How to Motivate yourself to Achieve your Goals

We’re finally at the time when everyone is making goals and resolutions! The New Year ushers in a period of urgency as we all vow to accomplish one thing or the other. Making goals (whether big or small) and actually achieving them is a big part of success. The truth is that we make goals nearly every day of our lives but we rarely accomplish them. It’s very easy to make goals but it’s much harder to actually accomplish those goals.

Your goals are a big part of your life and the way you live. Sometimes, they can be short-term like cleaning the house the next day or longer-term like having $1000 in savings by the end of the year. Achieving those goals requires a lot of determination and grit and even those may not be enough sometimes.

You need effective ways to motivate yourself towards achieving those goals while making sure you don’t push yourself too much and affect your mental health.

If you ever find yourself stretched to the limit in trying to achieve a goal, please step back, take a break (as long as you need), re-evaluate those goals and return to the good fight when you’re ready ❤

There are lots of methods by which you can empower yourself towards accomplishing your goals. You can use one or more of these tips to help!

 

1. Set Realistic Goals

It’s cool and all to make BIG goals for yourself but never make the mistake of setting a goal for yourself that is impossible to achieve. It’s also important to set reasonable time limits for your goals. I really can’t stress this enough. Having big dreams is awesome but always strive towards goals that are within the limits of logic and common sense (no offense meant! )

I’m not saying it’s impossible to accomplish a huge goal. I’m a dreamer too and I have so many things I want to do but I do know that some of those dreams will take time.

For example, you can’t have an attic that hasn’t been cleaned in a year and decide you’re going to clean it in 20 minutes. Nah… not possible. Or as a blogger with 1000 monthly views, set a goal to earn $40,000 every month despite the fact that the highest paid person in your niche (with hundreds of thousands of views) earns $100,000. Unless you have other sources of income, also not possible!

Setting impractical goals puts a lot of physical and mental stress on you. On one hand, it’s hard to motivate yourself if you know at the back of your mind that the goal isn’t possible. On the other hand, if you do ignore that voice in your head, you’ll be working twice as hard to meet such a goal and when you don’t achieve it, all the stress you went through would have taken a huge toll on you and you’ll end up feeling very very sad.

 

2. Write down your Goals

You’ve set a reasonable goal for yourself, that’s great! The next step is to write it down. Putting your goals to paper is great because it will increase your chance of remembering it later. I also advise writing your goals in a book (and not on a piece of paper) so that you can always keep track of your goals and have a way to be reminded if you forget them!

Another key thing to do is to write your goals in a pretty format. Get some of those cute notebooks and planners in the stationery section of your favourite store (or buy some from Redbubble/ Society6) and design them with stickers, pretty illustrations and more! You can also write your goals in them with colorful, glitter pens! It probably may not make sense to do that but the eyes love pretty things. I assure you that you’ll find yourself much more inclined to work towards those goals.

 

3. Keep in Mind or Write Down the Benefits of those Goals

This is an excellent habit you should get used to! It’s very common to write a goal in a simple format. For example “Clear out the attic from 11 am to 1 pm” but it’s also really helpful to write the benefits of those goals. It’s a great way to motivate yourself because you’ll have in mind the awesome stuff that achieving your goals will lead to. So working hard towards your goal becomes less of a chore and more like a necessary thing to do to gain the benefits. You’ll definitely work hard if you know there’s a reward at the end of it all

 

4. Research how to Achieve those Goals

Researching is very important for your motivation. You need to know the best way to go about getting to that goal. Of course, this doesn’t apply to something easy or something you’ve done lots of times like cleaning a place but it’s important to research the big stuff.

Having all the resources and information you need to accomplish your goal is a great motivator for success!

 

5. Get Posters or Stickers to Motivate Yourself

You know those posters and art pieces that say stuff like “You can do it!”, “Don’t give up now!” or “You’re doing great!”. USE THEM. Yes, they’re cliche but they’ll put a smile on your face and encourage you to work harder.

