Make it a Point to Never Reach Your Goals
How to Keep Up Your Momentum
It’s easy to get fired up about a new project. It’s fun buying new shoes to go along with your new gym membership, or designing a logo for a new brand you’re launching. But what happens when the fun wears off?
Staying motivated can be tough, especially when there can be so many distractions keeping us from our outcomes. What’s the best way to stay on top of your game? By having a clear path and adjusting your mindset.Here’s what I recommend to keep up your momentum.
Figure Out the Purpose
Getting out of bed and getting to work is a lot easier when you figure out why you’re doing it in the first place. Are you working 14 hours a day to make sure your children have a bright future? Are you picking up extra shifts so you can finally visit Paris after years of dreaming about it? Whatever your purpose is, be clear about it and focus on it everyday.
Action without purpose is the drain of life. — Anthony Robbins
Be Flexible in Your Approach
A big mistake I’ve seen people make is giving up on a goal because a single tactic didn’t work. More often than not, there are plenty of ways to accomplish the same thing. Just because your initial effort may not have succeeded doesn’t mean you should hang it up, it means you should take a step back and find another way. Understanding that there are multiple ways to get to the same destination will keep your head up when times get a little tough.
The road to success is a windy one. — Anonymous
Create a New Goal Before You Accomplish the First One
Keep up your momentum by immediately setting new goals when you get close to accomplishing the first one. In other words, make it a point to never accomplish your goals.
Let’s say you’ve set a sales goal for yourself of $10,000 in a quarter and you just landed the deal that got you to $8,000. Now is the time to bump that goal up to $15k–20K. Why? Because bumping up your goal keeps you working hard, and gets you to accomplish more than you thought you could in the first place.
Focus on Your Feelings
If you think about it, the reason you wanted to lose weight had more to do with how you feel about yourself more than what the scale actually read. The promotion had more to do with a feeling of being recognized for your hard work than the salary, right? When you create your goals around a feeling of happiness, fulfillment, or contribution, you’re more likely to keep up the work that it takes to achieve it.
Remember to Reflect
Spend some time appreciating yourself, and appreciating your hustle. Take a look at the benchmarks you’ve been able to cross off in your journal. Joy is to progress as progress is to joy, and the happier you choose to be with your accomplishments, the easier it’ll be to work toward the next one.