Source: CANVA
My post for today has been inspired by an awesome post I've read yesterday. It is a post written by , about his 5 Year Goals and how he is planning to achieve those goals.
What this post highlighted for me is the importance of:
- Keeping it simple and practical
- To break your big goals up into smaller goals which will enable you to keep the momentum going daily.
The last weekend, I have also watched a very interesting interview with Penny Heyns, our own swimming legend from South Africa. She made such a striking statement during this interview and I would love to quote her here.
She said: "The best (and fastest) way to get where you want to be (your goal), is in a straight line. The moment you start trying to do as the Jones's do, you will start being all over the place and you'll battle to get where you want to be."
We often try to make goal-setting way too complicated.
The most important thing is to decide where you want to be, what you want to achieve, have or do.
Then decide on how you are going to get there and a realistic due date by when you want to achieve this.
If you feel it is realistic to achieve this within 5 years, set the due date to reach your goal within 5 years. If you start realizing that it will not be achievable within the given time, then rather push the date out to maybe 6 years or whatever feels realistic to you.
This does not mean that it's not achievable just because you cannot do it within 5 years.
Maybe you can set other goals which will be achievable within 5 years, but keep working on your original goal too, even if it will take you longer to achieve. It's your goal. Keep working on it.
It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop. ~ Confucius
Don't give up on that dream. Keep going. Break it up into doable daily tasks and work towards it.
As mentioned, first decide what your goal is. What do you want to achieve? Then decide what you need to do to get there.
Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning. ~ Gloria Steinem
Then, the next equally important step is to take action and start working towards achieving your goal.
Do not be intimidated by the size of your goal and start thinking it is not achievable. Break it down into smaller "bite-sized" goals on which you can focus one by one.
If you fail to achieve one of these smaller steps within a certain time limit, you might consider adjusting your due date. Or if you find that something simply isn't working the way you thought it would, you have found a way that won't work and you can change your plan of action.
But keep trying, keep experimenting until you find a way that will get you where you want to go.
You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don't try. ~ Beverley Sills
If you don't set any goals and you don't even try (for whatever reason), you will remain where you are and never make any progress.
If you still have no idea of what you want to do or how to set goals, go read the post that I have referred to at the beginning of this post. It might just get you thinking and maybe you can come up with some great ideas of your own.
Then set those goals and start doing. If you don't take action, you won't get anywhere. You cannot drive a parked car.
If you have just been plodding along from day to day until now, I hope this post was helpful and inspired you enough to take action.