Creating Goals that Stick To You

Have you ever set a goal for yourself and then decided you’d start working toward it tomorrow? Then tomorrow comes and you decide to start working on it the next tomorrow. And after a few days of missing your start date, you decide the best time to start is next month…or maybe even, next year? It would make a GREAT New Year’s resolution, right? 

Submitted for the Consideration of the Midday Society:

How to Create Goals that Stick To You

Can you imagine what it would feel like to achieve all those goals you’d set for yourself? You’d be visiting the place you’ve been wanting to visit, wearing exactly what you want to wear, the person you want to experience this with would be right there with you, and you’d FEEL amazing knowing you did it by taking just a few steps earlier this year that created the momentum to get you here in this moment.

Accomplishing our goals isn’t impossible. Goals are achieved every day. So what I’d like to suggest is a change in mindset - let’s not think about it as sticking to our goals, but rather, creating goals that stick to you.

What? 

Don’t worry, I’ve got you.

Things to Consider when Creating the STICKIEST goals

Often a goal is, at its essence, a project and can be approached in a similar way.

1. Ask why this is the goal. Consider alternatives or alternative wording. The goal should feel impactful.
   1. i.e. instead of “save money” how about “save $8K to take the trip of my dreams to Italy and return debt free”
2. Think of Goldilocks. Find the approach that’s juuuust right. Take a look at the big picture and consider how to break it into small action steps. 
   1. For example, if your goal is to save $8K, starting with “save money” is the right idea, but it’s not a defined action you can take. It’s too broad.
   2. However, you don’t want to jam too many tasks into one step - for example, “save $100 each paycheck by opening a high yield savings account and auto-depositing that money into that account. Oh, and decide on a high yield savings account, too” may feel too big.
   3. But, something like “Google high yield savings accounts” followed by “pick a high yield savings account” is a great pair of steps to easily cross off.
3. List out all the actions you can think of to help you reach your goal. Look back at that first step, and think about how you can make it even easier. 
   1. If “Google high yield savings accounts” feels too big, try “turn on computer” or “secure 20 minutes in my calendar to search high yield savings accounts”. 
      1. If the goal feels SUPER easy, you’ll be more inclined to take that first step.
4. Go through and break down each of your steps into something so small it feels almost silly to write it out. Not kidding.
   1. Your list of small actions will become your action plan - an outline of steps you can take to make progress toward your goal. 
5. AUTOMATE. We are creatures of habit. Making something part of your day to day is what’s going to make the goal stick to you.
   1. If you aren’t thinking about a task, it becomes part of your routine and your goals will stick to you much easier.
   2. Setting up a direct deposit to your new high yield savings account is a great way to automate your goal.
   3. For other goals, the best way to automate something is to find the point where you make a choice NOT to adhere to your goal.
   4. And then, we’re going to work on automating that choice.
6. Identify points of friction to automate your goal.
   1. Let’s say your goal is to go to the gym and you’ve already done all the hard work of finding a gym, signing up, and paying your fee.
   2. But getting dressed for the gym is so daunting that you’d rather just hit snooze.
   3. Ah-ha! Your friction point is getting dressed for the gym in the morning. 
   4. You can try:
      1. Setting out your gym clothes right next to where you brush your teeth.
      2. Snuggling with your gym clothes all night.
      3. Snuggling IN your gym clothes all night.
      4. Try going to the gym at night instead of the morning.

And that’s what this whole process is meant to do. You want to break down your goals into small, easily actionable steps so that they become SUPER easy so that you’re doing them without even thinking about it. That way, they’re sticking to you.