It seems that the beginning of every year is the same, we make countless promises, a wish list. But then the days go by and the routine, the day-to-day events and the immediate pleasures that we indulge end up leaving that forgotten list at the bottom of a drawer.
Turning our list into an action plan and that action plan into an agreement with a very important person *YOURSELF* increases the chances of those wishes becoming real.
For those who followed the previous steps with us, they should already have a list of achievements and behaviors to make it happen, so I will tell you how we generate commitment with each item you wrote.
Oh, and if you are new here, take a look at the posts Planning in chaos and Defining focus areas and then come back here with your short list for the next step!
Shall we get started? Transforming your wish list into actions:
1. For items that you mentioned a behavior or situation that you no longer want in your life, rewrite it in a positive way. Write down what you are committed to doing. What is your goal. Ex: If you no longer want to eat chocolate after meals, write: Consume fruits and teas after meals.
2. Use action verbs to start your goals, such as: Build, Buy, Sell, Increase, Decrease. Write them so that you can picture the plan being executed.
3. Set a deadline for each goal: consider your current situation to set realistic deadlines. Neither too short so that you don't get frustrated by not being able to reach it, nor too long to keep you in your comfort zone. Challenge yourself, you will be surprised at how far you can go!
4. Choose to transform what is relevant to YOU. If your goal is to follow standards imposed by third parties, you will likely abandon it. Spending energy is hardly worth it, and fighting its essence is too high a price to pay. A goal that matters to YOU is able to fill you with strength and enthusiasm to make it a reality. And you will feel your body vibrate with that possibility. And that is a good goal to be followed!
5. Write down your goals and leave them in a visible place. This serves to remind you at all times of what you are committed to doing. Make sure that if you slip, you will soon be reminded of the agreements you made with yourself, which will help you stay focused.
6. To make sure your goal was written clearly, it should answer the questions below.
What do you want to achieve with this goal?
When does it start and when will you have completed it?
Who do you need to involve?
What resources do you need to achieve your goal?
Where does your goal happen?
How will you go about making it a reality? What is your action plan?
7. For each goal, reflect on what may be a threat that makes it difficult to execute. It is important to anticipate unforeseen events and restrictions that may happen. So you can include contingency actions and get around such occurrences without blocking your flow state (According to the psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, responsible for identifying the flow, this means “... a mental state that happens when a person performs an activity and she feels totally absorbed in a feeling of energy, pleasure and total focus on what she is doing. A complete immersion in what she is doing and, consequently, loss of the sense of time and space. ”). I know, it takes more work now, but believe me, if in the future you encounter such unforeseen events, your reaction will be potent instead of destabilizing you.
8. How do you feel when answering the questions above?
I am not the right person: if that was your thinking, reflect on the behavioral aspects, skills, resources that you lack. Write and then think about how you can make each aspect possible, who can help you, how you can fill those gaps. What do you need to learn?
I don't know where to start: sometimes we want to make a transformation so big that it is really difficult to identify where to start. Break your goal into stages, and within each stage, be detailed about the list of actions needed to perform each one. Organize the actions in a logical sequence of execution. So you can clearly see which features you really need to enable.
Did you vibrate with the possibility and even visualize what it will be like when it happens? So let's start this beautiful journey.
Be consistent. The day-to-day micro behaviors will make a difference for you to transform your routine and achieve what you want.
Celebrate every step, every little victory. The person you transform into during the process is worth a lot and should be proud of every achievement.
Don't wait for the turn of the year! What can you start doing today to make these changes real?
Credits Photos:
Cover: ru.depositphotos
Photo 1: Gerd Altmann by Pixabay
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