Your Guide to Success

Your Guide to Success: Goals You’ll Achieve

June 10, 2022

Daniela Gonzalez

Love  to learn

The benefits of learning new things are plentiful, whether for a hobby or work. While it can be hard to learn something new, the farther you come, the more motivated you will become, which will bleed into other aspects of life. Your brain will be healthier. All this will improve your outlook and make you happier.

Learning can be challenging. Motivation can be powerful. The key to success is to set goals. Goals are healthy habits that can lead you to great things.  

Identify your goals, and set them out clearly

Goals are your roadmap to success if appropriately created. When we talk about goals, they can’t be vague or impossible. Your brain also rewards you with the satisfaction of achieving your goal. 

Make a list

Writing goals down creates visual stimuli for you. It helps you understand the scope of the work, which will assist you in scheduling and splitting up the work. You can organize your list in whatever way works for you. Don’t keep goals in your head. Your head is a place where thoughts come and go constantly. You need somewhere these goals won’t float away into the ether.

Prioritize

You might have an extensive list of goals, and you might have a small one. Either way, you can see them on the page. Which ones do you prioritize? Are there goals you’re not looking forward to? If your goals are in small, manageable steps, consider picking the one you least want to do first. Then, whenever you look at your list, you’ll always feel satisfied that the complex task is out of your way instead of feeling doomed.

Learn from your mistakes

Nobody likes to make mistakes, but they will happen. As you work on your goals, sometimes you will falter. Let go of the shame and guilt when this happens — forgive yourself. Once you do this, you can look at those mistakes objectively and learn from them. When you think about these mistakes, whatever they may be, you don’t want to feel bad. You felt bad when you made them, and you don’t need to feel bad now. Instead, take the lesson and be proud of yourself for finding it. When you master the ability to analyze your past to improve your future, you will improve in many aspects of your life.

Create a Success Plan

Creating a plan for success can be daunting. If you knew how to achieve success, then why haven’t you? To do this, let’s look at your goals and dissect them. As a bonus, this dissection technique can guide you if you encounter any roadblocks to your plan. Goals need to be SMART, which we’ll dive into below. If you don’t know how to do something specific, make a goal to learn. 

Let’s dive into SMART goals.

S – Specific. “Get fit” doesn’t tell you much of anything. “Complete Jimmy’s Cardio Blast workout without pausing to catch your breath” not only forces you to practice, but it’s much more specific. “Run” isn’t the same as “run around the park once without stopping.”

M – Measurable. How will you know you’re closer to your progress? Maybe you note how far around the park you can run without stopping and keep pushing yourself to take an extra five steps farther. I match my previous day and add one more lap whenever I swim. I strive to add five, but one is enough. It’s a measurable development toward my goal.

A – Achievable. A good goal is slightly challenging, so you need to work hard, but not so difficult that you’re doomed. “Write a novel in a month” is a brutal goal only because that’s not achievable. If you broke that down into doable chunks, maybe it’s not impossible. “Write a chapter a day” is more manageable, though also tricky. Instead, set that goal to “write five hours every week.” This is flexible, which means you’re likely to achieve it. It’s also measurable. Specifically, “write five hours of new writing towards novel completion every week” is very clear.

R – Relevant. Your goals must align with your contentment and enjoyment of life — in all its forms. You have no reason to set a goal to do a thousand pushups in a week if you despise them. There are other ways to gain strength you might enjoy. Occasionally, we have to tackle goals we dislike for the bigger picture, but those goals are relevant. “Do the laundry” may be a goal you hate, but it’s a pertinent goal if you value a clean house.

T – Time-Bound. Determine when you’ll achieve the goal. If your goal is quite large, break it down into smaller increments. Today you’re going to look up three salmon recipes. Tomorrow you’re going to buy the ingredients. The day after, you’re going to prepare a garlic dill sauce. The day after that, cook it! Those minor time-bound breakdowns make a fantastic map to achieving a goal.

Make your home the perfect environment for your success

Your Surroundings Play a Big Part

Dedicate your environment to what you want to use it. If you can utilize your home to work in your workspace, play in your playspace, and work out in your fitness space, you will naturally have a mindset to do those tasks.  Atmosphere plays a significant role in this as well. If the colors of your walls are distracting, or you have improper lighting for what you’re trying to accomplish, you’re doing yourself a disservice.

Keep Things Simple 

If you’re limited on space, which is becoming a common issue, it’s okay to have areas that require you to double up. The trick is that one space needs to be able to be put away and brought out with relative ease. The dining room might be the yoga studio. Your areas need to be separate, so your mindset aligns with what that area serves when you enter (or create) that area. 

Here we give you a list of how you can use a space for different activities and goal setting:

• Office/Gym: During your working hours, your office or workspace should be for that only. For this, you would need a space with light, without distractions, a comfortable chair, and a desk that allows you to focus 100% on your work activities. You can decorate your workspace as you see fit, but make sure it motivates you! After working all day what you want most is to relax and there is no better way to do it than exercising. Whether you prefer to do it before work or later, make sure you have a space dedicated solely to your exercise to meet your goals. A corner or closet in your workspace can quickly become a gym. Make sure you ask for help, whether reaching out to an expert or DIY a rack where you can put your mat, ropes, dumbbells, or any other accessory you use to exercise. This will help you to be able to divide your space for both work and exercise, and you will dedicate the attention that each activity requires at the right time.
• Library/Relax Room: Who doesn’t like to read a romantic or suspense novel on an afternoon where you have time to relax? No matter your preference in the literary genre, reading a book is always an excellent decision, and you can also create goals for it. If you have a library in your house and your books are perfectly organized, why not use this space also to be able to relax and meditate on your day? Use this space for both. 
• Garage/Craft room: We usually use the garage to store our camping gear or other tools, even the Christmas tree and the car. But why not give this space a fun twist? You can use this space to learn a new skill like painting, to sing, playing an instrument, or even building something from scratch. The most important thing to be able to use this space is that you have everything very well organized and classified in bins with labels. 

Keep track of every kind of progress – everything counts!

Accomplishments fuel your brain. If you have a challenging goal, set achievable milestones, and track them. Are you wanting to lose weight? Measure your inches beforehand, so you can measure later and see progress. Writing a book is simple to follow because your word count and page count will gradually increase. Cleaning a house is less straightforward. For a job like this, create a master list with all the small tasks you need to finish on it. Every time you check one-off, your confidence will increase, and you feel great. You’ll often utilize this habit once you see how awesome it is.

Be patient — you've got this!

Some goals take time. I don’t know how long it takes to climb a mountain, but I know I can take steps. I need to repeat that until I’m at the top. To practice patience, don’t look at the big picture. Focus on the next immediate thing.

Take it easy — no rush

If you’re going to do it, do it right. Deadlines aren’t created to stress you — they’re built to inspire you. If your goal gets thrown off course, adjust until you feel it’s reasonable, and carry forward. This is a great reason not to tie your goals to your self-esteem. Things go wrong, but that’s not a reflection of yourself. You want to do it right, not necessarily right now. If you are struggling, take a day or two for self-care.

Celebrate your victories once you succeed

I’m very serious — you need to celebrate your success. You don’t have to spend money or create a massive affair, but you must take your time and savor your wins. Go for an extra walk around the park or purchase a nice treat. Make a toast with your loved ones or lie back and close your eyes for an hour. Celebrate in a way that’s right for you, but do it often. You’re achieving your goals — you deserve to celebrate.