May Motivation!
Ok here we are people! We’ve hit May!!! How is your motivation going on all those new year goals you had planned!!??? Are you on a role? Have you lost your mojo? Did you even know where that dreams/goals list is, you so passionately wrote on new years day? (whilst nursing your hangover.) If you wrote one, pull it out now! If you didn’t, no time like the present, to pen that audacious list! I’m passionate about you achieving your dreams and being the best YOU possible, so here are a few quick steps to set you up for a great year of goals achieved!
1. WRITE SOME GOALS If you’re a goals writer by nature, this may be easy for you, BUT there are a lot of people who find putting pen to paper a little challenging. First thing, grab yourself a journal (one without lines so you can get creative, stick pictures in and draw things unrestrained), take yourself away to a quiet place with your beverage of choice and goal away! REMEMBER, Goals aren’t always a marathon, etc, they are also: Spend more focused time with my children having fun!, take my Nan out to lunch once a month etc.
2. WRITE AN ACTION PLAN Yep an action plan is what actually makes it happen. It’s all good to say you’re going to get fit, eat better, and get more sleep by the end of the year but HOW? Write it down. This could be; I’m going to join a gym, outside exercise class, find a gym with a creche for the kids, ban soft drink from the house, have one sugar in my coffee instead of two, set an alarm on my phone at 10pm reminding me to get my ass to bed! So that’s health, but you want a new job by the end of 2014? Why don’t you map out your pathway to getting there? You could start with registering for a correspondence course to upskill. If you gave yourself 6 months to do a course that will mean you’re in a better, more enjoyable job for the next 6 years it’s well worth the investment, right?!
3. CREATE A TIME LINE for your action plan. This is a little secret to making the action plan work. It’s all good to say ‘I’m going to do a night course, so I can apply for a promotion with confidence’, but if it gets to September and you haven’t even enquired about your course, you are in trouble. Write some dates next to your action plan of when you will achieve each item.
4. PUT YOUR LIST UP WHERE YOU CAN SEE IT!
5. WHAT ARE YOUR NEW CONSISTENCIES FOR THE YEAR?
These are the day-by-day ‘insignificances’ that will undergird your action plans. Example “ Go to bed early. In my house my husband likes to go to bed late and sleep as late as our small humans or his work commitments for the day, will allow him. When i’m not up before our kids, I spend the whole day feeling just one step behind schedule. I like to have made their breakfast, had some quiet time and a coffee or gone for a run before the whirlwind begins. This means getting up early, and to get up early and not feel like crap requires not staying up late every night. I now have an alarm on my phone that literally says GET YOUR ASS TO BED. Of course there is always an exception to the rule on certain occasions, but generally speaking this makes life less stressed for me and lets face it Happy mum! Happy family!
If you have a project you are working on, make sure you plan a consistent time each week to work on it. The truth is it’s about consistency. When I started writing, it would literally be (and still is, to be honest) one hour each week, sometimes each fortnight. Whatever it is, I would make sure I did it consistently. Within 6 months I had started a blog (that actually had readers, ha!!), had my writing published on three major sites and in two magazines. You can still achieve your goals with small windows of time just as long as they are consistent small windows of time.
Ready, Set, GO!!!! Here is to you looking back at the end of 2014 with a smile on your face!
Em x