7 Things You Need To Do While Pursuing Your Goals

This post is all about things you need to do while pursuing your goals

Pursuing your goals isn’t something you need to make complicated but there are certain things you need to keep in mind while you pursue them.

When I was younger I didn’t have a clear direction when I had big dreams but I’ve learned and grown and now I know what works for me and other people.

If you only take one thing away from this list. Know that your goals are valid and you can pursue them however you want.

List of 7 Things You Need to Do While Pursuing Your Goals

1. Know Your ‘Why’

Your why is a deep dive into exactly why you’ve decided to set out for your goal.

A lot of the time people set goals they think they should have. There may be something you want to achieve that may help another person or improve your sense of self. Maybe it’s something you’ve only recently thought of and that’s fine.

You need to ensure that whatever goals you set out for are things you truly think will benefit your life. If you don’t want to lose weight this year. That’s fine. Don’t do it because someone made a snide comment about your appearance.

Your “why” needs to be true and only true to you. No one deserves the energy it may take to change yourself. And if your goal involves someone else, make sure it’s something you truly want to do; no peer pressure, no guilt-tripping; purely from the heart.

Your ‘why’ will keep you going. Having a sense of direction is crucial for maximum motivation. Motivation is the core value you need to set and reach your goals.

2. Set a Realistic Time Frame

Set a realistic deadline. A lot of the time we’re guilty of setting a short time frame to reach our goals. Setting your deadline sooner than you realistically can accomplish your goal will make things harder.

Maybe you can get it done that fast but should you?

Taking the time to learn and grow while you work to accomplish your goal is an amazing opportunity.

Wanting to reach your goal now is understandable. But remember it’s a journey that you should take pride in. It’s a great time to learn and grow; realize things about yourself you didn’t think to acknowledge.

Take it slow and enjoy the ride.

A similar mistake is selling yourself short by thinking it will take a long time to accomplish something. You’re stronger than you think. Believing you can accomplish something in two years when you could in one isn’t very fair to yourself.

Make sure that the time frame you set is appropriate. Think about it long and hard. Only you know how much you can handle.

3. Find Motivation

This is a big one but it also can be more personal. Some people have the drive within themselves to get things done. If you do, great this still applies to you. If you don’t that’s fine too. Generally, its a good idea to find motivation while pursuing your goals.

It’s nothing complicated. Find a podcast you love. It could talk about general productivity or entrepreneurship.

A podcast I recommend is Goal Digger by Jenna Kutcher. There are episodes featuring successful women, and you can imagine how motivating it is for me as a woman myself. Though it doesn’t matter what gender you are; hearing the success stories of young women is always eye-opening.

Reading always helps too. My favourite book Atomic Habits talks about goals and how you should go about achieving them slowly in bite-size tasks that will contribute to an overall bigger picture, aka atomic habits.

YouTube is also great. I’m addicted to watching morning routines and productivity hacks by wonderful women such as the bliss bean. Find a Youtuber and see how you can incorporate their daily routine or philosophies into your life for accomplishing your goals.

4. Laugh off Your Mistakes

It’s really easy to fall into the trap of needing to make everything perfect. I’m not perfect, you’re not perfect. And the sooner we accept that the smoother the ride will be.

If your goal is to lose 50 lbs; great, but know that there will be setbacks that might be out of your control. If they are in your control, what’s one slip up going to do? There have been way too many instances where people think making one mistake ruins their entire journey.

Keep going and at the end of it all, you will realize one mistake won’t make that much of a difference in the grand scheme of things. Humans make mistakes, but that doesn’t mean you’re any less of a person, or your goals don’t matter anymore.

Your goals do matter, you must know mistakes are inevitable. Laugh it off and keep going.

5. Have a Role Modle

Having a role model is awesome. It ties into finding motivation as well. There are so many resources out there for whatever your goal is, whether it’s learning a new skill or being more productive each day. But I find it even more helpful if you have one person in particular that you look up to.

For example, my biggest inspiration for starting my blog was bysophialee. She’s amazing and bonus she shares her experience blogging and the resources that have helped her along the way.

While it’s still important that you find motivation through different creators and resources, always have one person you can come back to if you ever feel overwhelmed.

Depending on who your role model is, you could even seek advice from them. Your role model could be someone as close as your mom or as big as a YouTuber with millions of subscribers. The second might feel a little out of reach but I’ve reached out to many creators and I’m happy to report many have replied with words of kindness.

6. Be Patient

Patience is key. You need patience if you’re going to accomplish anything in life, especially long term goals. And some people don’t have that; that’s their downfall. Nothing happens overnight, as much as we’d like it to.

Lacking patience takes the fun out of everything. Don’t constantly remind yourself of how long something is taking; don’t take the fun out of making your dreams/goals come true by thinking it isn’t coming fast enough.

A lack of patience is a negative emotion you could associate with your journey. If you do, you’ll likely look back and realize there was no real reason to make the experience harder than it needed to be. Worrying about the time frame will only make the experience feel longer; like you aren’t getting anywhere

There’s no need for that. Keep it pushing knowing that you will get there when it’s time.

7. Keep Track of Progress

The best way to avoid a lack of motivation, patience and the negativity that comes with making mistakes is to keep track of how far you’ve come.

Depending on what you wish to accomplish this could be taking pictures, journaling, taking voice notes; or whatever works for you.

It might be hard because of slow beginnings but if you stick with it I guarantee you will be grateful. Being able to look back at where you started is sometimes all the motivation you need.

Conclusion:

Know your ‘Why’: Know why you are doing something. And make sure your why stays true to you. Your why is a deep dive into exactly why you are doing something and if you can’t come up with a concrete answer rethink your goal.

Have a Realistic Time Frame: Know your strength and weakness. If you know you can’t accomplish something in a given deadline; don’t force yourself to finish it. It’ll only make the experience worse. But don’t sell yourself short either. If you give yourself more time than you need you might give up before you even start or you might not work as hard as you could/should.

Find Motivation: Finding motivation is key. Some of us aren’t as self-driven and that’s okay. Finding creators and other resources that can push your limits is always a great choice.

Laugh off Your Mistakes: Mistakes are inevitable and it’s better to not take them too seriously. People that do end up using them as an excuse to give up cold turkey. Don’t make that mistake.

Have a Role Modle: It can be overwhelming to have too many creators and resources in the palm of your hands. That’s why it’s important to have one person you can always fall back to when you need that initial reminder of why you started.

Be Patient: There is nothing better than being patient. It’s a journey and one that will have its ups and downs. But it’s important to keep in mind that you will get there. And when you do you’ll be happy you stuck it out.

Keep Track of Progress: if it came down to it, this would be the only motivator you need. Looking back at where you started is a sure-fire way to keep you going, especially when you want to quit.