Originally published on USUpdates.com
As the founder and CEO of Anchor Adversity in Las Vegas, Connie Jordan is an educational consultant and professional life and career coach. Jordan develops programs tailored to individuals to help them achieve success in their professional careers and personal life. She has been recognized by the University of Phoenix for her extraordinary commitment as Outstanding Faculty Educator and received a Community Outreach Award from the Academy of Excellence.
Come January 1st, many of us begin formulating our New Year’s resolutions. We feel motivated to make some positive changes in our lives, and so we set big goals for ourselves.
And more often than not these goals never come to fruition. But it isn’t necessarily for lack of trying. Many people simply don’t know how to properly set goals and cultivate the habits that are necessary to accomplish what they’re after.
Thankfully, these aren’t difficult skills to learn, and once you begin implementing them in your life, your ability to reach your goals will rocket into the stratosphere.
Create SMART Goals
The first step toward realizing your goals is to make sure they’re Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-Limited.
An example of a goal that’s doomed to failure is, “I want to get in shape.” It’s simply too broad and ill-defined. How will you know when you’re in shape? How long should it take? How can you tell if you’re falling behind?
Instead, a SMART goal would be, “I want to be able to run three miles three months from now.” This is a specific goal, with a definite timeline and a means to measure your progress. Plus it’s achievable. When you phrase your goals in this manner it becomes much easier to make a plan of attack.
Find Your Motivation
Consider the old adage, “Choose a job that you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.” When you’re passionate about something, doing it becomes a joy instead of a grind. So be honest with yourself when setting goals. Make sure it’s something you really want to do. If it isn’t, try and rephrase the goal so that it’s more in line with your values.
You’re setting a goal for yourself, which means it’s something you want. In order to create the proper motivation to achieve the goal you simply need to get in touch with the deep reasons why you want it.
Create Dynamic Habits
You’ve set yourself a specific, measurable, goal and you’ve gotten in touch with the motivation you need to begin working on your goal in earnest. But how do you make sure you’re consistently moving forward? Dynamic habits create a daily structure that will inevitably lead you toward your goal.
Habits are simply actions that you take on a consistent basis, that don’t require a lot of thought, and that become your default mode of operation. Habits are important because they are the stepping stones that will get you to your goal.
You want to run three miles in three months. You’re motivated by the fact that you want to set a healthy example for your kids. So you create a habit of running every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, each time running a little bit longer than the last time. These habits will push you towards your goal without fail as long as you keep them up.
Goals define the path. Habits are the systematic steps you take on that path to reach the finish line.
You Can Do It
Realizing your goals isn’t difficult when you set proper goals and create the habits needed to realize them. However, it does take discipline. Habits don’t materialize instantly. Most experts agree it takes about 21 days of disciplined effort to cement a habit. So use your motivation to maintain your focus until you’ve created the habits you need to fully realize your goals.
And be courageous! You need to be willing to step out and claim what you want. Taking the first step is always the hardest. But when your habits, motivation, and goals are aligned, all it takes to achieve your goals is the boldness to begin. So get started!
About Connie Jordan: Connie Jordan of Las Vegas is a professional life, career and executive coach at Anchor Adversity. As the founder and CEO, she is trusted with educating, motivating, and re-branding thousands of individuals’ leadership spirit by coaching life strategies. Jordan is known as an energetic and positive professional who takes pride in supporting others as they engage in self-development to embrace change.