This Is How You Follow Through With Your Goals And Habits

When There Never Seems To Be Enough Time

Do you ever feel like you have a love-hate relationship with your goals?

During the times when you follow through, meeting a goal can be so empowering and exciting.

But, more often than not, when you find yourself setting the same goals and failing to reach them, it can make you wonder if you should just stop setting goals entirely.

I mean, what’s the point, right?

I’ve seen both sides of this situation more times than I can count, both on the side of succeeding with habits and failing.

Here are my favorite tips and ideas for reaching your goals, and creating habits that set you up for success.

Create a list of 3–5 habits that you want to focus on (no more, at least at first)

When a new year or month approaches, it’s easy to want to start 50 new habits or goals. But, we all know that something like this probably isn’t sustainable.

I like starting with 3–5 (or even less) because then you’re forced to focus on what is most important to you.

When you’re first getting started the most important thing is to build the habit, so try to choose habits that are at least a little fun for you.

Ask yourself what would make this more fun for me?

Consider this. You want to learn a new language.

If this is a brand new habit or goal, it will likely feel a little scary at first and it will be easy to put it off.

Think about what would make this more fun.

You could,

• Download a language app like Duolingo to gamify your learning.
• Take a language class with a friend so you’re not alone.
• Book a trip where they speak your target language.

Everyone is different so personalize this to what you would enjoy.

Find a habit tracker or other tracking system that works for you

If you don’t have a system for tracking your habits and progress, it’s hard to remember everything you want to do.

This doesn’t need to be anything fancy.

You can,

• Write down your habits in a notebook.
• Create a habit tracker in Google Sheets.
• Find a planner that comes with a built-in tracker.

I’ve tried all of these so the method itself isn’t important, it’s about finding something you will stick to.

Make sure that your habits and goals are reasonable

When you set goals and habits that are too difficult, you’re setting yourself up for failure again and again.

This is especially true if you have a track record of struggling to meet your goals.

Goals are inherently difficult because they force us to grow so don’t make it more difficult than it needs to be.

Plus, if you find yourself easily completing your habits 100% of the time, then you can always make them slightly more challenging.

But, it’s always better to start easy and work your way up.

When you DO get off track, just brush yourself off and give yourself a do-over

Don’t beat yourself up.

We all fall off track from time to time.

The more you allow yourself to make mistakes, the easier it will be to pick yourself up when you fall.

Create systems for accountability

It’s really hard to follow through with your goals and habits when you have zero accountability in your life.

If you don’t know where to start, you can even check out the Reddit group called Accountability Buddies.

You can share your gender, age, and what sort of accountability you’re looking for, and get connected with someone or even a group of people wanting something similar.

For me, I’ve found that a good time frame is to check in with an accountability partner weekly or monthly but find what works for you.

Keep the end goal in mind

Always remind yourself why you are doing a particular habit or goal.

For example, if you decide to start going to the gym why is this important to you? Are you hoping to reach a certain weight, build muscle, etc?

If you’re doing it just to do it, it’s much more difficult to keep yourself motivated.

Don’t overthink it

Going back to the gym example, do you ever find yourself debating back and forth whether or not to go to the gym?

This happened to me last night.

I wanted to get a few thousand more steps in but it was cold and rainy outside and I just felt like staying in on a Friday night.

However, I knew I’d feel great if I went so I compromised.

Instead of walking outside like I usually do in the evening, I went to the gym and walked on the treadmill and it only took about 20–25 minutes to get the rest of my steps in.

The key is to just do it before you can talk yourself out of it.

Reward yourself each week or month for your wins

The great thing about using a habit tracker is that you have real proof of how you are doing or not doing with your habits.

As you create your habits, think of ways to reward yourself.

For instance, if you follow through with your habits 80% of the time, you’ll treat yourself to your favorite meal or a movie.

When you have rewards in place this can also keep your motivation up on days when you’re struggling.

Or, even involve someone else! This works especially well if you hate disappointing people.

Don’t focus on what hasn’t worked in the past, focus on the possibility of the future

The more you remind yourself of how you’ve failed in the past, the more you’ll stay stuck in your head, unable to move forward.

Instead of focusing on the negative, think about all the areas you’ve succeded in or things that have come easily for you.

When you’re working on goals and habits you want to bring forth a positive mental attitude and energy.

You could say something like, “What if this is the perfect time to start a new habit?”

Take your first 4 steps:

1. Pick 3–5 habits you want to focus on.
2. Choose a method for tracking your habits (paper planner, Google Sheets, etc.)
3. Find a way to keep yourself accountable.
4. Re-read through this article as needed for reminders.

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