Reach Your Goals Through Daily Habits

We’ve all faced the disappointment and guilt that comes from setting a goal and giving up on it after a couple of weeks. Sustaining motivation for a long-term goal is hard to achieve, and yet the best goals can usually only be accomplished in a few months or even years.

Here’s the solution: Focus instead on creating a new habit that will lead to achieving your goal.

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Want to run a marathon? First create the habit of running every day. Want to get out of debt and start saving? Create the habit of brown bagging it to work, or watching DVDs instead of going to the movies, or whatever change will lead to saving money for you.

By focusing not on what you have to achieve over the course of the next year, but instead on what you are doing each day, you are focusing on something achievable. That little daily change will add up to a huge change, over time … and you’ll be surprised at how far you’ve come in no time. Little grains of sand can add up to a mountain over time.

I used this philosophy of habit changes to run a marathon, to change my diet and lose weight, to write a novel, to quit smoking, to become organized and productive, to double my income, reduce my debt and start saving, and to begin training for an Olympic triathlon this year. It works, if you focus on changing habits.

Now, changing your habits isn’t easy — I won’t lie to you — but it’s achievable, especially if you start small. Don’t try to change the world with your first habit change … take baby steps at first. I started by just trying to run a mile — and by the end of the year, I could run more than 20 miles.

How do you change your habits? Focus on one habit at a time, and follow these steps:

1. Positive changes. If you’re trying to change a negative habit (quit smoking), replace it with a positive habit (running for stress relief, for example).
2. Take on a 30-day challenge. Tell yourself that you’re going to do this habit every day, at the same time every day, for 30 straight days without fail. Once you’re past that 30-day mark, the habit will become much easier. If you fail, do not beat yourself up. Start again on a new 30-day challenge. Practice until you succeed.
3. Commit yourself completely. Don’t just tell yourself that you might or should do this. Tell the world that DEFINITELY will do this. Put yourself into this 100 percent. Tell everyone you know. Email them. Put it on your blog. Post it up at your home and work place. This positive public pressure will help motivate you.
4. Set up rewards. It’s best to reward yourself often the first week, and then reward yourself every week for that first month. Make sure these are good rewards, that will help motivate you to stay on track.
5. Plan to beat your urges. It’s best to start out by monitoring your urges, so you become more aware of them. Track them for a couple days, putting a tally mark in a small notebook every time you get an urge. Write out a plan, before you get the urges, with strategies to beat them. We all have urges to quit — how will you overcome it? What helps me most are deep breathing and drinking water. You can get through an urge — it will pass.
6. Track and report your progress. Keep a log or journal or chart so that you can see your progress over time. I used a running log for my marathon training, and a quit meter when I quit smoking. It’s very motivating to see how far you’ve come. Also, if you can join an online group and report your progress each day, or email family and friends on your progress, that will help motivate you.

Most important of all: Always stay positive. I learned the habit of monitoring my thoughts, and if I saw any negative thoughts (“I want to stop!”) I would squash it like a little bug, and replace it with a positive thought (“I can do this!”). It works amazingly. This is the best tip ever. If you think negative thoughts, you will definitely fail. But if you always think positive, you will definitely succeed.

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5 Signs You're Betraying Your True Calling

So many people I coach in New York City come to me feeling like they fell into their line of work and made it a success, but no longer find it easy to show up with enthusiasm, embrace growth in your role and feel passionate about your job. The money they make is good, but their heart isn't in their work.

Is this success? Materially, perhaps. Externally (based on what others think)? Probably. But what our hearts know is that true fulfillment, and nothing else, is the real measure of success.

When we work with joy, we are at one with the universe. We do so much more than create our greatest work when this happens; it's how we become our happiest, our wisest and our most loving self. When all is said and done, this is all that truly matters — to love your work and be true to your life's unique and individualized assignment.

Over time these people often end up making a stash of cash, too, because abundance flows to connected, happy and energetic people. And we secretly know this — every one of us.

Here are five key signs that you are not doing your real work, your life's work, here on earth:

1. You dream of something else.

Are the books you read, the subjects you love to talk about and the topics you research aligned with your work? These things are all big signs about what interests and motivates you.

2. You have a niggling feeling that you're wasting your time (which means you probably are).

Our soul knows when each new week, month, year rolls around that we are wasting ourselves by not activating the special gifts within us that wants to surface. It's like a quiet, unsettling voice that won't be silenced. It worsens over time.

3. You self-medicate.

When we neglect our inner guiding system, we find alternative sources to make us feel good and allow us to be disconnected from our source. This may be in the form of alcohol, overeating, drug use and overspending. These cheap forms of "borrowed happiness" give us momentary respite from a much larger issue. We masquerade our misery but it never lasts — hence a vicious, repetitive cycle that can be self-destructive

4. You are tired and sluggish.

Low physical energy is a significant symptom that you are uninspired. When we do what we love we access energy resources we did not know we had. This is why many wealthy and successful people are highly prolific even into their very mature years. I was just at the Glamour Women of the Year Awards and Sylvia Earle, 79 (active marine biologist) was the most charismatic and passionate winner of the evening. So if you're feeling tired frequently and waiting for the day to pass — its proof its time for change.

5. You are not among your tribe.

Look at the people around you at work. Are you collaborative and passionate about spending time with these people? Are your interests similar? When we are doing work that we love to, we naturally gravitate toward others who are like us and who are doing the same thing. When you have found your tribe, you know it. The line between work and play is positively, beautifully blurred.

I am here to tell you that you can change your life. The universe supports you when you take the necessary steps to fulfill your dream. I have seen it unfold in many cases when we apply time, dedication and action. This is your one shot on the planet! 

Photo Credit: Getty Images

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Master Your Mindset To Achieve Your Goals

Three Simple Steps For Starting Your Personal Development Plan

Are you looking for ways to start your own personal development plan? Wondering how you should do it? Well today, I will be sharing with you how I did mine. Feel free to borrow my ideas and use them for your own.

Think Of Your Goals

The first step you should take while you are planning your own personal development plan is to think of your goals. What do you want to achieve out of this whole ordeal? Actually, you should think of it from a broader perspective. What do you want to achieve in life, and what do you think you need to do to achieve those goals? What areas of your life do you want to develop and how do you intend to develop them? Take some time to ponder over these thoughts carefully. The decisions you make today can affect your outcome tomorrow.

Take Action

I mentioned earlier that you should think about how you want to achieve your goals. Once you have your goals planned out in your personal development plan, you need to take action steps. You see, your goals are like a map that ensures that you are moving towards the right direction. However, what good is a map unless you are going somewhere? Take baby steps in moving towards your goal. Once in a while, you may need to refer back to your goals to motivate you and keep you going in the right direction, but what's important is that you take action. Even with a map, people can get lost sometimes. That should not be a worry though, because at least you have the chance to turn around and move towards the right direction.

Learn From Your Mistakes

We are all human and bound to make mistakes in life. What do you do when you fall in life? Do you stay down or do you get up? I am sure you get up. Use each mistake as a lesson that you can learn from in life. Try not to make the same mistake again. Examine where you have gone wrong and think of how you can avoid making that mistake in future. However, do not dwell on your failures. A motivational speaker once said that failure is nothing more than an event and not a person. Do not be afraid to make mistakes in life.

I hope you have a better understanding of how to create a personal development plan. Do remember these points that I have mentioned today.


For more information on how to create a personal development plan, visit SelfEnrichment.com. You will learn more about developing a personal development plan, setting your goals, learning from mistakes, and much more!

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