How to Change Your Life – FOCUS on 1 Goal at a Time

How successful have you been previously in achieving your New Year Resolutions in previous years?

Are you like most people, do you set lots of goals and you start out full of enthusiasm, but very quickly you find yourself drifting and giving up?

When you’re thinking about the goals you want to achieve in 2018 and you write down your list, rather than starting them all at once, have a look at your list and decide which of the goals is the most important for you to achieve and will have the biggest impact on your life. Mark this as your Priority 1 Goal and focus your time, energy and attention on what action you can take to achieve this goal first.

• We often start the New Year working on several goals that we’ve set and gradually as the days and weeks pass, our motivation dwindles and we start to fall off track.
• Sometimes, having just written the long list of goals we want to achieve, we start to feel overwhelmed and begin to feel it’s impossible and not worth even moving out of the starting block….

If you’ve experienced either of these previously, then it’s time to try something different for 2018 and start changing your life 1 goal at a time.

When I started on the Brilliance Within Habit Changing Challenge last summer, this was the principle I used for changing habits. I decided it was preferable to really focus on changing one habit and achieve success with that, rather than failing to achieve several. It’s worked for me and other members of the Brilliance Within Facebook Community Group and it’s the same when we’re setting goals.

What’s the Benefit of Just Working on One Goal?

• You’re not spreading yourself too thinly. By focussing your energy and effort on what action you need to take to achieve your number 1 priority goal, you’re much less likely to lose momentum or feel overwhelmed.

Using the Brilliance Within Goal Setting Workbook, is a great way to identify all the goals you’d like to achieve through 2018 and use the workbook to write these down. However when it comes to setting your target timescale, add dates that allow you to follow on from your Priority 1 Goal, rather than starting them all on the 1st January.

For example:

Priority 1 Goal: I’m losing 1 stone in weight by March 2018 (timeline target: start date – 1st Jan completion date – 31st March 18)

Priority 2 Goal: I’m completing my book by June 2018 (timeline target: start date –1st April completion date – 30th June 18)

Does this mean I shouldn’t take any action on my other goals?

• No – it’s not to say that I can’t do any work on my book between January – March, but I’m not putting myself under pressure to do so.
• By spreading out my target start and completion days sequentially throughout 2018, I’ll be providing focussed energy and commitment to achieving each goal in priority order but I can still work on some of the other goals if I have capacity to do so.
• I’ll be building on success, as I’m much more likely to achieve my priority 1 goal, by focussing all my energy into this rather than spreading it across several. That way, when I move onto Priority 2 goal, I’ll be starting out with much greater confidence, knowing I’ve succeeded in achieving the first goal.
• I’ll chunk down each goal into smaller milestones and then I can closely monitor whether I’m achieving each milestone for my Priority Goal and quickly pull myself back on track and make any adjustments to my Priority Goal Action Plan.

When setting out the Priority for each of your goals, it’s a great idea to detail very clearly what your reasons are for wanting to achieve each goal on your list.

Remember, when we have a very clear reason, which we can connect with emotionally i.e. we can feel the pain of not achieving it and feel the benefit of achieving it, we’re much more likely to keep going.

As we review our progress regularly, in relation to our Priority Goal, it’s important to keep reminding ourselves of what pain we’ll experience, if we don’t achieve the goal and what the pleasure will be if we do! This is much easier to do, if we work on one goal at a time.

So, what’s YOUR Number 1 Priority Goal?

The Brilliance Within Your Life Facebook Group, provides a great opportunity for us to support each other to achieve our goals for 2018. If you want to join the group, let me know in the comments box and I’ll add you to the group.

Let the Brilliance Within Community become part of your 2018 DREAM TEAM!

Let me know if you want a copy of the Brilliance Within Goal Setting Workbook and you can check out previous Goal Setting Posts here:

5 Great Questions To Ask Yourself To Improve Your Success Of Achieving Your Goals

4 Tips to Help Set Goals That You WILL Achieve & Make 2018 Your Best Year Yet!

How Reviewing 2017 Can Help Set You Up For a Brilliant 2018