So, let me guess, you keep saying to yourself, “I just want to achieve my goals”. Or, maybe it’s, “Why can’t I achieve my goals?”.
After all, you know what you want. You’ve got a goal that’s really important to you. So, the problem isn’t that you don’t know what you want. It’s just that you can’t seem to get started on your goal.
Maybe your goal’s overwhelmingly big.
Maybe it’s hard to know where to start.
Or, maybe you can’t find the time for it.
Whatever it is for you, this post will help you—I promise.
Plus, I’m going to show you that it’s possible to achieve your goals in 5 minutes a day. Yep, that’s right—and we’ll get to that soon. But first, I want to help you learn how to achieve your goals with a simple tool you can try right now.
What Do I Need to Do to Achieve My Goals?
Break Your Goal Down Into Small Daily Actions
You can break your goals down by following these simple steps:
Step 1 Grab a notebook, piece of paper, sticky notes, your laptop or phone! And jot down your goal.
Step 2 Then write down this question: “What do I need to do to achieve my goal?”.
Step 3 Next, write everything you can think of that you might need to do to achieve your goal. Make each task/action as small as possible.
Step 4 Now cross through anything you don’t need to do. Lots of ideas and thoughts we have seem great at the time. But, when we give them some more thought, we realise they’re not needed. In other words, just because we write something down, it doesn’t mean we have to do it! This step is a fantastic reminder of that.
Step 5 Look at the action steps/tasks you have left and put them in order of priority. Which is most important, second important and third? You now have a clear step-by-step action plan for your goals. For now, don’t worry about steps four, five, etc.
Step 6 Lastly, decide to do your top action today. Tomorrow, complete your second. The next day, complete your third. These first few steps will give you a positive start and boost your motivation as you see you can make progress towards your goal. On day 4, choose your next three actions and complete them over the next three days.
At this point, it’s worth saying that some actions you have will be actions you do once. Others will be actions you repeat often.
For example, if your goal is to eat better, a one-off action might be finding healthy food ideas. An action you repeat often could be having a healthy breakfast each morning.
(Quick side note for you—your plan or steps aren’t set in stone. I’ve no doubt they’ll need to change as you take action towards your goal and learn new things. But these steps are a fantastic place to start from. In fact, rather than call it a plan, because that can feel rigid, I like to call my steps a roadmap. It’s a starting point to get me where I want to be, yet I know it can and probably will change.)
Here’s Some Examples to Help You Achieve Your Goals
If your goal is to be happier, you might have these steps:
- Find a notebook and put it next to your bed (tonight).
- Write one thing you’re grateful for before going to sleep (repeat each night).
You could do this if your goal is to exercise more:
- Find a weekly class you want to try (tonight).
- Ask a friend to join you (Friday night).
- Book class for the next 12 weeks (tomorrow night).
Looking to save for a house? You might follow these steps:
- Open a savings account (tonight).
- Decide how much you want to save each month (tomorrow night).
- Set up a regular monthly payment to your new account (Friday night).
So, Why Break Your Goal Down?
Small daily action steps help prevent overwhelm that can lead to procrastination and never getting started. They also create this forward momentum because you’re doing something productive—you can see you’re making progress.
Plus, it’s what we do regularly that gets us to our goals. Which means you can achieve your goal in 5 minutes a day.
Here’s How to Achieve Your Goal in 5 Minutes a Day
If you do one 5-minute action towards your goal each weekday, that’s 260 actions a year.
So, let’s say your goal is to get a promotion at work this year. If you spent 5 minutes each working day improving your communication skills, if that’s part of your job, you’d have spent 21 hours this year improving. Imagine how much better you’d be!
Most people aren’t doing this because they assume 5-minutes a day won’t make a difference. It will.
Alternatively, let’s say your goal is to improve your mental health. If you spent 5 minutes every day writing down what you’re grateful for, you’d have spent 30 hours this year training your brain to become more positive (and consequently have fewer negative thoughts). The positive impact on your mental health would be unbelievable!
Or, let’s say your goal is to write a book. If you spent 5 minutes each weekday writing one page, you’d have a book with 260 pages by the end of the year. Wow! How amazing.
So, what goal do you want to achieve? Why not break it down in its smallest steps now? And start working towards it today.
I hope you enjoyed this post. I’d love to know what small action steps you’re taking this week towards your goals. So please do drop me a note at becky@beckyholliday.com.
Love this blog post? This is part 3 of a 3-part series. Don’t miss part 1 here. And part 2 here.
