I know you have a dream, or two, or three in mind right now. Things that you want so badly to do or to accomplish. And how long have those been a dream? A few weeks? Months? Years? Decades?
Until we set a clear path for how we are going to achieve or obtain our dreams, they are never going to come to fruition. A goal truly is a dream with a deadline.
And I’ve got some deadlines in mind.
While there is never a *perfect* time to make a change, to refocus on a goal, or to completely change your life, many people like to wait to the start of a new year, a new month, or a new season. Today is August 31st making tomorrow the first day of September. It’s still officially summer, but for most of us we think of the start of September as the start of autumn. It’s not the start of the calendar year, but it is the beginning of the school year, and if you are like me, September still feels like the start of a new year. It’s something about new school supplies (or in my case a new planner and pens), and getting back to my usual fitness classes that makes it feel new.
That means today is the most perfect, un-perfect day to decide what dreams you are going to make a reality this month, this year or in the final quarter of 2015.
Once you decide on a dream/dreams to push into reality, take some time to set out a plan. Give yourself a realistic due date. Figure out what you need to do and how you are going to do it. Reach out to the experts you need to help you. And get the resources you’ll need to get organized and ready to crush those goals!
Once you’ve decided on a goal and a date it’s time to tell the world! Not literally of course, but sharing your goal with your significant other, friends or family can go a long way to helping you bring it into real life. And I’ve always found that the goals that are the scariest to say out loud, become the goals that make the largest impact in your life. Achieving them isn’t easy, but it’s always worth it.
Get Organized
I’m also a firm believer that with the right planner, you can take over the world 😉 I have three physical planners that I use to help me log and track my goals. They help to keep me organized and it’s easy for me to see what I need to get done, where I need to refocus and how I’m doing.
Three planners might be a bit much for you, but in case you are wondering what I use, my day to day planner is my Passion Planner (if you decide to pick one up use my email info@suzifevens.ca to say I referred you 🙂 ). It has a section at the beginning and at the end of each month to reflect on your goals, what is going well, where you need to work harder, etc. and is perfect for housing all of my work to-do lists. I also have a full-sized Mead planner (this isn’t it, but it’s a similar size/setup). I just got this a few weeks ago and already love it. Since being a blogger also includes maintaining a presence on social media, I’m using this one strictly to help me plan my content calendar for different sites. That way I can be sure I always have what I need to stay consistent. My third planner is more of a diary.
It’s my FitBook where I can log my food, keep track of my water, workouts, etc. This is especially great when I am working on a fitness or health goal, and has been a life saver during IBS flair-ups.
Then of course I also have my online blog planner via Coschedule which I loooove. It makes scheduling posts and tweets a breeze, and lets me see a whole month of posts and social media posts at once. If you are a blogger I totally 100% recommend Coschedule. You can get a free trial, but when that’s up the paid version is worth every dollar. I can’t recommend them enough.
Seek out support
Another key to achieving your goals is support. Sure, maybe you can do it all on your own, but you know what? Even when you know all the things you need to do, having someone there to keep you on track, help you focus, and give advice when needed is so important.
I recently took Amanda’s Instagram Impact Academy course. I’d already taken a course on Instagram, and felt pretty knowledgable on the topic and while I did learn some new things a lot of it was a repeat for me. Do I think it was worthwhile for me to take the course? 500% yes! And I would take it again. It was exactly what I needed to refocus and get back on my game. Knowing what you need to do and actually doing it are two very different things.
Want to save up for a trip? A new car, or a down payment on your home? Calculators like this one can help you figure out how much you need to save each month to make that goal happen.
Whatever your goal, there is someone out there who can help support you, whether it be as easy as a friend to keep you accountable or a professional you hire – get support.
You can do this. Remember my post from a few weeks ago – Start Where You Are, you can sort the rest out on the way.
<3