<ul><li>Have a goal that really resonates with you. Don’t have a goal that you think you should have, or that other people have as you will easily lose momentum. </li><li>Set benchmarks. If your goal is clearer then it is far easier to set meaningful benchmarks you will attain on your way to meeting that goal. I advocate <a href="https://spurplanners.com/stepping-stones/">Stepping Stones </a>approach to set these benchmarks. </li><li>Publicly commit. This can be scary, but for some, very effective. Announce what you are doing on social media to the world. </li></ul>

How To Build Momentum

<img width="1024" height="1024" alt="Momentum" src="https://i2.wp.com/spurplanners.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/The-art-of-momentum.png?fit=1024%2C1024&amp;ssl=1" srcset="https://i2.wp.com/spurplanners.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/The-art-of-momentum.png?w=1080&amp;ssl=1 1080w, https://i2.wp.com/spurplanners.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/The-art-of-momentum.png?resize=300%2C300&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i2.wp.com/spurplanners.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/The-art-of-momentum.png?resize=1024%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i2.wp.com/spurplanners.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/The-art-of-momentum.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https://i2.wp.com/spurplanners.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/The-art-of-momentum.png?resize=768%2C768&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i2.wp.com/spurplanners.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/The-art-of-momentum.png?resize=600%2C600&amp;ssl=1 600w, https://i2.wp.com/spurplanners.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/The-art-of-momentum.png?resize=100%2C100&amp;ssl=1 100w">Help, it’s the middle of January. How do I achieve my goals!&nbsp;The weather is still cold. The days are short and dark. The initial buzz of ‘New Year – New Me’ has worn off. The resolutions you set just two weeks ago are still relevant but you are losing your drive. It’s an all too familiar problem, so what can you do?<h2>Do I Have Momentum?</h2>The single biggest challenge whenever you try to start, create or become something new is maintaining momentum.&nbsp; Let us share some strategies to answer that regular question of ‘how do I achieve my goals because maintaining momentum is such an important factor.For example, if your goal is to improve your fitness you may have taken out a gym membership. You eagerly go to the gym each day for the first week. The second week you skip a couple of days because you are tired. The third week you only go a couple of days because of other commitments. By week 4 you have all but given up on any regular fitness work and you are back into your old habits. So what went wrong?The problem is you never had any momentum. You went from no fitness work, to doing it every day and then back down to not doing it all in a short space of time. This is the ‘Zero To Hero To Zero’ effect. You knew what you wanted to achieve but you never thought about how, what good progress looks like and how you should celebrate the small wins.<div>"Momentum solves 80% of your problems."</div><div>John C Maxwell</div><h2>How Do I Create Momentum?</h2>Momentum is key. It is what keeps you going when you are tired, bored or otherwise looking for excuses not to do something. The best partner for momentum is habit. Build great habits and you will naturally build momentum. Here is how;<UL><LI>Have a goal that really resonates with you. Don’t have a goal that you think you should have, or that other people have as you will easily lose momentum. The question you are answering is ‘how do I achieve my goals’. You can’t answer that if they aren’t really your goals. You have to want this!</LI></UL><UL><LI>Understand your goal. That doesn’t mean you can write it down. It means you really understand what the end result will be, why that is important, how it will improve your life. Having the goal of improving your fitness is great, but what does it mean? Now imagine the goal was to be able to run X distance, or even better, X distance within X time. That is a much clearer goal. You are no longer asking yourself how do I achieve my goal, you are asking yourself how do I get fit enough to run X distance in X time.</LI></UL><UL><LI>Set benchmarks. If your goal is clearer then it is far easier to set meaningful benchmarks you will attain on your way to meeting that goal. At Spurplanners we advocate our <a href="https://spurplanners.com/stepping-stones/" dir="ltr">Stepping Stones</a> approach to set these benchmarks. Benchmarks allow you to recognise when you have made a specific amount of progress by completing small tasks that build towards your big goal. It could take 3 months for you to be able to run X distance in X time. Instead aim to run 10% of that by the first week, 25% by the first month, 50% by the end of 6 weeks and so on. Ticking of these benchmarks gives you a sense of genuine accomplishment. This is what creates momentum.