelled or changed.
- Tracking and Measuring: it’s really important to have a way to monitor and track your progress so you can identify trends and make adjustments to your programs. For me, I have found that once I create a goal and identify the daily activities that need to be accomplished, linking them to an App provides increased accountability as I am able to share activities with my teammates and link them to my calendar.
- Expertise and Accountability: whenever I see someone take a big leap either personally or professionally, they almost always have someone helping them. It’s well documented that if you want to fast-track success in any area – find someone who has already accomplished what you want to accomplish. I personally advocate the use of experienced and certified coaches and trainers. I am a coach and I work a number of different coaches depending on what I am looking to accomplish. If I want to make a million dollars, I will find a coach that has either made a million dollars or helped other to do so in my field. If I want to lose weight, I am hiring a trainer with a proven track record of results working with women in my age group. Well trained coaches will provide you with tips, tools, resources and short cuts to help you accomplish your goals while maintaining accountability throughout the process.
- Celebrate Your Success Every Day: it’s important to acknowledge when things are going well. Take the time at the end of every day to replay your accomplishments for the day. Congratulate yourself for making the calls you needed to make or for exercising or sticking to your diet. If you fall off track, just get back on track – don’t beat yourself up. Set aside one day a week to celebrate what is going well and do something special for yourself to mark the occasion. This action will reinforce your efforts and create positive feelings that will increase the probability of success going forward.
