If you set yourself personal and professional goals then you’re already ahead of the game since not everyone does this. Not to mention, studies show that only 8% of people ever actually achieve their goals. So 92% of us never achieve the things we set out to! The question is, why do so few of us make it to the finish line where our goals are concerned? 

If you struggle to stay motivated and don’t follow through on the goals you set, here are 5 things you can do to stay focused on your career and life goals, so you can achieve more this year.

1. Create a Vision Board 

According to Wikipedia, a vision board, also called a  dream board is a collage of images, pictures, and affirmations of one’s dreams and desires, designed to serve as a source of inspiration and motivation and to use the law of attraction to attain goals. 

Now you might not be interested in the law of attraction but since the use of vision boards has been endorsed by the likes of Oprah, then it might just be worth considering. 

Additionally, seeing things that remind you of your goal daily will keep in at the forefront of your mind.

2. Start Journalling 

Writing down your goals plays a critical role when it comes to achieving them. However, if a goal is long-term then the chances are that lots of things will happen in your life between you setting the goal and writing it down and the day you achieve your goal, that’s if you achieve it at all. 

With so much going on, it’s natural that you might veer off course, take a detour or lose focus from time to time. This is where journaling can help. 

There are lots of health benefits to journaling, including reducing stress and managing difficult situations, as well as solving problems. But implementing goal progress review as part of your journaling practice will help you to stay on track and focused on your goals over the long haul. 

For this, you can use a few simple questions. 

First ask yourself, “What one thing have I done today towards achieving my goal of X?”

If you haven’t taken any actions then asking “what’s prevented me from taking any action towards achieving my goal today?” will help you identify the things that get in your way. If a pattern starts to emerge then you’ll be able to identify the blockers and then avoid them or put something in place to manage them moving forward. 

If you’ve taken even the smallest action towards your goals then it’s worth noting down how this makes you feel. 

Implementing this goal review process as part of your daily journaling will help you to stay focused on the goal and achieve more of what you want moving forwards.

If you haven’t journaled before and you’re not sure how to start then check out these Powerful Journaling Methods that will help you to change your life

3. Break Things Down and Enjoy the Journey 

Studies show that when it comes to persisting with things, it’s not just about being clear on the result and focusing on that. For most of us, we need to have some fun along the way, and getting results sooner rather than later also plays a big part. 

If you have a big audacious goal that will take months to achieve, make sure that you break it down into smaller pieces. Sometimes referred to as journey goals in coaching, achieving these smaller more achievable goals or milestones will help you to maintain progress and give you a sense of achievement faster. 

When it comes to having fun, if you’re going to achieve a goal then your chances of success will be much higher if you enjoy the process. Nothing’s fun all the time, and there will be challenges, but finding ways to inject fun into what you’re doing will make you more likely to stick with it and achieve your goal in the long run.

4. Get Accountability

Another big reason that so many of us don’t achieve our goals is that we have no accountability. Think about this for a moment. When you’re at work, no matter how you feel, no matter what might be going on in your personal life, you get on and get the job done. Of course, you’re a professional and that’s part of the reason, but another reason for this is because when we are at work we are held accountable for what we do and what we don’t do.

If you don’t complete that report, then your boss will have something to say about it, and if you don’t complete your part of a team project then your team will have something to say about it. But when it comes to your personal life goals or your personal career goals things are different.

When you come back from work and crash in front of the telly instead of working on your website or instead of updating your resume, no one’s there to hold you accountable. At least not unless you proactively seek out accountability.

Accountability can be in the form of a close friend you trust, someone in a social group that you trust, your partner, your boyfriend, your housemate, or a family member. In short, it can be anyone you trust to check in from time to time and ask you how that project is coming along…

A great way to get accountability is to tell people you know about your goals because once you do, there’s no doubt that someone will be asking you how you’re getting on.

While this may seem strange for certain types of goals, we do hold ourselves accountable without even realizing it in many areas of our lives. For example, when you book yourself onto a yoga class, you feel more committed to going than if you were simply going to the gym and not a class. It’s the same with joining a running club or working out with a friend. We choose to do these things because it keeps us accountable, which keeps us on track with our goals.

5. Hire a Coach or Mentor

Finally, one of the very best ways to ensure you stay on track and achieve your goals is by hiring a coach or mentor.

While a coach or mentor will most definitely keep you accountable, there are so many other ways that they will support you. For example, if you’ve been struggling to achieve a goal for some time there may be deeper reasons why you are struggling. A coach will help you to uncover these reasons as well helping you to overcome them.

By working with a coach you’ll also gain deep insights about yourself and learn new ways of thinking that you can use in every aspect of your life.

Finally, by working with a coach or mentor, you’ll likely achieve your goal a lot faster than you would do without this support since obstacles will be removed, you’ll have accountability, you can work through internal challenges, you can gain clarity on what you really want.

Learn more about what coaching is and how it could help you achieve your goals by reading this article

To summarise:

If you’ve got some big goals that you want to achieve this coming year, then the 5 things you can do to stay focused on your career goals and achieve more are:

  1. Create a vision board
  2. Implement goal review into your daily journaling 
  3. Break things down and have fun on the journey 
  4. Get accountability
  5. Hire a Coach or Mentor