How to turn big goals into achievable daily habits
Moving towards achieving big goals is all about the small steps you take along the way to get there. Your goals might be focused on moving your body and working towards a particular strength level, or perhaps it’s more about looking after your mental health. We won’t be able to skip through the journey and land at our goal, we have to break that goal down into achievable steps that will form the journey.
As we honour the fabulously long life of our lovely Queen, I wanted to share this quote with you that feels very fitting to this week's blog topic;
There are lots of reasons why having an end goal can focus your attention and keep you moving in the right direction but it will be what you do everyday that will get you there.
Here’s how;
Know your ‘why’
Ask yourself, where do you want to be / how do you want to feel in X number of days / weeks / months / years? Once you have an idea of that end goal, ask yourself what daily habits do you need in place to get you moving towards those goals? This is the thing that will keep you on track when your motivation is wavering. Keep asking yourself, does this support me in getting to my goals? Nine times out of ten, the Instagram scroll hole you’ve ended up in won’t be the thing that will bring you closer to where you want to but without bringing attention to it, we can waste precious hours. Repeatedly bringing awareness to your goals will help you keep them front of mind and align your focus on moving closer towards them.
Make it happen in the mornings
How you approach your mornings could be the thing that makes or breaks your intentions that day. When we first wake up, we’re tired, maybe we didn’t sleep well, maybe we’re already exhausted at the thought of everything that needs to get done that day. It’s so easy to start our days with a negative mindset and take that with us throughout the day. If you can take 5-10 minutes to intentionally set yourself up with a positive mindset each day, the journey towards your goals will feel so much easier.
Don’t start the day by telling yourself you can’t, start the day with a positive pep talk and be your own cheerleader. Remind yourself of everything you’ll do that day to get closer to your goals. Remind yourself of why you’re doing it and remind yourself of how good it will make you feel.
Focus on day to day consistency
Having an end goal is great to give us some direction but all too often that goal feels like an enormous mountain to climb and that regularly puts us off starting or makes it feel impossible to get back to it if we’ve fallen out of a routine. We need to be really clear on what our daily steps are towards our bigger goal and make those daily steps so small it’s almost impossible not to achieve. If you’re a busy mum who hasn’t been able to exercise in over a year but desperate to get back into a routine, don’t tell yourself you’ll exercise for an hour a day, 5 days a week. It’ll feel like an impossible task and dent your confidence when you can’t complete all the sessions. Tell yourself you’ll do 20 minutes a day, 3 days a week. Underestimate your abilities and let your confidence build over time as you hit those daily goals. Give yourself the chance to believe in yourself and your ability to stay consistent with something.
One of my personal goals is all about being happy on purpose. Although there isn’t necessarily an end goal here, it’s something that focuses my daily routine and something that can pull me out of an Instagram scroll hole when I need it to.
My daily routine involves, taking some time to set myself up with a positive mindset each morning. I look for positivity in my day and aim to fill it up with more. I spend 10 minutes breathing more slowly, deeply and calmly (I find the Calm app is really helpful for this). I move my body. I get outside for a walk and listen to something I find inspiring / uplifting / joyful. I plan out my day and set myself up for productivity because I know this is something that makes me feel fulfilled. I fuel my body with energy-boosting food. I make sure I drink 2-3 litres of water a day. I make sure I finish my work before the evening so I don’t end up double screening all night. I spend time in the evening writing down every single positive thing that happened that day - no matter how insignificant they might seem. Anything that makes me smile gets written down. This is a routine that I started about a year ago and I cannot tell you how much it has changed my perspective on everyday life. Don’t get me wrong, this absolutely does not happen everyday. On days / weeks it doesn’t happen and I don’t prioritise things that help me to be happy on purpose, I feel myself being more irritable, talking more negatively, feeling sluggish and lacking in energy. It takes a good few days of reminding myself how good it makes me feel to be happy on purpose and then work towards rebooting my routine.
No one is motivated and consistent all the time but try not to let the bumps in the road allow you to fall totally off the wagon. Keep coming back to your why. Keep reminding yourself of how good it will make you feel. Keep your goals as small as possible. Let your confidence and self belief increase over time as you move closer to your goals.
