Goal Check-In: Get Back on Track

It’s four months since we made our New Year’s Resolutions and set our goals for 2019.  So, now I ask you: how are you doing?  Are you on track to reach your goals?  Or not so much?   

Goal check-ins are important for a few reasons.   They bring our focus back to why we want to achieve our goal in the first place, and if we’ve already fallen-off-track, keep us from ditching our goal altogether.  Check-ins hold us accountable, and accountability leads to results.  On the flip side, if we are crushing our goals, then we it may be time to adjust them to keep ourselves energized and challenged.

So – what if you’ve fallen off-track?  Don’t worry.  It’s not uncommon, and nothing a little evaluation can’t fix!  Most of the time the failure to reach a goal comes from a lack of motivation, overly-long time horizons, unrealistic expectations, or poor execution.

Go back to your original motivation.  Why are you trying to reach this goal?  For instance, say you wanted to get in shape.  If your motivation is just to look or feel better, that’s not good enough.  You are going to need to dig deeper.  Think about what it really MEANS to feel better.  Will you sleep better, which will make you more rested, which will make you less grumpy, which will make you more productive at work?  Or maybe feeling better means you won’t run out of breath during everyday activities, which means you can be more active with your kids or grandkids, which makes your heart happy and full….See what I mean?  Uncovering your “real” motivation is a key driver to staying the course.

Once your real motivation has been revealed, look at the time frame you’ve set for your goal.  Is it a few weeks, a few months, a year or longer?  Setting long-term goals is great for big accomplishments, but it’s crucial to have short and mid-term goals within your longer one.  This way you can have small “wins” that will help you stay motivated.  Say you have a goal of adding 30 new clients to your business by the end of the year.  Okay, great.  But what happens if three months in you have only added 1 client?  Now your goal is to get 29 more in 75% of the time.  The goal probably doesn’t seem as achievable now and can even cause discouragement.  You are much more likely to stay motivated if you break down your long-term goal into smaller goals that can be reached along the way.  

Another reason you might be struggling is unrealistic expectations.  I’m all for dreaming big, but before we simply convert a dream into a goal, we need to take our current circumstances into account.  Take for example someone who has decided they want to run a marathon in 6 months.  But what if she has never run a race, is currently scheduled for foot surgery, AND has a work schedule of 60 hours a week?  How realistic is it that she will reach this goal over the next 6 months?  Having big goals isn’t a kiss of death, but we must consider what else has to fall into place in order to reach them.  Don’t be afraid to scale back your goal and create smaller ones to use as stepping stones.  Success breeds success! 

Which leads to us to the biggest reason goals usually fall apart: poor execution and planning.  Time and time again people set goals but have no plan for how to reach them.  Example: you want to lose 25 pounds.  How will you do that?  We need details. What exactly will you do for exercise?  What class will you take?  How far will you run?  How many times a week? What will you stop eating specifically?  Have you tried this in the past?  If you have already tried this with no success what is different this time?  A plan of action is a must to reach your goals.  It isn’t just enough to want it; you must create the path to victory.  See yourself taking the steps and reaching your goal.

Whether you have slipped up in one of these areas or in all of them, the good news is you can get back on track.  Make the adjustments and take action to move forward.  Failure isn’t a true loss unless we don’t try again.  Think of it like getting the answers to a test and being able to retake it.  Failure is really just a learning opportunity.

If you need a little coaching on a goal that’s slipping away or maybe just want to check on your motivation and plan, schedule a free 30- minute coaching session.  I can help!