The 4 Essential Steps To Achieving Your Goals In 2017

Congratulations! You have survived the crazy Christmas season and made it through to a brand new year. January 1st has come and gone and now is the perfect time to start thinking about what you would like to create or achieve for the coming year. New Year’s resolutions are often things we set and never achieve. We start the year with good intentions and then can very easily end the year pretty much where we started. It doesn’t have to be that way this year.

Here are the 4 most important things you can do to achieve your goals in 2017.

1. Create a list of maximum 5 things

Don’t start the year feeling overwhelmed with a list a mile long of all the things you want to achieve. Seeing so much written down on paper can simply make you feel exhausted and stressed before you have even started. There are multiple times in the year that we can come back to this list, cross items off, reevaluate and reprioritize. For now, ask yourself what are the 3 to 5 most important things you would like to change in your life in this very moment? Make sure that they are things that you truly want, not things you think you should do. What does your heart tell you? What is that burning desire inside of you? What is that thing you keep dreaming of or keeps you up at night? Write that down.  

2. Have you set this goal before?

Often when we set New Year’s resolutions, we find ourselves with a list of things similar to the year before. Have a look at your list and see if you recognize any of the items; have you attempted one of them before? If so, take some time to look back at your last attempt and see how you went about trying to achieve it. Reflect on what it was that made you stop short of completing this goal. What can you learn from your last attempt? Did you not set aside enough time, was there a lack of support or did you have too much on your plate? Get clear on what obstacles you faced last time. Remember there is no such thing as failure and that if we always do what we have always done, we will always get what we have always got. Start to think about how you will approach achieving this goal differently this year.

3. Pick 1 goal only to start working on

With busy lives, families and careers we only ever have a certain amount of time that we can dedicate to something extra in our lives. Likewise we only have a certain amount of willpower that we can access. Loading yourself up with all 5 goals in the first week is going to run your willpower into the ground quite quickly and make you feel like change is all too hard. Choose only 1 goal to start with. Use the time you have to focus on just that one goal until things start to become a habit. When something becomes a habit we don’t need to dig into our willpower stores to get up for that run or to make a healthier choice. It becomes something more automatic, like showering in the morning or brushing your teeth. What is the most important goal on your list? Start with this one. Then when you feel it is habitual, start on #2.

4. Become a conscious creator of your life.

Only you can make this dream a reality. You have the desire or the dream, so show up for that. Become a conscious creator of your life and take action daily. Write yourself notes so that you are constantly being reminded of what you are working towards. Get present with your life and make sure that in each moment you are choosing the choices that move you forward, that you are taking positive action and that you are facing your fears and committing to the unknown. And if you need, find the right support that will help you achieve the dreams you have for your life and achieve those goals once and for all.  

Creating the life you want and achieving your goals is completely possible. Follow the tips above and make things as easy as possible for yourself.  Remember that some days will be easy and others will definitely be hard but it is all worth it. Enjoy the journey and when things get tough simply try to take one small step forward each day.

Good luck.