Do you remember the new year's resolution that you set for yourself at the start of the year?
Have you stuck to it, or maybe there are a number of goals that you're working on that you start off
with so much passion and motivation and drive to make them happen. But after a few days,
or a few weeks or a few months, you find that you lose that motivation, the same drive isn't
there anymore, and it all gets a bit too much. And it's difficult to keep sticking to those goals.
Well, if you're experiencing that, welcome to the club. So many of us experience the
same problem. And while trying and failing is simply part of life, there are proven ways to
help you actually stick to those goals. So I'm going to be sharing those tips with you today.
Hey there, and welcome back to my channel. My name is Eva, and I'm a career coach and
customer success director on a mission to help people build meaningful careers. Now,
if it's your first time here, if you're returning, I would love it if you would subscribe and hit the
bell to make sure you're notified for new videos every Friday. And it also really helps to support
my channel. So thank you for subscribing. So today's video about sticking to your goals. Having
goals is incredibly important. For ambitious people, it ensures that you have direction
and you know how you're spending your time. And it feels amazing when you achieve those goals.
The problem is when we sometimes don't achieve all of those goals, we beat ourselves up. And
we feel really bad about it. And we think that it has to do with our willpower. But sometimes,
the problem is actually with how we've set those goals and how we're going about them rather than
any lack of willpower on your part. So there are small tweaks that you can make to that process
to make it easier to stick to your goals. And this video is very timely, I'll be honest with you,
I was worried that I wasn't going to be able to get a video out this Friday. And that was one of
the goals that I set at the beginning of the year, one video every week, for the rest of the year.
That was my goal. But this week, I normally record my videos on the Saturday before and
bring them out on the Friday. This week. However, work are busy, I had a lot to do, I wasn't gonna
get out this video. And then I started thinking about this is a challenge as so many people have
been able to stick to their goals when we have so many priorities. And life is so busy and we
still work. And this is something you're doing on the side. But there are certain things that have
helped me stick to this goal for the last four months or more. But also make it easier to stick
with it in the long run. And you are watching this, so you know that the video did come out,
which I'm very proud of. But these are the things that have helped make that happen.
Tip number one, slash the number. By number I mean number of goals. So I'm gonna encourage
you to grab a piece of pen and paper and start writing down all of the things that you would
like to achieve over the next three months. Once you've done that, start ranking them from the most
important to the least important, you're probably fairly comfortable after you've got to the top 10.
I'm just saying you're not going to focus on the ones that are in the top 10. And that's fine. But
there is a very important reason that Google when they're setting company objectives and individual
objectives okrs. They never set more than three to five goals per person or per team for any quarter.
And the reason is, it's difficult for people to focus on so many different priorities. If
everything is a priority, then nothing is really a priority. So here's what you need to think about.
Once you've made got it to the list of the Top 10. Look at your top five goals. And now think about
anything that's in your five to 10 list. Those are the things that are going to make you not
achieve the top priorities. So be comfortable with the fact that it's difficult to change everything
that you're doing in one go. And it's okay to take your time with it. So if you were able to envision
your life in three months time and you've achieved all of those top five goals, how would that feel?
Would you be so disappointed that you haven't achieved one of the goals in the bottom part?
And if you would, maybe that needs to priority be prioritised. So you do need to narrow it down
to just the few things that you can absolutely commit to and do your best at tip number two,
write the goals down. And you've probably already started doing this, make sure that they are smart
goals as well. So specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, and time bound,
and make sure it's objective. So if someone were to read that piece of paper, they would
absolutely know whether you've achieved that goal or not. Make sure it's clearly black and white,
because your brain will start to play tricks with you. Now I write the goals down in a notebook
there at the start there at the front page of my notebook. And then every week I review, how have I
done according to those goals? What's gone? Well, what have I learned? And then what could I do
better? And what am I going to focus on for next week? Tip number three, don't change the goalposts
after you've started. So when you are actually setting the goal, think about how long am I going
to do this for if you decide that you're going to go to the gym three times a week for a month,
let's say and that's the goal that you've set. Don't, don't change that goal in the
first week and say, I'm going to do it four times or five times, or I'm going to go even less. Like,
really make sure that it's realistic, and it can fit into your schedule and what you can do. But
after you've set the timeframe that you're going to stick to that goal for whether it's a new habit
or a skill that you want to improve, practice and work on it for that amount of time, and reassess
after you've hit that milestone. Tip number four, name, the when and where. So when you're writing
down your goals, actually schedule it, when is this going to fit into your everyday life? How are
you going to work towards this goal, and make sure that it's something that is fully in your control.
