When You’ve Done Goal Setting, and Now Your Stuck…
Let’s face it, anyone that’s ever set any worthwhile goal has had this happen at least once.
What this is really talking about is taking action, or lack thereof. You’ve set a goal, and it’s something that’s important to you or you would never have set it in the first place, but you find yourself not taking action. You may procrastinate, something else comes up, etc. The individual actions to accomplish the goal always seem to take a lower priority in the moment. So how do we move past that stuck-state and start taking action?
We’re going to talk about two ways to get yourself to take action on your goals when you’ve found that you’re stuck. The first way to get yourself moving is to, Make the Reward Outweigh the Action.
When Setting Goals, Set the Reward
Let’s say that your goal is to loose weight. Let’s also say that you’ve decided to loose 30 pounds by the end of 6 months. You’ve made a realistic goal with a deadline. To accomplish this goal you will need to take actions, AND there are some actions and habits that you will need to drop. Action to do; exercise. Action to drop; snacking on cupcakes. Simple stuff, huh?
When you start this goal, the actions will probably be out of your immediate comfort-zone. The key is to make the reward bigger than the actions necessary to accomplish the goal. Maybe a two-week trip to Hawaii is not a financial option at this time, how about making the commitment that you will take a four-day weekend to go to a local beach and wear a swimsuit? Preplan the entire four days, complete with what clothes you will wear and activities you will do. Or, it can be as simple as scheduling professional pictures 6 months in advance. This will mark the accomplishment of the goal, and a reminder of what can be accomplished with goals. Remember that the details of the reward must outweigh the effort of the actions necessary to achieve the goal.
Underlying Issues: What’s Stopping Me?
A different approach is to find the underlying reason for the procrastination. This is a bit harder to do on your own and that’s why it often helps to have someone to help with this part, such as a Coach, therapist, etc.
By finding, and releasing, the underlying pain of the procrastination (or, self-sabotage) taking the action becomes as simple as any other action in the day, such as brushing your teeth or taking a shower. That doesn’t mean that it becomes any easier, but that there no longer is the mental and emotional drama associated to taking the action.
Doing the action will then be like going to the grocery store. It may not be the greatest thing to do on Saturday night, but it’s something that needs to get done and you go when you need groceries. That’s the beauty of removing the underlying issues with anything; it becomes “no big deal”. Also, by removing the underlying issues, you’re then free to make new goals without the issue popping up and getting in the way again and again.
So the next time you find yourself stuck and not taking action towards your goals, try one these two methods. Set a well-planned reward at the end of your goal. Or pickup the phone and schedule a Trial Coaching Session.
Remember that the key to keeping in action is to keep it simple.
Wishing you all the best,
Patrick
