Five of the Most Basic Tips on How to Follow Through on Your Goals
As you can imagine, in my line of work as a life coach and executive coach, I regularly come across people who say to me "Every time I set myself goals I never follow them through!" And they ask me for tips on how to do this differently.
Although everyone has their own personal way of doing things, and there's no one answer that works for everyone, I have found that the following suggestions work for many people:
- Be clear to yourself about what your goal actually is; take the time to word it as specifically and as detailed as you can. Strangely this action alone is really powerful in moving you towards your goal.
- If you are able to write down the specifics, the details about your goal, then it is definitely worthwhile re-reading what you've written as often as you can; this could be once a week or once a day, it does not actually matter. The purpose of re-reading your goal is simply to bring it to the forefront of your mind as often as possible.
This is similar to learning a language, maybe you learnt French or Spanish at school; we were taught French in high school, and each time at the start of the class, the teacher would ask us what is the date today, so 30 years later I still remember how to say "The date today is..." in French.
The relevance of this story to your goals is simple: if you think about your goals regularly, you stay very focused and consciously aware of them all the time, which leads you to think about actions and activities to move you closer to your goals. This is essential. There are studies that show that people who are very successful are those who are clear about their goals and know exactly what they want to achieve. Whereas, if you ask every person you meet what are their goals, you will most likely find that most of them have no idea! Therefore, they are not progressing in their lives, they are simply standing still.
- Some people are more visual and prefer to imagine their goals rather than writing them down. This is an excellent practice too; it is as good as writing as long as you remember to go into lots of detail.
- When you visualise your goals or when you re-read your goals, allow yourself to daydream, yes, definitely, this is so very important. Let yourself imagine you are living your goals, as if they're happening to you right now. This is so simple and so powerful, and in the very least it can leave you with a wonderfully good feeling.
- Trust yourself and have confidence in the goals you've chosen for yourself. If you have decided these are what you want then no-one in this world has the right to tell you otherwise. People often feel uncomfortable about their goals, they don't believe in their own goals; if you feel this way then you are not going to be powerfully and confidently focused on achieving what you want.
There are lots more things you could do, yet if this is all you did, and you did it consistently, I am sure you will find yourself taking action more and more in a way that moves you towards your goal. Coaching is mostly common sense, the reason people work with a life coach or an executive coach is sometimes it is easier to do things when we feel we are accountable to someone else.
All the best,
Natalie Dee Life Coach & Executive Coach
Natalie Dee is a specialist in life coaching and business coaching with clients throughout the UK and worldwide. Her clients achieve positive, focused results in six sessions on average; find out more, visit http://www.natalie-dee.com
Natalie Dee is also the co-author of an ebook on self confidence, for more details visit her website (as above).