So it’s a New Year, that time of the year when every social media space is buzzing with posts and slogans like “New Year, New Me” “2020 Vision” and the likes. So many of us start off the year excited, pumped up about the many things we want to achieve during the year. Our energies are great and we’re ready to strike. However, a few weeks or months down the line, the excitement wears off and we lose steam and stop giving 2 cents about our plans. On the other hand, we have those who are all too familiar with the “roller coaster routine” (if I may call it that) and in trying not to get disappointed in themselves, they set no goals at all. 

Is there anything wrong in setting goals or wanting to do better at the start of the year? Of course not! The problem I believe is in the fact that we set goals that are somewhat vague and sometimes seem unrealistic. With this article, I am hoping to help you set more realistic goals for yourself this year with a few tips and hopefully you’ll be singing a different song by the end of the year.

A few years ago when I realized that there was so much more that I could do with my life, I got excited and started reading every book I could lay my hands on. Books about discovering my potential, thinking positive, and a whole lot of motivational mumbo jumbo; literally whatever I could find out there. You know what I’m talking about right? One problem I had with a lot of the books I found is that they failed to provide me with realistic, practical examples on how I could go about achieving what I wanted to achieve for myself. What I am about to share with you in this article however is something I learned not too long ago and which I have practiced and gotten tangible results. And trust me you can apply these to any goal you want to achieve, not just with your New Year Resolutions. So here we go, six simple ways to slay those 2020 goals;

1.  Identify your goal. For example, to lose weight.

2. Attach figures to your goal to make it more realistic. For example, instead of simply setting your goal as “lose weight” say “lose 50 pounds”.

3. Attach a timeline to your goal. For Example, lose 50 pounds by December 31st, 2020.

4. Break down your goal into smaller units or time frames. For example, between now and December 31st, there are 50 weeks remaining. To lose 50 pounds by December 31st, I need to lose 1 pound per week. So your smaller goal becomes losing 1 pound every week. So you see it becomes a more realistic or achievable goal.

5. Find out what you need to do in order to lose 1 pound every week and then do it. If you have to do some research, by all means!

6. Last but not the least, measure or record your progress. This final part gets you actively involved in achieving your goal. This way, you never lose sight of what you set out to achieve and you are present every step of the way. You started off knowing what you set out to achieve and you actually watch yourself walking down that path.

Now, these 6 steps will only work if you have two things; dedication and discipline. You can also apply them to your business (works very well with sales), with school and lots of other things. And yes, you can thank me later (Lol). While wishing everyone a wonderful year ahead, I sincerely hope we all go out there and slay those goals. Cheers to an exciting 2020!