Have you dedicated time to making goals?
Have you been working hard on your goals?
Goals take work. There is no way around it. In order to achieve these it requires action. This wouldn’t be the case if you already possessed your goal, but if that is the case – you need to work more on setting bigger goals!
It is often said that if your goals don’t scare you – they aren’t big enough. Goals that stretch you and cultivate growth are scary. The require attaining new skills, nurturing new behaviors and changing deep seated habits. They necessitate learning new things and pushing current limits.
And once goals are met, new ones are added to the list and work begins again.
When was the last time you took a breath and looked back over your work?
If time is not taken for celebration motivation will wane, if not die out altogether! And that is deadly for goals. Our psyche needs rejuvenation from time to time.
In order to maintain optimum motivation and progress on goals, make sure and stop to smell the roses. This serves several purposes:
- Acknowledging progress keeps motivation high. When you can look back and see advancement toward your goals the sense of achievement helps keep the fire lit!
- Reviewing previous work also allows for analysis. These pauses are great times to make sure you are still on target, or make revisions NOW if needed. It is much better to apply needed modifications to action steps earlier, rather than later. Waiting too long to make changes may prove to be too much work to course correct and you will give up.
- A break is needed to keep up stamina. This is work and if you do not take a breath you will grow exhausted. This exhaustion will rob you of wanting to keep going. Plus our minds get cloudy when we are too tired. This hiatus will help maintain a strong connection to your intuition and direction.
- You deserve it! Working on goals is not meant to be a hair shirt. They are not burdens through which you must trudge. Goals should be energizing and inspiring too!
- You won’t miss opportunities. If it’s nose down too long you will get tunnel vision. Occasions for partnerships, collaboration, or business opportunities may be missed if you aren’t looking around once in a while.
- Parties are fun! Celebration serves as a great reminder of the noble journey you are on. And it is about the journey. Don’t lock on to the end goal and forego the journey!
These celebrations are also great if you are leading a team. The same principles apply. It is imperative to keep your team motivated and moving forward and in a group environment is it essential to stop and recognize the good work being completed. Don’t go longer than about 6 weeks without having some form of celebration for a job well done for your crew and to show appreciation of everyone’s efforts.
Also keep in mind, these celebration do not have to be huge bank-busting events. Target a treat for yourself, perhaps a favored coffee drink, or an extended walk, or a new shirt. In a team environment it can be as simple as an ice cream social or a pizza party during lunch. It is the event of celebrating, not the “thing” that is important.
So remember to take some time to stop and enjoy the view! Your motivation will thank you for it!
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR NEWSLETTER OR WEBSITE?
Just include this complete statement with the content: A. Lynn Jesus, CEO and Purpose Expert with Thriveology, is dedicated to helping people discover their purpose and live life on their terms. Are you ready to get started? Stop going through the motions and find your Why with her FREE guidebook The Life (and Sometimes Coma) of Why.
Excellent article, A. Lynn! I write down my goals and find that it definitely does help. I write them down each day and have monthly goals as well. Celebrating achieved goals is such a fantastic idea!
Thanks Robin! Sounds like you have a great system! There is power in writing things down. And celebrating progress helps keep motivation strong!
Great post! I evaluate my goals every 60 days and give myself a little reward for all achievements. Doing a 60-day plan has kept my business on course and growing steadily and I celebrate THAT too! LOL
That’s a great system Martha!
It helps me when I write my goals on a piece of paper and pin it on my cork board. Every time when I look at the week’s schedule I glance at the goals and think for a minute how much I accomplished from the journey to achieving them.
That is great, Simona! Studies show that people who write down their goals are much more likely to achieve them. Making them visually accessible increases success above that! Way to go!
What happens if I work, work, work is I get mixed up and mistakes get made. Like many artisans marketing on-line, we have our product to produce and the social media marketing. Sometimes flipping from one to another, hardly breathing inbetween, can cause overload and mistakes. My party can be an hour of my favorite show with a cup of Java.
I love how you party! 🙂 And you are so right Roz, too much work without a break can lead to more mistakes. Another great reason to take a break!
Lovely advice for people who need a reason to stay motivated. I pamper myself quite often – kicking back and enjoy life, traveling when the mood hits, and getting together with friends on a regular basis. I don’t do it because of milestones. I do it just because its what I feel like doing in the moment. When you live in balance, working too hard or feeling even a little bit stressed automatically sends you signals that its time to do something fun. Nice article!
Thank you Takara! Sounds you really live life full out! That is awesome – and balanced!
This is such a great post and very timely. I am working on multiple projects and I do sometimes forget to take a break and relax for a bit.
Thank you Veronica! We often lose sight of taking a break especially when we have multiple projects! I’m glad this could be a friendly reminder. 🙂
Great post. We so often forget to celebrate what we’ve achieved.
Exactly Heather! It is essential to look back and appreciate the achievement of hard work!
Each one of your bullet points are right on. You can’t keep working so hard you’re not enjoying what you do. Thanks for encouraging us to “have a party” one in a while!
You are welcome Diana! It can be easy to keep our noses down – we need to look up and breath. That will give us energy to keep going.
This is a superb post which I am sharing specifically with artists in a community that I am leading. Thank you Lynn!
Thank you Robin! I am glad it will help. Thank you for sharing it with your community. I appreciate it!!
Such an inspiring post. I “almost” always take a break, especially if I am working on a large project. A long walk, weather permitting or even turning off the computer, TV, radio and relaxing with a cup of coffee, does it for me. If that doesn’t work, then I take a hot bath! It’s always good to step away and take time to re-energize!
Absolutely Alexandra! Recharging will make the project better I believe. Great ways to take a step away and refresh!
Awesome post A. Lynn! Always a good thing to recharge and definately setting goals in your work and what you want to accomplish is so important so you can party 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
Party’s are needed, right? You have to have some fun! Hehe. The setting of goals in your work helps keep you on track. If the picture is too big it is too easy to get lost!
It just shows that you don’t have to have a big celebration. If you’ve reached a milestone and it’s perfectly ok to do something small, it doesn’t have to be extravagant every single time. Thanks for the timely post!
That’s right, Nate! Small celebrations serve the same purpose. And we need those celebrations, no matter what size they are, to stay motivated.
Thanks for sharing this! Great advice! I enjoyed reading you post!
Thank you Lorii!
Setting goals is very important to achieving our dreams. Learning to appreciate your accomplishments along the way is just as important. Doing this will help keep you on track and feeling motivated to continue. Breaking things down and taking small steps will result in greater success.
Agreed Meryl! We want goals to be big (and scary!), but we need to break them down into digestible chunks so we can create action steps. Otherwise we can get lost in the enormity of the goal.
Great post! No matter what kind of project I am involved in I always have to take short breaks in between. It sort of helps me re-charge. It’s also great just to look things over and say wow this is great! 🙂
Absolutely! Admiring your work from a distance is always good! 🙂 And we need breaks for that exact reason – to recharge!