5 Key Steps to Crush Your Goals
Goals are important to have. They keep us moving toward something we are passionate about and interested in.
They make sure we are spending our time where we actually want to be spending it.
In order to get you to your end goal as quickly and joyously as possible I’ve come up with 5 Key Steps to Crush Your Goals:
Picking your goal
Planning the steps and tasks to get there
Scheduling all the tasks in your calendar or project planner
The process of doing of the steps to get you to your goal
Visualization
Step #1 of How to Crush Your Goals: Picking a Fantastic Goal
There’s a few ways to go about setting goals and honestly I don’t think there’s a right or wrong way.
Here are a few of my favorite:
Set them to be realistic. I like to do this for short term goals, daily task based goals and if you’re just starting a fitness program I also think this a great way to get fast wins which builds momentum.
Here’s an example: “In two weeks I will be able to run for 20 minutes without stopping.”
Set them so they’re stretchy. Mostly realistic but you’ll have to stretch to get there - use new skills, do uncomfortable things, etc.
I spend most of my goal setting time here. I’ll set a running race goal to work toward that is long and challenging. I’ll set an income goal here that is stretchy and mostly attainable if everything aligns.
Here’s an example: “I’ll bring in 10,000.00 this month in sales” (of course only stretchy based on your current income and business history)
Set them really big. I recently read the book called “Why 10x is easier than 2x”. And it’s all about creating really big leaps forward by setting big, almost impossible goals.
Here’s the premise. When you set a goal to grow your business by 10%, then you pretty much just keep doing what you’ve been doing but maybe just more (you’ll work harder).
When you set a goal to triple your income or even 10X your income, you suddenly realize that you’ll have to start doing things a lot differently around here (you’ll work smarter)!
I am just beginning to play in this later category.
Here are two ways I could use this in my life: “I’m going to train for and run an ultramarathon in 3 months.”
Or, “I’m going to triple my income by the end of the month.”
Or “I’m going to bring in 10,000.00 in sales this week.”
Do you see how I’m not going to be just plodding forward but I’m really going to have to get seriously creative, double down, do things differently, raise my prices, cold call businesses, get in front of a lot of new people etc?
Whew!
Now you take a moment to pause and write down 3 each:
Realistic Goals
Stretchy Goals
10x Goals
Most goal setting includes having a time for completing your goal. I go back and forth with this one. Sometimes I have an end date and time. Other times I just work on it until I reach it.
Play with this concept and see what works best for you.
Step #2 of How to Crush Your Goals: Planning to Crush it
Once you have your goal, you need to start the planning process.
Grab ONE goal from your list and take it through the next 4 steps.
Here are two methods for figuring out how to actually get to your end goal.
Draw a mind map. Put your goal in the middle and circle it. Then draw a line radiating out from the goal to ONE thing that would get you closer. Keep doing this until you have thought of EVERYTHING that will get you there. Don’t judge or be picky. If something comes into your mind, just write it down.
Create a brainstorm list. At the top write your goal. Then just start listing off everything that comes to mind that will move you closer to your goal. List the people that could help you get there too.
Sometimes this step involves doing some research. Make sure to write this down.
For example, is your goal to get published in a magazine? Make sure you know all the steps needed to pitch the publication, who to reach out to, etc.
Now we have the goal and all the steps to get us there.
Each of these smaller jobs is what I call a task goal. Every time you do a task goal, you are building confidence and moving toward your main goal. This is key for maintaining momentum.
Step #3 of How to Crush Your Goals: Prioritizing and Scheduling Your Tasks
The next step is to get all the steps prioritized, organized and put into our calendar or a project planner like Asana.
Depending on the goal, we might have lots of small daily tasks (like for fitness goals, since consistency is the key), or we might have bigger tasks we chuc=nk down into smaller tasks. Do this all in your project planner or just write on your brainstorm list the smaller tasks below each larger task.
The aim here is to get tasks down to manageable size so that you can do one everyday that will help you reach your goal.
For example, part of reaching an income goal in your business may be blogging once per week. It’s too big of a task to sit done once per week and write an entire blog, but if you sit down for 30-60 minutes everyday to write you’ll get there really fast. In this example, writing for 30 minutes will be one of my task goals that will go into my planner.
Step #4 of How to Crush Your Goals: Doing the Task Goals = The Process
Now we get to the fun part, crushing individual task goals.
I call this the process. And folks, let me break it to you.
THIS is the most important part of the whole goal setting activity.
Even if you don’t reach your goal.
Maybe you get injured and don’t run the distance you want to run. Maybe there’s a major change in the economy, or say a pandemic, and you don’t meet your income goals. These are all things we have no control over.
What we do have control over is the process. We can do things daily to move us forward. And even if we don’t meet that final goal, we’ll have built up all the skills of doing the thing, being consistent, having our own back, following our schedule, creating killer habits, building confidence, developing new skills, etc. This is really where our power lies. We’re really only in control of ourselves. We cannot make people buy from us.
OK, you’ve created the kick ass goal, you’ve broken it down into actionable steps and tasks, these are in your daily planner or project planner and now the FINAL step.
Step #5 of How to Crush Your Goals: Create a Personal Manifesto
Stay with me, all of you.
This last concept was hard for me to embrace but after reading countless self-help books on change and reaching goals, EVERY BOOK highlighted this key point:
You must create an emotion NOW of what it feels like to reach your goal and practice basking in that feeling everyday.
Here’s an example:
I have an income goal for this year. Part of my morning and evening ritual is to sit with my journal and read my “money manifesto” - the name I gave to the few sentences I wrote to get myself all pumped and proud that I have already reached this goal..
I sit and read my manifesto and I feel as if I truly have already reached it!
My body fills with the emotions that will come with reaching the goal. In fact, In my mind, for that moment I am already there!
Then, bask in the gratitude that comes with reaching your goal. Yep, you must be in 100% complete gratitude for reaching your goal BEFORE you actually get there.
This is mind over matter you all and it’s extremely important.
The final point I want to make is what to do at the end of your goal-reaching timeline.
It is up to you whether you put an end date on your goal. Sometimes we need them. If you signed up to run a half-marathon on September 6th, that obviously has to be the end date! Other times in business you may put in place an income goal for a certain date.
I want to talk briefly through two potential outcomes once you’ve reached your date.
You reach your goal! You run the race. You hit your income goal. It’s time to celebrate. What does that mean? I don’t want to you to rush on to the next thing. I want you to sit in the good emotions of celebration while you fully appreciate the fact that you set a goal, went for it, and reached it.
You don’t reach your goal. This happens. You set a goal, you work toward it and sometimes you don’t reach it for whatever reason. You are not allowed to beat yourself up. Instead follow this simple analysis around your specific goal setting: Ask yourself what went well? What didn’t go well? What’s one thing I could do differently next time?
Now, what do you do with the goal?
Here are a few options for re-reaching your goal.
Missed your race timeline? Find a new race to work toward. You already have a great fitness base to work from!
Didn’t quite meet your sales goals for the month? Add that amount on to your next month’s goal or just work on hitting that same number next month or next quarter.