Do you keep changing your goals when the going gets tough?
What it really takes to be successful...
The honeymoon phase of goal-setting is a wonderful place to be. You feel energized and enthusiastic; like you've discovered the secret weapon to success.
But as intoxicating as this feeling may be, eventually it wears off. Reality sets in, and the work to reach the goal becomes overwhelming, challenging and hard to maintain. The more our motivation wanes, the less likely we are to achieve the goal we were once so excited about.
Success is something we all want—but most of us never reach the level of success we desire because we give up prematurely.
When life gets challenging or busy, our goals are often the first thing that gets pushed to the back burner. Luckily, there are a few simple strategies we can utilize to prevent this from happening.
In this post, you'll learn why persistence is the key to success and how you can create consistent action towards your goals.
Why Consistency Is Key
"Failure is not falling down, but refusing to get back up." —Theodore Roosevelt
We don't reach our goals with sporadic action and inconsistent effort. Real and sustainable success comes from consistent action and the ability to push forward even when you're not feeling super motivated.
Taking action and steps towards your goals on a regular basis has an incremental and compounding effect that sort of puts goal achieving on autopilot. It won't happen overnight and it won't be immediately visible, but small actions over time lead to incredible transformations in the long run.
It takes grace and self-compassion to be consistent when you're working towards something that feels out of reach (not to mention a bit scary). After all, you're a human being! Even with the best of intentions, you're going to slip up and make mistakes. But the real challenge is figuring out how you can stay on track in spite of these setbacks and distractions.
It's important not to be too hard on yourself when you experience an off-day or if things aren't going as smoothly as you wished they would. As tempting as it is to give up during these challenges and setbacks, it's crucial to continue moving forward with consistency if you want to achieve your goals. And there are two key pieces of doing that: understanding your why and establishing discipline through productive habits.
Understanding Your Why
No one spends months or years of their life working towards a goal "just because." There's always an underlying reason that drives you to pursue a goal.
The more specific your "why" is, the easier it will be to stay on track and persevere through challenges along the way. For example, if one of your goals is to get a new job, then you can ask yourself: "Why am I working towards this? What is it that I hope this new job will give me that I'm not currently getting?"
Whether it's better income, more flexibility, or more meaning, understanding the “why” will keep you motivated and on track.
But in order for this goal to actually motivate and drive you forward in spite of difficulties, challenges and setbacks, it's important that you believe in the importance—or meaningfulness—of the WHY. You need a strong enough reason that will get you through those rough patches when you want to give up.
So whenever you're creating a new goal, investigate the deeper meaning of the goal and make sure that the underlying motivation is strong enough. If you have a weak why, then it's likely your goal will be short-lived.
Establishing Productive Habits
The other key to being persistent and consistent in the pursuit of your goals is to establish productive habits. These habits act as a support system that will help you stay on track towards your achievements.
A productive habit is an action taken towards your goal so frequently that it's almost automatic.
One of my favorite types of productive habits are daily routines. A daily routine is a small habit you develop to ensure you are constantly moving forward regardless of outside circumstances or how motivated you feel in the moment. For example, if one of your goals is to get a promotion, then a daily routine could look something like sitting down every morning and identifying three actions you can take to move towards this promotion.
Whether it's writing a new email to your manager with ideas that will help you advance in the company or talking with coworkers who have been successful in getting promoted—doing something each day that moves you closer to your goal will inevitably help you get there.
How To Create Consistent Action
Consistent action is the key to achieving any goal you set for yourself. Now that you've learned the importance of understanding why you're pursuing a goal and having productive habits in order to stay consistent, the next step is putting it all into action.
Here's a step-by-step plan to help you achieve your goals through consistent action:
Get crystal clear on your goal. Make sure it’s aligned with your values and who you really want to be. If you’re unclear on your values or purpose in life, it will be difficult to stay focused as the passion is missing.
Get crystal clear on your why. Why are you pursuing this goal? Why is it important to you? What is the deeper motivation behind it?
Break down your big goals into achievable micro-goals. This will help you create a feeling of progress and accomplishment that will help keep you motivated even when things get tough.
Set up habits to support you in achieving your current micro-goal. Make the habits easy to do and easy to support. This will give you something to fall back on when the going gets tough. The important thing is that you're taking action consistently every single day.
Track your progress and review what’s going well and what isn’t. So many people track but forget to review. Set a weekly or monthly reminder in your calendar to check in. Shift your mindset from viewing things as failures to asking yourself what’s the learning opportunity here?
It is so important to understand the why behind your goals and work on establishing productive habits in order to stay consistent. If you want a goal achieved, it’s not enough just to think about what you want; it takes persistence and consistency of action before any big achievement can be made. I hope that by following these steps, you will find success with achieving your goals.