</LI></UL><UL><LI>Understand the consequences. As well as understanding why this goal is important, be clear on the consequences of not achieving it. If there are no consequences of relevance for you then where is the reason to keep going when things get difficult? The consequences of not improving your fitness could be self esteem, weight or your ability to feel confident on a special day like your wedding. It could be more severe such as diabetes or other health conditions. The consequences must be real.</LI></UL><UL><LI>Buddy up. If you know someone who shares the same goal then buddy up with them and act as accountability partners. When you don’t want to get off the sofa and run, having someone else relying on you can be the catalyst to keep you going.</LI></UL><UL><LI>Publicly commit. This can be scary, but for some, very effective. Announce what you are doing on social media to the world. Crucially, also commit to providing regular updates. Just saying on the 1st January that this year you will be getting fitter and then never mentioning it again will not give you momentum. Instead, commit to give updates every week or month. Set an alert on your phone to do this so you don’t accidentally forget. Your friends will encourage even the smallest of progress and that will help maintain your motivation and momentum. External validation of your progress is very powerful.</LI></UL><h2>How Do I Find The Time?</h2>This is always an issue when it really shouldn’t be. If you are asking yourself, ‘how do I achieve my goal’ you should also be asking yourself ‘what do I remove from my day to make time’. Make time! This is your goal! The thing you really want to achieve. Isn’t that more important than TV, social media, long baths in the evening or that extra additional afternoon shopping/in the pub?We all have 24 hours in a day so make those hours work for you.Remove hours lost on unproductive low value tasks and replace them with tasks that build momentum and bring your goal closer. Even just reducing all the wasted time will give you so much extra time.Taken from Dovico.com<h2>Making Time</h2>We have covered extensively in other articles how you can make time to increase your productivity and this is the same, but let’s re-cap;<UL><LI>Review, remove, replace. Review how you spend your time now. Remove all the activities that add little or no value to your life. Replace that time with activities that will help you achieve your goal.</LI></UL><UL><LI>Where you have identified periods of new free time, time block these. The Pomodoro method is a great way to set up defined periods of productivity. Simply set up 30 minute (25 minutes of activity and 5 minute break) or 60 minute (50 minutes of activity and a 10 minute break) blocks of time. Use these periods to achieve your Stepping Stone tasks/benchmarks. For example, you may use a 60 minute block to go for a long run to build up your stamina. A 30 minute block may be used to meal plan so you are fuelling your body correctly.</LI></UL><UL><LI>Turn this new structure for your day into a habit. Winning habits are really what will help you achieve your goal. Really embed this by sitting down each night for 5 minutes to clearly set out what you will do the next day. Yes, sometimes something will happen to throw this best laid plan off. The key is to be consistent though. Plan your time so the next day you know exactly what you are doing when. If you don’t have a plan you will get sucked in to scrolling on social media or binge watching Netflix.</LI></UL><UL><LI>Celebrate success. As well as planning tomorrow, celebrate what you have achieved today. Write it down so you can see it and take a few moments to reflect. If you have just run 1km or 10km for the first time recognise that only a few days or weeks before you would not have thought that was possible. It can help to mark an ‘X’ on a piece of paper hung up every day you stick to your plan. Seeing those X’s stack up creates momentum and a feeling that you don’t want to break that chain.</LI></UL><h2>Should I Use All Of These?</h2>In short, yes. These strategies work together to form an overall approach and ultimately the habits you need to succeed. Try them out though. If something isn’t working for you then of course tweak it or remove it.The important thing is to find what works and keep using it. Momentum isn’t built in a day or even a week, it does take commitment. If you really want to achieve that goal though, these strategies will give you that extra edge to get there.Next time you sit down and wonder, how will I achieve my goals you will know the answer is momentum and habit.<h3>Share this:</h3>

