Time is the one thing you cannot beg, borrow or steal.
A few months ago I saw a post on Facebook that freaked me out. It was a simple representation of what the average life looks like, broken down by weeks.
As we get older, time seems to pass by more quickly. Before you know it, you’re back at the table during the holidays and discussing your New Year’s resolutions, only to have the same exact goals as last year. We put off accomplishing our goals for the promise of instant gratification and that “There’s always tomorrow”. At some point those tomorrows will stop coming and I personally don’t want to see some TV show character’s life flash before my eyes instead of my own.
Below, the representation of the average life span by week, originally posted on waitbutwhy.com.
We can instead utilize this time to accomplish our goals. All we need to do in pinpoint the goal, identify the baby steps to achieve said goal, and to write out a plan. Then consistently follow the plan.
- Decide on a Goal
What have you been telling yourself you want to accomplish? Improved sleep? Better nutrition? Actually getting outside and moving your body? Maybe there’s a certification you’ve been meaning to get but you haven’t been able to study for it. Make a list of what you want to accomplish and order them by what is most important to you, or conversely, what is going to make the most impact on your life.
- Pinpoint your Baby Steps
Say you want to improve your nutrition. The first thing I would suggest is to research what you should be eating. (Short answer, eat real food.) Next, I would evaluate your current habits and figure out where you are going wrong. I usually do this for about a week. Then I create a series of micro habits to achieve my goal.
Say you're studying to get certified in your field. Use each week to study a certain topic and build in quiz times. Before long, you'll have the entire gambit under your belt and be ready to take the test.
- Document your Plan
I recently created a nifty chart that plots out my goals for the year. I keep it in a Google spreadsheet so I always have access to it, at home or work. For each big goal, I break it down into sub goals for each month and action items for each week, with individual progress tracking for each day. At the end of the week, I will document my observations, my roadblocks and my plan to overcome them for the next week.
- Be Consistent
This is the hard part. It’s easy to hit a goal hard the first couple days, but by the second week you start to wane and lose focus on why you’re doing it in the first place. That’s part of the journey. I find it is helpful to treat things as small experiments that align with my big goal. What happens if I do X? Stay engaged with yourself and it will happen. Adjust your sub goals as necessary.
- Stay dialed in and move on
Once you have achieved your goal, stay consistent. If you hit a bump in the road, reflect on it, determine why and have a plan for next time. Just this past weekend, I had a very difficult trip to the Midwest with two different destinations for a funeral and interment. It is probably the worst four days of 2015 for me. There is no way I’m going to let that happen again, so I’m figuring out ways to avoid putting myself in uncomfortable travel situations for when I fly again in August and September.
You might slip a little, but staying focused and sticking to your new habit allows it to become second nature and for you to spend your energy doing other things.
Action steps
Work through the above steps on your own.
What have you been able to accomplish using this method that you were stuck on before? Did you experience any lulls in consistency? What did you do to pull through?
