How To Achieve Your Goals

​The year is over half over, and if you’re anything like most of us, you haven’t achieved half of what you wanted to this year. Your new year’s resolutions, body goals, and career targets are that much closer to being missed or abandoned entirely.
 
But it doesn’t have to be this way.
 
If you really want to, you can achieve incredible things in a very short space of time. An ancient Chinese proverb states: 

‘The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.’

​Even if you’ve wasted almost all year not doing what you wanted to, you’ve still got time to start.
Wishful Thinking Week is all about turning your dreams into reality, so read these top tips on how to organise your time better, make a change, and achieve those goals!

Make A List Of Your Goals
This might seem obvious, but sit down and take half an hour to really think about what you want to achieve. As long as it’s reasonable or achievable to achieve in the time you have left, they could be whatever you want.

Think about whether it’s something you really want to have done by the end of the year. Be specific. Be honest. Think about what will make you happy, and whether you’ll regret not doing these things by the end of the year.
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Make your list as long or as short as you want, but really consider your options and what it will mean for you to complete them. Are they things you genuinely want to achieve, or do you just think you should? Write them down, this holds you accountable to actually get things done. 

Work Out Your Priorities
Once you’ve got your goals figured out, it’s important to prioritise them. Trying to tackle everything at once is not smart – you won’t get anywhere. Take things one at a time, attempting the longest or most difficult task first. This will require planning, commitment, and determination, and when you get it done, it will make everything else seem so easy in comparison.

Organise Yourself
Now you know what you’ve got to, in what order, you need to get a plan together. Whatever the goal is, there are steps you can take towards getting it done. Whether it’s implementing a schedule, putting in study time, or setting deadlines to meet, there are certainly measurable, identifiable goalposts you can use to measure if you’re moving in the right direction, or if you’re even moving at all. It’s much easier to stick to a plan than to just wing it and hope that things will all work out: they won’t. 

Tell People
Hold yourself accountable. Own your successes and your failures. But just in case you don’t trust yourself, tell your friends. They’ll definitely hold you accountable. If you go a week without going to the gym, writing a chapter, or making progress, they’ll let you know about it. And they’ll make sure to keep letting you know until you get back to what you’re supposed to be doing. Your friend are one of the best motivational tools you have, because they want you to succeed as much as you do. 

Make It Easy For Yourself
Do you not manage your time well? Do you get easily distracted? Do you not have enough hours in the day to get stuff done?
Either remove your distractions, or remove yourself from them. If you can’t stop checking your social media, either delete them for a while, or work somewhere where you cannot access them. If you can’t work at home, don’t go home. Use your time effectively, in spaces where you work best.
There’s no point making all these sacrifices to fall at the last hurdle, or to let yourself do anything less than your best. Make time. Put in the work. It’s worth it. 

DO IT
Now you’re all ready to get started, and make those dreams happen.
​Stop putting it off. Stop trying. Do it.
In the wise words of Master Yoda: ‘Do. Or do not. There is no try.’

Let us know what goals you achieved @WishfulThinkUK or #WishfulThinkingWeek