And that is the first thing that you schedule. So I record my videos every Saturday morning. So if
I'm going to see my friends, I do it a little bit earlier, or during the week I reassess and find a
different time to do it. But broadly, I try to stick to that time. Tip number five, make your
goal visible. And I've probably chosen the most visible goal because it's a video that goes out
every week. And the thing about accountability is we feel the social pressure to an extent.
So even though no one is gonna hit me up and say why have you not posted a video this week,
and that's fine. No one cares that much. But the point is, once I've put it out into the world,
I feel the social pressure that I need to deliver and I need to get that video out there.
So for whatever your goal you're setting, can you have an accountability buddy, can you have
something that's visible that you're putting out there maybe is writing your blog posts,
and whatever creative projects you're working on, who is someone that you can share it with,
so they can hold you accountable. And there's a great app called stick that I use for that as
well. So I'll leave the link in the comments, if that's something you want to try. Tip number six,
show up for yourself. And this one ties in very much with not having too many priorities,
because it's so easy to spread ourselves too thin. But if you think about it, when you're at work,
and you know you have a deadline, chances are most of the time you just show up and you get it done
and you show up for your employer, you show up for your team, you show up to your colleagues.
But you shouldn't let yourself be second to that priority, you should be able to show up
for yourself. So provided you haven't set too many goals for yourself. And it's not too challenging.
Make sure that there's just that one thing that you're gunning for to get done every week,
then show up for yourself and just get that thing done. You are as much of a priority to
yourself and much more of a priority to yourself, then you should be prioritising your employer. So
work just as hard for yourself as you do for the work that you do. There's still time for a
10 second break. And this is how you're going to feel when you achieve all of those goals.
Tip number seven, measure output not impact. And before I hear all the businesses disagree with me,
because ultimately, it's the result that matters. If setting goals is something that's been
particularly challenging, or it's new for you, and you're kind of worried about achieving them,
it's much much better to focus on the things that in your that are in your control. So notice,
I haven't said My goal is to get to 1000 subscribers, like that's what I would love
to do. So subscribe if you haven't done that already. But my actual goal is put one video
out there every week, I'm not measuring the impact, I'm not measuring the result, I'm
only measuring what is in my control. So if I get to the end of the year, and I've done one video
every week for you, I will be incredibly proud. So if you're a singer, your goal should maybe not be
you know, winning the X Factor. Maybe the goal is I will practice for 30 minutes every day. And
maybe you do measure week on week Can I hit that high note that I couldn't hit before, but measure
the things or begin by measuring the things that are in your control that way, whether the result
is where you want it or not, you can look at it with a much more open mindset of how you can
improve and how you can do things better, rather than beating yourself up that you didn't get the
result people wanted. Tip number eight, celebrate the wins. So sometimes I am gonna get loads of
subscribers. And when I got 100 subscribers, I did a little party. And so whatever the wins, you're
gonna have there were some weeks where you're not going to do amazingly well. And you're not going
to reach all of those goals. So you need to also build yourself back up when you do so don't ignore
it. It's not a small thing. As little as it is give yourself a pat on the back and say well done,
I did it so proud of myself. That's awesome. Tip number nine is to have realistic expectations.
And this is probably part of smart goals. But it's so important that I think it needs its own tip,
except that it's not always going to be a linear journey, you're not always going to improve at a
specific amount every single day. So accept that some weeks are going to be better than
others but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't stick to the original goal. So give yourself a
little bit of leeway show up for yourself. But don't beat yourself up when you haven't done it.
And final tip on my favourite one tip number 10 done is better than perfect. And this video is
going to be a perfect example of this. It's probably going to be the worst editing that
you've ever seen in any video ever. But I didn't care, because my goal was to just get a video out
there. And of course next week, I can look at preparing a little bit earlier and getting the
quality out there. But sometimes just getting something done for your own personal goals will
be much more fulfilling than not getting it done perfectly. When I started filming on the channel,
I wanted to have great audio with a microphone. And when I started the editing process,
I couldn't get the audio to sync up with the sound. And at that point, I could have just said,
Oh, I can't work it out. And I'm not going to do it. And I absolutely give up. But I just accepted
that I would have a subpar audio for some of the first videos. And that's fine because it's
something I can work on. But taking something off the list and getting it done will give you that
extra sense of satisfaction and also motivation, because motivation will come from actually doing
things rather than just thinking about them or just coming to you. So the more you do, the more
motivated you would feel, which is why it's so important. Get it done, even if it's not perfect.
No one is so that's fine. I hope this video has provided you with some helpful
tips and inspiration. And I would love to hear from you. What is it that helps you
what helps you stick to your goals? What goals are you working on right now
and we can be accountable to each other. So thank you very much for watching, and best of luck.