The only person who will make sure you achieve the goals you set for yourself is you.
Scary thought eh? You are squarely responsible for getting things done.
It’s very easy to fall into the trap of setting goals for yourself and then not following through, thinking the work is done. “Heck, people always say half the battle is setting goals. The rest should take care of itself, right?”
If you’ve got this attitude, you’ve also probably got lots of goals, but no results to show for them.
And it’s good to have long-term goals that only get achieved after 1 year, 5 years or maybe even a lifetime. But within those large goals, there are tons and tons of “mini-goals” that you need to accomplish. These are the things you need to get done and out of your goal queue in order to achieve “the biggie.”
So how do you keep your self accountable AND keep your eye on the big prize?
Make your goal visual. Then put it somewhere you will always see it. This helps give your goal tangibility, a feeling that it can be real. It also constantly reminds you of what you want to achieve and (hopefully) inspires you to keep going.
My current project is to write a novel. So, I’ve got a picture of a bookshelf with authors who’s last name start with “P.” My last name starts with a “P.” My goal is to go into a bookstore and see my novel right in there with those authors.
Never stop.
These are some good tips. I especially like your ‘novel’ story. I think it always helps to break up your main goal into smaller “steps”, and it’s easier to see how to get there.
Left by Anthony Baggett on February 23rd, 2007