Asking yourself how do I achieve my goal? Do you need to get your motivation back? Momentum is the key and this is why.

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

Help, it’s the middle of January. How do I achieve my goals!

The weather is still cold. The days are short and dark. The initial buzz of ‘New Year – New Me’ has worn off. The resolutions you set just two weeks ago are still relevant but you are losing your drive. It’s an all too familiar problem, so what can you do?

The single biggest challenge whenever you try to start, create or become something new is maintaining momentum.  Let us share some strategies to answer that regular question of ‘how do I achieve my goals because maintaining momentum is such an important factor.

For example, if your goal is to improve your fitness you may have taken out a gym membership. You eagerly go to the gym each day for the first week. The second week you skip a couple of days because you are tired. The third week you only go a couple of days because of other commitments. By week 4 you have all but given up on any regular fitness work and you are back into your old habits. So what went wrong?

The problem is you never had any momentum. You went from no fitness work, to doing it every day and then back down to not doing it all in a short space of time. This is the ‘Zero To Hero To Zero’ effect. You knew what you wanted to achieve but you never thought about how, what good progress looks like and how you should celebrate the small wins.

Momentum is key. It is what keeps you going when you are tired, bored or otherwise looking for excuses not to do something. The best partner for momentum is habit. Build great habits and you will naturally build momentum. Here is how;

<ul><li>Have a goal that really resonates with you. Don’t have a goal that you think you should have, or that other people have as you will easily lose momentum. The question you are answering is ‘how do I achieve my goals’. You can’t answer that if they aren’t really your goals. You have to want this! </li> </ul>

<ul><li>Understand your goal. That doesn’t mean you can write it down. It means you really understand what the end result will be, why that is important, how it will improve your life. Having the goal of improving your fitness is great, but what does it mean? Now imagine the goal was to be able to run X distance, or even better, X distance within X time. That is a much clearer goal. You are no longer asking yourself how do I achieve my goal, you are asking yourself how do I get fit enough to run X distance in X time. </li> </ul>

<ul><li>Set benchmarks. If your goal is clearer then it is far easier to set meaningful benchmarks you will attain on your way to meeting that goal. At Spurplanners we advocate our <a href="https://spurplanners.com/stepping-stones/">Stepping Stones </a>approach to set these benchmarks. Benchmarks allow you to recognise when you have made a specific amount of progress by completing small tasks that build towards your big goal. It could take 3 months for you to be able to run X distance in X time. Instead aim to run 10% of that by the first week, 25% by the first month, 50% by the end of 6 weeks and so on. Ticking of these benchmarks gives you a sense of genuine accomplishment. This is what creates momentum. </li> </ul>

<ul><li>Understand the consequences. As well as understanding why this goal is important, be clear on the consequences of not achieving it. If there are no consequences of relevance for you then where is the reason to keep going when things get difficult? The consequences of not improving your fitness could be self esteem, weight or your ability to feel confident on a special day like your wedding. It could be more severe such as diabetes or other health conditions. The consequences must be real. </li> </ul>

<ul><li>Buddy up. If you know someone who shares the same goal then buddy up with them and act as accountability partners. When you don’t want to get off the sofa and run, having someone else relying on you can be the catalyst to keep you going. </li> </ul>

<ul><li>Publicly commit. This can be scary, but for some, very effective. Announce what you are doing on social media to the world. Crucially, also commit to providing regular updates. Just saying on the 1st January that this year you will be getting fitter and then never mentioning it again will not give you momentum. Instead, commit to give updates every week or month. Set an alert on your phone to do this so you don’t accidentally forget. Your friends will encourage even the smallest of progress and that will help maintain your motivation and momentum. External validation of your progress is very powerful. </li> </ul>

This is always an issue when it really shouldn’t be. If you are asking yourself, ‘how do I achieve my goal’ you should also be asking yourself ‘what do I remove from my day to make time’. Make time! This is your goal! The thing you really want to achieve. Isn’t that more important than TV, social media, long baths in the evening or that extra additional afternoon shopping/in the pub?

We all have 24 hours in a day so make those hours work for you.

Remove hours lost on unproductive low value tasks and replace them with tasks that build momentum and bring your goal closer. Even just reducing all the wasted time will give you so much extra time.

We have covered extensively in other articles how you can make time to increase your productivity and this is the same, but let’s re-cap;

<ul><li>Review, remove, replace. Review how you spend your time now. Remove all the activities that add little or no value to your life. Replace that time with activities that will help you achieve your goal. </li> </ul>

<ul><li>Where you have identified periods of new free time, time block these. The Pomodoro method is a great way to set up defined periods of productivity. Simply set up 30 minute (25 minutes of activity and 5 minute break) or 60 minute (50 minutes of activity and a 10 minute break) blocks of time. Use these periods to achieve your Stepping Stone tasks/benchmarks. For example, you may use a 60 minute block to go for a long run to build up your stamina. A 30 minute block may be used to meal plan so you are fuelling your body correctly. </li> </ul>

<ul><li>Turn this new structure for your day into a habit. Winning habits are really what will help you achieve your goal. Really embed this by sitting down each night for 5 minutes to clearly set out what you will do the next day. Yes, sometimes something will happen to throw this best laid plan off. The key is to be consistent though. Plan your time so the next day you know exactly what you are doing when. If you don’t have a plan you will get sucked in to scrolling on social media or binge watching Netflix. </li> </ul>

<ul><li>Celebrate success. As well as planning tomorrow, celebrate what you have achieved today. Write it down so you can see it and take a few moments to reflect. If you have just run 1km or 10km for the first time recognise that only a few days or weeks before you would not have thought that was possible. It can help to mark an ‘X’ on a piece of paper hung up every day you stick to your plan. Seeing those X’s stack up creates momentum and a feeling that you don’t want to break that chain. </li> </ul>

In short, yes. These strategies work together to form an overall approach and ultimately the habits you need to succeed. Try them out though. If something isn’t working for you then of course tweak it or remove it.

The important thing is to find what works and keep using it. Momentum isn’t built in a day or even a week, it does take commitment. If you really want to achieve that goal though, these strategies will give you that extra edge to get there.

Next time you sit down and wonder, how will I achieve my goals you will know the answer is momentum and habit.

How Do I Achieve My Goal? - Spur Planners

How To Build Momentum

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