We all have goals and things we want to achieve, but it’s so easy to fall off the bandwagon or get distracted from our target! Don’t worry though – we’ve come up with three tips for staying on track, so you can be sure to achieve any goal you put your mind to.
Look After Yourself
Our first and most important tip to stay on track with your goals is to look after yourself. Keeping your body and mind healthy and primed for the day is essential to having the energy and focus needed to achieve your goals. Without this, you’ll find yourself procrastinating, exhausted, or distracted by other needs, meaning you’ll stray further and further away from working towards your goal.
Not only will looking after yourself help you feel healthy and ready to take on the day, but it also helps you produce those feel-good chemicals that help motivate you towards your goals. For example, exercising encourages dopamine production, making you feel productive and energized. You may even want to take supplements like this one from VitaMonk that can encourage dopamine production to give you that extra boost of energy and motivation.
Whether you’re taking supplements to fill a deficit or to encourage your body to be its best self, they can be a great way to keep yourself healthy and motivated.
Plan for Everything
Though it takes a little time at first, planning is one of the biggest things you can do to make sure you stay on track. As the famous Benjamin Franklin says, if you fail to plan, you are planning to fail!
Try and go into as much detail as you can with your plan. Break your end goal into smaller, more achievable goals, so that you can slowly but surely work towards them. It’s much easier to aim for something closer to your current level than to aim for something huge and overwhelming. You also should set deadlines for these small goals. Try to make these reasonable; give yourself enough time, but not so much that you’ll put it off!
You should also try to plan for inevitable situations. What happens if you have last-minute plans and can’t make time for your goal? What happens if you hit a setback? Planning for all possible situations means that when they arise, you know how to cope and deal with them.
Reward Yourself
Many people make the mistake of approaching a far-away goal like a chore or an overwhelming task. But it’s important to remember that we’re aiming for this goal for good reasons – whether that’s for our benefit, someone else’s benefit, or just to feel good! And there’s no reason why the journey towards our goal should be difficult and stressful.
One of the easiest ways to make it enjoyable is to add rewards, and these can fit nicely into your plan. If you’ve set yourself smaller, more achievable goals, then you can reward yourself for each time you reach this goal. Or you can simply reward yourself each time you interact or work towards your goal! It’s up to you.
This is super effective not only in making reaching your goal more enjoyable, but it also helps you feel positive about the things you’re doing. You’ll begin to associate those positive feelings with your progress and that in itself will be intrinsically motivating, helping you stay on track and work harder. Remember that you deserve to reward yourself for your hard work!
These are our three top tips for staying on track. By looking after your physical and mental health, as well as setting plans and rewarding yourself for sticking with your plan, you’ll find it easier than ever to stay on track and finally reach that goal!
