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We all have goals but life is busy so it’s important to understand how to achieve goals when you’re busy
As a mom of 2 toddlers I am always busy
There’s always something to do and unless I take it no real downtime
But it doesn’t mean I’m not Going after my goals
Just because it’s hard doesn’t mean it’s impossible
It just means that you have to approach your goals in a different way to get everything done
There is a step-by-step road map for how I do it
And it all starts with clarity on where you’re going
Defining Your Goals
You have to really define your goals in order to go after them efficiently
Imagine getting in your car without knowing where you’re going
It’s impossible to know what turns to take because you don’t know what the destination is
So the finding exactly what you want in your life is your 1st step
Imagine yourself in 5 years
What do you want your life to look like?
How do you want to look
How do you want to feel
What job do you want
Where do you want to live
You can’t know how to achieve your goals when you are busy without clearly knowing what you want to achieve
Imagine your life like you are writing in your journal today
Once you know where you want to go then you can start working Backwards
Please do not skip this step
Defining WHY they are a goal, and maybe changing it
Once you have defined you goals,
You need to clearly define why you want them.
Make sure you dig deep
Things are going to get hard
They always do when you stretch yourself
But if you want a strong, emotional WHY, you’ll get through those hard times
Instead of saying something like ” I want this because I want more money”
Money is a tool.
Why do you want more money?
Maybe you want to quit your job because it is slowly destroying your health and happiness
Maybe you want to end generational poverty so your kids don’t have to struggle like you are
Whatever the goal and reason, make sure it is strong enough to get you through the days that feel impossible.
Setting a deadline
“Everything is an experiment until it has a deadline. That gives it a destination, context, and a reason.” -Brian Eno
How to achieve goals when you are busy?
By making those goals a priority!
There is one big difference between a real goal and a dream
A deadline
If you HAVE to do something by a specific time, it becomes real.
Give yourself enough time to make it possible, but not so much that it isn’t a stretch.
If you don’t feel pressure, procrastination will sneak in
Which will either end in a failed deadline or a lot of last minute stress.
I like to make deadlines for things I can control
So instead of having a goal of 1k TikTok followers in 5 months, make an action goal
When I wanted to reach that 1k followers, I made a goal to post 10 times a day Monday through Friday
Two of those posts a day would be talking to the camera
I had the goal, action steps, and deadline
And I did it!
So now we need to know what action steps are needed to make out goal and create the deadlines
Work backward to make daily actionable goals
Like I mentioned, most of our goals are not in our control
But there are actions we can take to move towards that goal
Break you big goal into a few smaller goals
If you have a goal to make home-cooked meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner 6 or 7 times a week…
Don’t try to jump into that if you barely make one dinner a week
Break it up into smaller milestones
Start with making dinner every night
Then break that into mini milestones
You make dinner once a week now, so let’s expand to twice a week
Do that until it gets a little easier and then one step farther
In addition, what can you do to set yourself up for success?
Maybe meal plan
Which is deciding what you are going to cook and when at the beginning of the week
Shopping for them
And having the meat thawed that day
Block out non-negotiable time to work on your goal
Even if you don’t do strict time blocking, knowing when you will work on your goals is important
I have huge time blocks during my day because I have kids
I expect things to take time
But I plan for 4 half hour sessions to work on my goals throughout the day,
And then a half hour before my me time at night
And I also plan uh oh time once a week
That time is for the things I didn’t get done because life got in the way
Choose when you are going to work
(Even if you are choosing the night before)
And how long you are going to work on it
Then schedule it like a doctor appointment
Making it non-negotiable is what will get it done!
Create habits and routines
How to achieve goals when you are busy?
Make the actions you need to take just part of your life
Life is built on habits and routines
If you want to go from struggling with goals to just part of the day
Habits and routines are needed
It is common to hear that is take 21 days to make a habit
But I don’t believe that is true
Some new habits are going to come naturally
While others are going to take a long time
If you don’t enjoy exercise, creating a daily running habit will be long and difficult
But increasing your daily water intake by one cup will be a lot easier
This is because the size and difficulty of the goal is much smaller
So instead of going into creating a goal with a 21 day ending…
Start with small steps and take on more when it feels right
When that new habit isn’t so had to accomplish
Stretch yourself, but don’t overwhelm yourself
Think about what you can realistically do and then add ONE more task
Your daily load should be doable but stretch you
If you are doing 2 TikToks a day right now
Making a goal to do 10 TikToks a day will overwhelm you.
But making a 5 TikToks a day goal will only stretch you
You might do fine if you push yourself too hard for a little while,
But burnout will someday set in and do a lot of damage
Track your progress
Have you ever seen a child that you haven’t seen in a while…
Mention how big they are…
And hear from the parents that they haven’t noticed?
That is because Parents are seeing their kids daily and not tracking their daily growth
When you are making small steps towards a goal, it is hard to see your progress
Write down what life is like right now and track your progress
When you see a paper trail of your accomplishes, you will be more encouraged to keep going
There will be times where the actions you take do not give the results you expected
You won’t know when to change how to achieve goals when you are busy if you do not track what your actions result in
Be ready and willing to pivot
I made a goal to work online so I can be with my kids
That goal stayed the same, but the way I approached it changed
Sometimes you will need to pivot
That means you will see that your current actions are not pushing you to your goal, so you start doing something different
I started as an online tutor, but the hours were terrible
I worked from 1-6 AM every day
Then I tried starting a resin business
Then I tried a couple MLMs
I don’t have anything against them but they weren’t for me
Then I finally started as a freelance blogger with a blog of my own (Hint! You are reading it now!)
A big part of how to achieve goals when you are busy is being able to do this pivot
The farther you walk towards your goal, the more you will see things you have to change
So prepared to be flexible on how you reach your goals!