I have created a new and improved version of K Money Mastery which is called, Mastering Book Publishing!
I wanted to share with you some of the best tips that I have for achieving your goals and resolutions. I recorded this video on the beach of Bali, a week after publicly posting my 2014 goals and resolutions. I've been fairly successful at achieving all of the goals I've set out for myself on a consistent basis, year after year, and thought I'd share some of the best strategies that can help you.
Watch the video here:
(Click here to watch on YouTube)
1. Have A WHY Behind Your Goals
First and foremost, you need an empowering WHY behind your goals. You need to ask yourself, “Why do I want this goal?” and really dig deep. Make a list of all the compelling reasons for achieving it.
One simple strategy is to use the PAIN and PLEASURE principle, that Tony Robbins teaches. We as human being do things to either AVOID PAIN or to GAIN PLEASURE. If you begin to think about all of the pain that will occur in your life if you don't achieve this goal, it will help drive you and give you rocket fuel towards achieving it. In the same way, you want to think about the pleasure you will get by achieving it.
Some questions you could ask yourself are:
- What will it cost me in my life if I don't achieve this? (pain)
- What will the consequence by a year from now, 5 years from now, 10 years from now? (pain)
- What is the benefits that I will get from achieving this goal? (pleasure)
- How will my life chance a year from now, 5 years from now, 10 years from now by achieving this? (pleasure)
For example, here's some PAIN and PLEASURE reasons that I'd write down for some of my goals:
I will easily be 160 lbs at 6% body fat and compete in the WBFF on July 26, 2014.
WHY…
- So that I can look in the mirror, smile and feel proud. (pleasure)
- To never again feel unhappy or unworthy with my body again. (pain)
- To be a living inspiration of what is possible if one is committed to excellence. (pleasure)
- By not achieving this, I will not be the person I was meant to be and miss out on attracting the woman of my dreams. (pain)
Get the idea? Just answer those questions and make a list. Really think about the ones that have the most EMOTION behind them, as those will fuel you the most. If you want to go through a more in-depth “life planning” exercise, check out the my life plan video blog.
2. Have A Strategic Action Plan
An example of one of my action plans for the goal listed above is the following:
- Work out 5 times per week.
- Consume 2000 calories per day and follow my macros of 150g of protein, 200g of carbs, 50g of fat.
- Track my meals and calorie intake daily in a spreadsheet.
- Take body measurements and photos every week.
- Weight myself everyday at the gym and record weight.
- E-mail my coach every week with my weekly progress report.
- Post on my blog every month the progress I've made towards my goal.
- Watch motivational videos around fitness and health every week for motivation.
- Practice posing and “model walk” for a few weeks before the WBFF.
- Make adjustments to meal and workout plan based on my coach.
Get the idea? It's specific. I list EXACTLY what I need to do to achieve my goal. As long as a I follow this plan, with some small adjustments along the way (by working with my coach), then I will achieve the goal. It's inevitable. It's simple. Just follow the plan, rinse and repeat. Eliminate all other distractions and just stick with it and I'll be guaranteed success!
3. Chunk Your Goals Down
A year is a long time for most of us to think about. Some of your yearly goals might be so big that they seem overwhelming or even unattainable. That's why you want to chunk down your goals into smaller goals, such as 3-month and 1-month goals. It's much easier to focus on a 3-month or 1-month goal than it is a 1-year goal. It's also much more achievable for you as well.
So for example, if my 1-year goal is to be making $30,000/month consistently, then I'd break it down into the following:
3-month goal: I will easily be making $25,000 per month consistently by March 31, 2014.
1-month goal: I will easily be making $22,500 by January 31, 2014.
I first measure where I'm at, which is currently making at least $20,000/month consistently, and then take where I want to be, which is $30,000/month consistently… and I'd break down the goal to what I feel I could achieve that would be realistic in the next 1-month and 3-months.
The same would go if you want to lose 24 pounds of fat. Do the math, and you'll determine that you need to lose two pounds per month. That means your 1-month goal would become to lose 2 pounds of fat by January 31, 2014… and your 3-month goal would be to lose 6 pounds of fat by March 31, 2014. Make sense?
4. Follow The S.M.A.R.T. Philosophy
SPECIFIC
MEASURABLE
ATTAINABLE
REALISTIC
TIMELINE
I'm surprised by how many people that send me their goals are missing this simple philosophy behind their goals. You need your goals to be specific and measurable, so that you can check-in with yourself every week and see the progress you're making. If you just have the goal of “To make more money” or “To lose weight”, then that isn't specific and you wouldn't even know once you've achieved it. That's why you always want to make sure you QUANTIFY your goal in some way.
Attainable and realistic is extremely important as well, since you need strong BELIEF behind your goals. I spoke about making sure that your goals are high in the “belief scale” on a scale from 1-10 in my law of attraction video. If you don't believe that you can achieve the goal, then you likely want take action towards it. Many times, when you set goals that are too far out there, you're setting yourself up for failure. When you continuously come up short for each of your goals, month after month, year after a year, eventually you “give up” with setting goals because you feel like a FAILURE. Instead, make your goals winnable. Set smaller, more achievable goals that you KNOW that you can hit. There's a famous quote, “Whatever man can CONCEIVE and BELIEVE, he can ACHIEVE.” You need to be able to have a high level of belief behind your goals.
Finally, don't forget the timeline. You need to have a specific date or deadline to achieve your goal by. This creates the urgency and pressure to get it done. Just like in school, when you have a project that is due on a specific date, you will always GET IT DONE. If you didn't have a deadline, then you likely won't get it done and will keep putting it off. If you want to see some goals that are following the S.M.A.R.T. philosophy, then check out my 2014 goals and resolutions blog post.
5. Get Accountability
I speak about this all the time of my blog… but you NEED accountability. You need to be accountable to someone other than yourself to ensure that you're taking action to achieve your goals. It could be a great friend, a mastermind group, an accountability course like the 100 Day Challenge, or even hiring a coach. This will give you that extra edge and push you every week towards them.
Right now, I'm apart of a mastermind group of 3 other friends. We meet once a week in Vancouver (right now over Skype since I'm traveling) and we discuss our goals and accountabilities for the week. We have a penalty of $5 or $10 for every action you set for the week that you don't achieve. We push each other towards greatness. We give each other feedback, help and support. It's a powerful dynamic that I attribute a lot of my success to.
In the past, I've had an “accountability buddy” that I talk to every morning as part of my morning ritual. Sometimes in the evening, as part of my evening ritual as well. This can be just a quick phone call where each person commits to 3 things they're going to do that day, and then follows up at the end of the night to check-in to see how they did. You can also implement a “penalty” for not doing what you said, which is another motivating reason to follow through.
These 5 tips can really do wonders to make sure you achieve your goals this year, if you follow them. I also recommend that you check out a powerful video awhile ago on how to actually achieve your goals which has some awesome advice on how to really make it happen with your goals this year. I hope that these tips help you and I'm wishing you massive success with your goals! Let's make it happen!