This post is all about accomplishing goals…big or small, from wanting a clean home to getting a business up and running – in a way that is easy, manageable and fun!!
PICTURE
If you’re like me (and so many other women), you have goals of some kind that you want to get done…
Whether it is loosing a few pounds, decluttering your home, writing a blog, spending more time with your kids, or starting a business (even if it’s for the 10th time)…
We can all raise our hand when asked…is there anything you would like to change in your life??
This post is all about the #1 habit that you need to do to accomplish any goal and with minimal effort.
Over the last few months I can recall having multiple conversations that all have 1 common thread…
That thread is – there’s something I want to be experiencing or something I am frustrated by and I want it to change.
I don’t often use the word “goal” in my own life but when I take the time to think about it, I can easily come up with a list of things I’d like to see happen or that I myself want to do differently.
Things like…
- After having our first baby I wanted to loose the “mommy pooch” quickly and as much as possible
- I want our house to be clutter free and easy to clean so we can spend the summer outside and without the constant worry that I don’t have time to relax and have fun.
- This blog has also been a big goal that I wanted to start (and it happened because I applied the secret that I’m going to teach you!!)
- I’ve been frustrated by how little I’ve connected with some people in my life and I really want to reach out and check in more with the people I care so much about
Then on top of that there are the goals I’m hearing from other people…
- Get their etsy or amazon store up and running
- Build a garage
- Read the Bible consistently
- Watch less TV and spend less time on the internet
The list could go on, and on, and on….
and on.
Being a coach, when I’m in conversation with others and we’re talking about their dreams and desires, I’m almost always thinking…
“Why is something that is so important to this person not happening yet and how can we make this happen???”.
Time and again, there has been one simple solution that has come to the surface…
and time again, that simple solution has caused more change (in the right direction) and momentum than 3 weeks of free time ever would have.
What’s the secret that time and again has worked??
It is simply – to take the next step.
Spelled out in a little more detail, it is to…
- Get clear on the goal
- Ask yourself – what’s the very next thing that I need to do in order to move in that direction?
- Put it on your to-do list/schedule
- Do it.
- And then do step 2, 3 and 4 again until you have accomplished the goal.
This system makes big tasks so simple that they become impossible not to do…
but it’s also sounds too easy and therefore almost nobody does it.
That’s the thing though, the goal (in reaching your goals) is to get so good at defining the next step…
that it’s impossible not to do.
Big enough that they are stretching but small enough that they’re impossible not to do.
I remember a year or two ago when I wanted to make some videos for facebook (not the best example since most of us don’t have the big aspiration of making social media videos…but it’s where I first learned this trick and it’s been a game changer)…
when I told my mom about them and how I had been putting them off for weeks (probably was more like months)…
she asked me what the very next step was that I needed to take…
I thought the next step was to make the video since that’s all that had to be done but within that where a bunch of little steps.
In her wisdom she kept pressing me for just the step…
set the lights up (you know, those big clunky ones that are supposed to make you look glamorous when videoing yourself)…
then it was to make outlines for what I was going to talk about…
then do my makeup…
and THEN record the videos (then upload them, edit them, etc.)
Because I wasn’t clear on the steps, I ended up totally overwhelmed by the goal and it kept me floundering and stuck in busywork.
That brings me to a very important point that I need to make – excuses or simply excuses.
Very few hurdles in our life our real but they become real when we let them…
like time.
I could say that our house is messy all the time because I don’t have enough time to clean it (which is a terrible excuse when I’m home all the time and therefore most of the messes are mine)…
I could dream of a way off time in the future when I have more time on my hands than I know what to do with and then the house will magically stay clean and tidy.
OR – I could ask myself – “what’s one little change I can make that will get me towards my goal of having a clean home all the time??”
well, I could…
- Everyday, I can take 5 minutes before bed to quickly tidy so we can all wake up to a clean house…
- I could plan a “date” with my hubby to process and declutter that one room that get’s everything dumped in it (notice – the next step is NOT to declutter the room…the next step is to plan a date and time).
- I can pay the bills or make that phone call I’ve been putting off (because sometimes we feel stress from our house when it’s actually coming from somewhere else and then best thing to do is to get those “invisible” tasks done)
- We can all do the dishes after supper together rather than just me (which is something that we do now).
These may or may not resonate with you but they are all things that I have done or need to start implementing.
You’re smarter than you realize and when you present your brain with a question, it is very good with coming up with creative answers…
often not the obvious answer and sometimes the ideas you come up with are pretty strange…
but they often work.
And hey, anything that doesn’t work can be changed and you can try something else!
Once you let go of excuses and the thinking that you need a bunch of time, energy or money to get something going and instead settle in to the idea that maybe, just maybe, big things can get done one little step at time…
it’s incredible what you can accomplish.
Plus, it feels AMAZING when you start making momentum in the right direction.
I went over it earlier but in case you scrolled to the bottom to find the secret “recipe”…
here is…
the #1 secret you need to know in order to accomplish any task and reach any goal
-
Get clear on the goal…the big goal…what’s something in your life that you want to see change/happen?
-
define the VERY next step…make it as bitesize and easy to digest as possible so that it becomes super easy to quickly do.
-
Do it!!
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Smile and go back to step 2 and do steps 2, 3 and 4 as many times as you need to until you’ve accomplished your goal.
To wrap this up I want to point out a few things you’ll begin to notice…
- you’ll feel amazing!! Making momentum in the right direction feels so good. You’ll feel lighter and ready to tackle anything.
- When you keep this up, you’ll find that life really isn’t that busy and it is possible to catch up. Yes, there are always things that need to be done but they can minimal and life can be so much more than managing your to-do list.
- You’ll stop living in the crises zone…you know, paying bills on the due date, packing the night before you’re 2 week holiday, or making your menu and shopping list while you’re at the store…the crises/crazy zone is not a nice place to live and it’s time we stop calling it “normal”
Ah, there are so many things that can be said on this subject but I will leave you with these 2 questions…
- What’s really important for you to see change or happen in your life? (big picture)
- What’s the very next (easy and/or little) step that you can take to make it happen? (little picture/next step)
This post was all about the #1 thing you need to do to accomplish anything!!