The new Congress will spring into action this month with the intention of getting a lot done in their first 100 days. This prompts us to ask you: What are you going to do with your first 100 days of 2017? You could have watched the ball drop and made a few New Year’s resolutions to jump start your 2017 progress, or you could have determined that you weren’t ready to commit to anything just yet, and your goals are a work in progress. No matter how big or small your 2017 goals are, you need a plan to reach them. So could you use a little help in getting there? Here are 4 strategies to help you reach your goals this year.
- Make the goal specific
In your personal life, if you simply say, “I’m going to go to the gym more in 2017,” you’re not committing to anything specific. If you go to the gym twice a week now, you might go three times a week for the first two weeks in January, and you technically went to the gym more times in January than you did in December. So you could tell yourself that you have accomplished, well, something. If you tell yourself that you’re going to go to the gym three times a week, you will either feel good about the fact you met your goal, or you know that you didn’t meet your goal, and you’ll have to plan your week next week to make it happen. If you don’t give yourself a quantifiable goal, it’s way too easy to give yourself credit for positive behavior, and ignore your less than satisfactory efforts.
- Give yourself some credit
If your goal is to leave work at 5pm each day and only check your email once in the evening, reward yourself occasionally after you’ve stuck to your goal. If your goals are difficult to attain, and you’re putting in some serious effort to make them happen, and you’re the only one holding yourself accountable, then you also need to be the one to reward yourself for a job well done.
- Carve out time
First, you need to understand what you’ll need to accomplish your goal. That means you’ll need to invest some time into figuring out what to move around in your life in order to succeed at making your new goal a reality. If you’re already maxed out at home and work, adding something else to your plate will only give you something else to manage. Assess what is working in your schedule, where you have some room to dedicate to your new endeavor, and then guard that time. Do not let other areas of your life infringe on the time you’ve set aside for yourself. -Easier said than done, we know, but if you need some tips on how to say no without feeling guilty, this is a great guide. Whether your goal is to get your MBA, get your CPA or improve your overall health in 2017, make sure you can set aside adequate time in your schedule to succeed.
- Subtract something
This relates to point number three. After you’ve figured out how much time you’ll need in your week to accomplish a certain goal, you may find that your week is full. This might mean you have to let something go to make way for something new. Even though your “something new” might be more important than whatever you have to let go, whatever you’re letting go might feel more comfortable to keep than the change you want to undergo. Resist your temptation to stick with the status quo and the things that are “good enough.” We know that change is hard, but it will be a lot easier if you know that it will likely be a little painful, and give yourself what you need to succeed.
A new year means different things for different people, but if you’re wanting to make 2017 the year that you actually stick to your New Year’s resolutions, give yourself the time you need to succeed, and don’t forget to reward yourself when you reach a milestone. After all, there’s a reason you got chocolate cake after you finished your broccoli at dinner.