9 hacks to achieve your goals by the end of 2023
Many pushed their 2022 goals into 2023 or let go of them completely—after all, it wasn’t working anyway.
Woah, you really don’t want to be part of the “it wasn’t working anyway” club!
If you’re reading this blog, I assume you at least set goals for 2023. If so, good for you!
Now, in order to help you succeed in achieving your goals, I’m going to give you 9 hacks. However, these tips for reaching your goals are just the start. Actually getting to the finish line comes from you putting in the effort, but I’m sure you don’t mind some hard work, do you?
Let’s go.
1. Start with the end in mind
Do you want to lose weight before the year is over? Then think about you being that person. How does it feel to have 10 kilos less to drag around?
What will you look like?
What will you wear?
If you want to be and stay motivated to reach your goals, it helps to have a clear picture of what you want to achieve. Only then do we have a target to aim for, says Stephen Covey, author of “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.”
2. Limit the time you have available for each goal
Are you a procrastinator? If there’s still time on the clock, why do the work now? That’s not exactly the mindset that will help you reach your goals before the end of the year. No matter if you have 11, 6, or 2 months left, you’ve got to work on your goals, TODAY.
Peter Thiel, known for his famous book Zero to One and successful entrepreneur, challenges others to limit the time they have available for their goals.
“How can you achieve your 10-year plan in the next 6 months?” he asks.
Or similarly, he could ask, “How can you achieve this year's goals in the next 3 months?” You’ll come up with ways that will surpass your imagination. Apply this before you submit yourself to Parkinson’s Law: work expands to fill the time available for its completion.
3. Be flexible
There is no linear road to achieving your goals. In fact, there’s no linear road to anything in life. So expect curveballs to come your way as you progress on your goals. Therefore, be flexible in your planning and attitude toward the goals that are on your list and prepare for setbacks. You can use the “if/then” method to help with this: “If this happens, then I’ll do that.” It will actually save you time and willpower because you don’t have to take time to process the hurdle and figure out the next step.
4. Divide your goal into digestible chunks
Year goals can feel daunting. How are you going to achieve them? That’s why you should chop up your goals into bite-size pieces.
For example, if your goal was to pay off a $5,000 loan, you would have to pay $416.67 a month or $13.89 a day.
Can you set monthly or even daily goals to accomplish what you want?
If you want to be a writer, could you practice your craft for at least 15 minutes a day? That way you’ll end up spending 5475 hours on writing a year. Malcolm Gladwell (author of the book Outliers) claims that working 10000 hours on something will make you an expert. You could be an expert writer in just 2 years!
5. Take the tiniest steps possible
Sometimes you want to work on your goals, but get stuck on how to proceed with them. If this is you, then try examining your goal.
What is the most important thing that needs to happen to make progress?
What is the tiniest step you can take to act on that important thing?
Once you have your answer, take action right away. You’ll notice that taking these tiny steps to achieve your goals will help you stay motivated.
6. Persevere
It’s easy to give up when you don’t make that much progress on a goal or when too many obstacles get in your way. But it’s vital to hang on and stick to your goals. Don’t be quick to give in when things get rough. The reward at the end feels bigger when the struggle you had was harder.
How can you persevere?
By using the other hacks shared in this post but also by trying to stay positive. Tell yourself you can do it, write down the progress that you’ve made, ask others to support you, and focus on what is going well.
7. Plan
This is where most people miss the boat, they set goals but don’t schedule time to work on them. If you want to run a marathon at the end of the year, you’ve got to train at least three times a week. Goal setting goes hand in hand with planning. As you set your goals, pull up your calendar and start planning blocks of time to work on reaching your goals.
8. Take the tiniest steps possible
Another important hack to accomplish your goals: tracking. There are multiple ways to go about tracking your goals.
- You could write your goals on sticky notes and hang them around the house so you can see and be reminded about them every day
- You could ask a friend to be an accountability partner and have them check in with you every month
- You could use online software that will send you reminders and has a place to log your progress
The point is: tracking will show progress which in turn will lead to motivation.
9. Enjoy the process
The road to achieving your goals should be perceived as fun! If a professional sportsman doesn’t enjoy the training and sacrifices he has to make, how is he going to become a world champion? Find joy in the process and see the light during hard times. When you eventually reach your goals and look back to the path you’ve traveled, it will all be worth it. It will put an everlasting smile on your face, and you won’t doubt doing it again.
If becoming a Life Coach is one of your goals and you want to know if it’s feasible and something that suits you, schedule a non-committal call with me. You can do so here.