An adventurous new you (Part 4 of 4)
Staying focussed on getting what you want
Whether you are a professional wanting to explore and pursue a new career adventure, a parent looking to have more family escapades, or someone looking to have a health adventure... you need a plan to turn that idea into your reality!
Research suggests that people who succeed at implementing goals do so by breaking them down into smaller bite sized chunks and having some degree of accountability for whether they are on track with the plan. There are many ways to go about this and often when people get stuck, they hire coaches to assist them on this journey. That said, it is also possible to become your own coach or use coaching tools and tips to help yourself along the way.
WRITE A LETTER
A personal favourite of mine is simple … write a letter to yourself! Write a statement of intent. Include in this some facts about your potential to make this possible and why this goal is important to you. Get clear about what you are committed to doing, when and how, with advice or notes to self. Write a note on your calendar reminding yourself to open your letter at a specific point in time or give it to someone you trust to keep it safe who will deliver it back to you at an agreed point in time.
FIND A BUDDY
Another effective method when it comes to goal acquisition is having a buddy. Find someone who you can share your future vision. Choose carefully! Ensure that it is someone who believes in you, and will be firm with you. They can encourage you to break the bigger picture down into smaller chunks, and check in to see if you are doing your homework. This could be mutually beneficial should you work together in this way to help each other to move forward with a plan or aspiration. I find that this can be helpful way to stay motivated and keep a finger on the pulse.
I have several forums where I am held accountable. I am part of a wonderful mastermind group. This helps me to progress my goals towards being adventurous with my career and lifestyle choices, and step out of the box in how I make a living. I am grateful to be challenged, stretched and championed on a regular basis.
With one particular buddy, we have agreed to work on having monthly challenges towards a bigger vision, with a mantra or inspirational quote to support this. We identify three tasks that need to be done to help us towards this outcome, and gain clarity about who is on our team who can help us to achieve this. Each month, we invite each other to reflect on progress and lessons learned. Perhaps this focussed style of buddying could help you to progress forward?
The last few years, my success as a small business owner has been boosted significantly by those people who assisted me to fine tune my goals. They dare me to share my goals out loud, get creative about how to get there and they champion me with the smaller steps towards that. One such individual, Tiana Wilson-Buys is my business coach (and productivity guru). I strongly advocate her goal setting system. Focussing on a limited number of measurable goals, she helps business owners large and small to get focussed on how they plan to thrive, to be accountable for the milestones along the way over a time limited period to ‘Get Stuff Done’. I cannot recommend her strongly enough.
Being brave enough to ask for help played a significant role my personal and business growth. I learned that it is okay to ask for help. Sometimes we need the experts to help us to apply these strategies. However you go about it, I invite you to get clear on what will help you succeed with hatching your cunning plans and implementing them. This is your life, so own it and make it happen.
Why? Because life is temporary and precious, because you can, and because you owe it to yourself!
To end on the words of Mary Oliver’s poem The Summer Day. Tell me, what is it that you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?
#100% Pure Polly - Living Life’s Adventure... I plan to dedicate my next blog to launching my ‘Adventure’ series and showcasing my first adventurer! In the meantime I wish you all a healthy, productive and illuminating year ahead.
Want to know more about how to live an adventurous life?
