The first week of 2024 has already passed. The question I have is, are you quitting yet? Wait...what?! Does not sound nice, does it? Well, that's all of humanity's problem - getting overly excited about New Year's resolutions, even laying out the plan, and then...quitting. Finding excuses, procrastinating, and so on. Sounds familiar? I hope not. But if yes, no worries, you are not alone, and you can fix it.
First things first. Understand that setting the goals correctly is also half the victory. Set only something you have the most control over. Winning a lottery ticket is not a goal, not because it's not ambitious, but because your effort in trying to win it equals precisely zero, and the outcomes you want are not in your hands, but in someone else's.
Next, differentiate between your ultimate objective (aka "life purpose") with specific goals, milestones you want to achieve (aka sub-goals), tasks, and sub-tasks. You do not have to go super granular if you do not want to. Simplify it for yourself. But. You do have to have an understanding of time and other variables relating to what constitutes a "goal". For example, going to the gym is not your goal. Going to the gym is a task that you have to keep accomplishing consistently to achieve your goal of becoming more fit. Got the idea? Keep it rolling.
Think of your identity and character. Perhaps, you are prone to quitting on your goals because you did not associate them with pain points or the raw and authentic version of you. Whatever it is that you want - make it your lifestyle, make it part of your value system, make it...you. For example, fitness works well here, imagine you saying to yourself, that you want to become fit hence going to the gym. But what if you take it to another level and say to yourself: "I am an athlete". I am not talking about delusional confidence (which sometimes can be helpful too), but I do mean you have to start truly associating with a goal and task to the core. And what's wrong with perceiving yourself as an athlete? Nobody says you have to win championships, but why de heck not push yourself to be a leading force of success? You can apply this to anything. I = XYZ (either a label that fits your story to enable your commitment or an actionable verb that does the same). For example, the more times I started identifying with my passion for scuba diving by literally stating: I am a scuba diver, the more committed I am to it. I force myself to study and practice it because now I claim to myself I am that thing. So, I have no choice but to cultivate it.
There are plenty of other things to consider. But try this, and see if it helps to stay consistent and keep working on your goals.
Keep it rocking and say NO to quitting!
Talk soon,
Andrei
