Reflect and Nourish

Looking to achieve a goal, but don’t know where to start? You’ve come to the right place. In this blog post, I will share five steps you can take to turn your dreams into concrete plans:

1. Start with a clear “why.”

It’s important to have a strong reason for wanting to achieve the goal you have in mind. 

According to PALM Health, having a clear reason behind a goal will help you determine what you want to achieve and the best plan to get there.

Not only will a strong sense of “why” help keep you motivated as you embark on your journey, but it will also give you reassurance that you’re doing something for the right reasons.

For example, if you have a goal to climb Mount Everest, are you doing it because you truly want to? Perhaps because you love to climb and challenge yourself, and/or you would be proud of yourself if you reached the top? Or are you just doing it to impress other people?

Knowing your motives behind doing something will help you confirm whether or not you truly want to do it.

2. Visualize your ideal result.

To get to where you want to go, you need to have a clear end in mind. 

According to Stephen Covey in his book, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” for every physical creation, there is first a mental creation. Therefore, to achieve what you want in life, you must first make a conscious effort to imagine it (begin with the end in mind).

Being able to visualize what you want is key to creating what you want in life.

To help you visualize, you can create a vision board and/or practice visualization exercises. Check out my post on “How to create a compelling vision board.”

3. Make a list of the steps required to get there.

Now that you have a clear idea of what you want to do and why you want to do it, it’s time to turn your dream into a plan. 

Make a list of all the benchmarks you need to hit to reach your goal.

For instance, if you want to tidy up a room, you could make a list like:

• Clear out closet
• Reorganize bookshelf
• Discard old papers
• Vacuum and mop the floor

According to Ana McRae, breaking your big goal into mini goals can help you clarify the particular steps to take to get to your destination, which makes you much more likely to start. In addition, it can make the process feel much more manageable. 

4. Make a plan for how you will work through those steps in your planner or calendar.

Now that you can see all of the steps you need to take, you can plan them in your calendar. 

For instance, in the room-tidying example, you could decide to assign one task to a one-hour time slot each evening after work. You could clear out your closet on Monday, re-organize your bookshelf on Tuesday, discard old papers on Wednesday, and vacuum and mop the floor on Thursday.

According to Lian Parsons in a Harvard Extension School blog post, setting a concrete plan helps you cut down on mental energy and simplifies the process of working towards your goal.

In addition, setting aside the appropriate time commitment needed to achieve the goal (if a time commitment is required) will require other demands to work around your scheduled time, instead of the other way around.

5. Persist.

Now that you have a plan for action, all you need to do is hold yourself accountable to it! Work diligently towards your goal, and keep reminding yourself of your “why.” 

To keep yourself motivated, it may help to keep a note or image of your desired vision in a place where you’ll see it regularly, such as on a sticky note on your laptop, mirror, or desk. 

You may also find it helpful to track your progress in a journal. For instance, you could create a Habit Tracker if you are working towards a long-term goal that requires a daily commitment, such as reading a book, achieving a fitness goal, or learning a musical instrument.

According to James Clear, the author of “Atomic Habits,” habit-tracking is effective because it gives you a visual cue reminding you to act, it feels satisfying to see the progress you make, and it feels good to tick off the habit in your journal each day after completing it.

Goals can often feel abstract and vague at first, but once you determine exactly what you want to do, why you want to do it, and how you plan to achieve it, you’ll feel energized by your concrete vision and motivated to take the necessary steps to get there.