Soon, we will be in the 4th quarter of the year. How are you doing on the goals you set for yourself at the beginning of the year?
Are you about 3/4th done in your journey of the commitment you made to yourself?
If not, I urge you to reflect on what got in your way.
As I coach executives, the most cited reason for not making enough headway (or dropping the goal altogether) is the lack of time. They start the year with big goals, but often, life takes over, and the goals become wishes.
If you see yourself in the above, let me assure you it is not too late. You can still pick up the thread from where you had left off and make significant progress before the year ends.
Think about how much it would boost your confidence once you have gained momentum to achieve your goals. What would it do to your self-esteem when you have built a habit of consistently working on your goal and being accountable to yourself?
The one major trick to accomplish this is to think about what you will not do to make the time, space, and energy to achieve your goal. What activities and habits will you drop to support your aspiration?
This month, as we meditate on ‘Ganesha’ the God of new beginnings and remover of obstacles, I invite you to consciously take out the old activities that are not the best use of your time and energy from your schedule to make room for the new ones that carry you closer to your goal.
Here are a few tips that would help you make your schedule more effective and reach your goals –
Evaluate all your current commitments with the lens of why you are doing what you are doing and how you are doing it. Reflect on whether the projects you are devoting your time to continue to remain relevant. Do they need your personal involvement? Are they the best use of your time, and if yes, are there better ways of accomplishing the same objective?
This analysis allows you to determine what can potentially be automated, delegated, or dropped.
It is also a strong foundation for your conversation with your boss about what you will focus on in the coming days and the resources you need to do justice to your commitments, even if you are not the decision maker on what projects you stay engaged in.
Manage your focus. Determine how you work the best. What are the activities you need to create focused time for? What are the most common distractions that derail your day? How best can you manage these distractions? It might mean you block time in your calendar for undisturbed work, decline meetings where there is no clear ask from you, switch off the notifications on your laptop/phone, set better priorities for yourself and boundaries for the random help you provide to your colleagues and figure out how not to get sucked into Netflix, Instagram, etc.
Imagine feeling in control of your life and intentionally achieving the goals that excite you instead of drowning in busyness and losing confidence in your ability to take charge of your day. The 2 steps mentioned above are not easy, but slowly and steadily, they help you make time for what really matters to you. What will you drop off your plate to make room for your goals?
PS – Need help nailing your goals? Book your complimentary consult here.