One of the critical parts of any goal setting process is to actually take action.
It’s all well and good setting a goal for yourself but if it just sits on the shelf and gathers dust then it’s useless.
That’s why the personal development plan has all those boxes for the action you plan to take today and what you actually carried out.
Now, there will be days when life gets in the way and you don’t manage to do everything you planned (or sometimes anything at all).
That’s normal.
The trick is not to let those lapses cause you to think you’ve failed. All you’ve done is put off the goal by a day or two. Maybe. Maybe you’ve done enough on other days for it to not actually matter at all (but don’t use that as an excuse to do nothing!). Or maybe you can catch up and do a bit more for the next couple of days.
The precise timing doesn’t often matter. Sure, some things have absolute deadlines – birthdays, Christmas, that kind of thing – but a lot of our personal goals aren’t that precise. So a few days either side won’t be the end of the world.
That said, don’t use missing the occasional day as an excuse for procrastinating forever.
Doing something towards your goal – no matter how small – every single day means that you get into the habit of working towards your goal.
Which means you’re getting ever closer to your end goal and can then work on the next one. This personal development stuff is a life-long thing for most people. Partly because we get hooked on the results. Partly because it’s actually a lot of fun!
So, make sure you take action on your goal every single day. First thing in the morning, write down what you intend to do towards your goal. Last thing at night, write down what you’ve achieved. This will have the extra bonus that you’ll be focused on your goal at two of the most critical times of day – when you wake up and just before you go to sleep and start dreaming.
You’ll probably find that more ideas on achieving your goal bubble up in your subconscious mind when you work this way.
And if you find yourself too stuck in your ways, check out this excellent course on habit busting!