You need motivation for your goal and even if that’s from a corny piece of paper taped to your wall, get it if it’ll help you!

 

6. Meet Others who Have Similar Goals

You know that proverb, “Two heads are better than one”? It’s the truth. You’re more likely to achieve your goals if you’re working alongside other people.

Source

Imagine that achieving your goals is a group project (a real one, not those where one person does all the work and the rest do nothing 😂😂) Collaborating with people who are working towards that same goal is very beneficial. There may be tips or tricks you didn’t learn during your research (step 4 above) that others will teach you. Also, you may be using a time-consuming method for your goal. Those you’re working with will help and guide you.

It’s important to ask for help when required (and to give back in return as much as you can). Talking to like-minded people will work wonders for your motivation.

 

7. Tell Someone who will not Mock You

Say you can’t find an awesome group like the one mentioned in point 6. Does that mean you should still work alone? NO.

It’s really hard to work alone and I don’t advise it. You need people (not just stickers) to motivate you and push you along. However, you need to be careful about who you tell your dreams. Some people are sadly not visionaries and if you tell them a big goal you have in mind, they may take a “realist stance” and try to dissuade you (throw them off a bridge lol joking)

Discuss your big goals with people who – although may not understand it – will do their best to help you get there. You can confide in one person or to a group; to family or friends or both. Anyone who you know will not mock you, anyone who you’re sure will help and not hinder you.

Even if you’re in the kind of group (in point 6), I still recommend talking to people outside of that group. It can be very helpful to get a new and different perspective on issues.

 

8. Read Motivational Books and Articles

Personally, this one is not my jam 😅😂 I read a lot of fiction books but very little (if any) non-fiction. Nevertheless, I know a lot of people get inspired by motivational books. If you’re one of them, get reading!

Now, you may like the idea of reading motivational books but may not have the time. That’s okay. You don’t have to finish a book in a day! Reading 2 pages per day or less will really help to guide you towards your goal.

 

9. Work on Long-term goals a little each day

Long-term goals are the worst, aren’t they? They’re usually big goals and since they take time, there’s the risk of postponing them for ages or worse, forgetting about them altogether *cue gasp*

The best way to tackle long-term goals is working on them bit by bit. Take 30 minutes or more a day to work on that goal and make it a habit. Add those 30 minutes to your daily routine and stick to it as much as you can. After a while, you’ll get used to it and you’ll begin looking forward to those few minutes working on your dream.

 

10. Take as many breaks as you need

I’ve used the phrase “working on your goal” about 10 times in this post and I know how tiring that will be! So this last point is for you; for your mental health and self-care routine.

Take breaks sometimes or many many times. It can be so stressful to always be working! If you need a short rest, go get that rest! If you need an entire 6-month or 1-year break from your goal, please take that break. Remember that your mental health always comes first.

 

How do you motivate yourself towards achieving your goals? What do you think of these tips? Comment, let’s discuss!

***All images are free stock photos from Ivory Mix (my post about it here), Styled Stock Society and Unsplash unless otherwise stated. 

 

At the last minute, I also decided to add a short list of my New Year Goals as my own way of keeping track 😊

• Be a better friend: I’ve pushed aside a lot of good friends while working on my blog and I’m going to stop that in 2019.
• Improve my blog: This kinda contradicts the previous point, right? 😅 Well, I intend to strike a perfect balance between my blog time and my family/ friend time. I hope I can self-host and monetize my blog this year
• Take better care of my mental health: Last year, I was an absolute mess. I was so obsessed with my former blog and later, my bookstagram (bookish content creation on Instagram) and I was always so stressed about views and likes and engagements. Sometimes, I would cry when my photos were not good enough or when IG’s algorithm was being particularly shitty. It really took a lot out of me and I’m determined to put my mental health first from now on.

 

What are your 2019 goals? If you’ve got a post, link it below and I’ll check it out!

 

Related Posts:

• 10 Effective Ways to Improve your Mood
• Best Website for Free Stock Photos

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