17: 3 Simple Ingredients to Achieve Your Goals
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Welcome to episode 17 of Permission to be Messy. I'm your host, JoAnn Krall. And today I'm talking about three simple ingredients to achieve your goals.
As of this recording, we are coming upon the halfway point of the year. If you were somebody who set goals in the beginning of the year and you have a vision for 2023 but haven't quite gotten there. I have three things that I do that help me achieve my goals without really having to make a plan.
So as a professional organizer, people often ask me how I map out my goals and make a plan to achieve them. And are you ready for the unpopular opinion? I don't. Goal setting has always been really stressful for me So, what do I do instead? I'm a big believer in having a vision of where I want to go with my business, what I want for my family and for my life. I also, when it comes to a physical space for decluttering, I like having the loose vision of what I want it to look like. But I need that room for expansion or no bumps in the road.
That said I don't sit down and write out solid and specific goals. Not that I think there's anything wrong with that. If you do that and that works for you. Awesome. But for example, I don't write down like the number of clients that I'm shooting for in my business each month. I don't write down how many pounds I'm trying to lose or any resolutions like that.
My approach to goals is similar to my approach to organization. I believe that chipping away with consistency is key. Seeing the entire path sometimes can be overwhelming but taking the next right action step at any given moment is uncomplicated in easy.
I do have a process for setting up plans. But it's just slightly different than a typical let's map out a project piece by piece. What it does is it gives you this broad overview.
Sometimes with goals, it's an all or nothing approach and when life happens and throws us off track, It can be so easy to just throw in the towel and stop making progress. So if this is you. These three things may work for you.
I see people do this time and time again. And what if. Life happened and you picked up right where you left off and kept going. Like how much more momentum would you have and how much more ground could you cover?
So I'm going to talk about the three things that I do that helped me actually meet my goals without having to write them out and do step-by-step and make sure that I've got deadlines and all of that.
So number one is creating a vision board. We've all heard of vision boards. And I actually didn't do this for a very long time. I would start and stop, I would say, oh, I'm going to cut out all the things and I'm going to make this vision board and I'm going to decorate it. and.
I just never was able to. get my act together and do it and complete it and find the right things. It wasn't until somebody showed me how to do it in Canva and that was just life-changing for me to be able to create something digitally and use it as a wallpaper on my computer or on my phone, or it is even something that I could print out
but being able to create it in Canva gives you like an endless number of pictures and graphics and all of that. It took a lot of that, cutting up and making sure I had everything before I could really let go of perfectionism cause I could move it all around. And there was so much more to find.
So our brains love to have a place to focus and often what we focus on is what our brains label is important.
A vision board helps to give you a tangible view of your goals, your desires, and your dreams so that your brain can focus on it every day. what you focus on grows and expands. So it also can help you to weed out what you do and don't want in your life when it comes to making decisions and taking opportunities.
It helps to keep you in alignment with what's important to you and the direction that you want to go.
The second thing that I do is I focus on everyday habits. When we create goals, we often create mini goals. this is very much in line with that.
The way to reach any goal is to focus on the small steps to get you there. I always emphasize the importance of daily habits and action steps.
For example, if you want to have an organized home, that's free of clutter. Start with one small step of cleaning out your junk drawer. If you want to have a calendar that allows you more time with your family and less hours on zoom, start by saying no to the next meeting that could just be easily figured out with an email or a text message.
If you want to grow your business and you need more visibility to do so. Start by reaching out to one person for a speaking opportunity and get in front of their audience. Some people do find it easier to make a list of each step that they take so that they can make strides each day and every day, by working off a list. However you choose to do it though. Don't let yourself get bogged down. Just don't get mired in the details. Keep the big picture in mind. And just take that next right step.
Okay. The third thing that I do is celebrate my progress.
So completing tasks and achieving goals feels great. Doesn't it? Crossing that finish line of a milestone is like completing a race. At the same time while you're striving don't forget the journey and celebrate progress all along the way. So you say no to something and be like, good for me. I actually said no to something so that I can actually do something that is more important. Celebrate that. And you can choose the way that you want to celebrate.
Some people celebrate just by documenting it. And other people celebrate by doing something for themselves. You don't have to do something big every time, but even if it's just I'm going to give myself a 10 minute break to sit and do nothing, or I'm going to watch a 30 minute show, or I'm going to eat this little piece of chocolate.
Celebration is really what makes you happy and what motivates you and gives you a reward.
You can also do this with organizing tasks. Celebrate, just getting started. Maybe you've purged your computer of some photos or you've cleaned out a closet. Celebrate. Pat yourself on the back, give yourself grace know that you took, you did something today. Don't look back at your day and say, oh, I only did this and this. Look back at your day and say, I got two more things done that I wouldn't have got done if I hadn't have done them.
We often equate productivity with completion.
Be happy now. Be happy now where you are and how far you've come.
So if you're not somebody that likes to sit down and set goals formerly. Try these three things create a vision board, focus on everyday habits and celebrate your progress along the way. If you're somebody who does like to set goals, but you haven't been quite meeting them. Maybe you do both. You do that, but then you use these three tools to move you forward.
And if none of these resonate with you. and you need a little bit more structure, You mean you need more action planning.
I do have an action planning course, which is less of goal-setting and it's more task orientated. But it's also going to give you a little bit more structure that you may need. I look at things a little bit differently. And I'll put the link to that program in the show notes. That program currently, you work on it on your own. You have access to the documents to download, and fill out yourself. But I'm also going to be doing monthly planning sessions with them. And depending on if you're listening to this right when I release it, I'm going to be having one this Wednesday.
and I'll put all that information in the show notes as well. and then I'm going to be doing them every month. it's a one-time fee right now to get in, get the program and then you can come to the monthly sessions for as long as I run them.
So that's a really great deal.
if you're looking for guidance every month to help plan. I highly recommend you check that out. And as always, I'm wishing you much productivity, peace, prosperity, and the permission to be messy. Thanks for listening.
