How to achieve your goals and stay motivated for a successful 2020

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Hi there, my name is Adrian Yates and I’m delighted to be here today on behalf of Cevo Health to talk to you about gold setting and motivation. For some of us the thought of achieving big

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goals is very very exciting but the reality is for the majority of us it’s a very very scary project.

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proposition. Generally the negative reactions there are related to the times when we haven’t actually achieved our goals and most of us we don’t work very well with failure. So often we put obstacles in our own way to achieving our goals. So today we’re going to look at how we might do that differently.

Some of the key areas that you need to be mindful of when you’re looking at goal setting is to avoid some of the pitfalls. So what are the pitfalls? They could be for example unrealistic goals, trying to achieve something that isn’t really within your gift to achieve at that moment in time or to have too narrow a timeframe. So not giving yourself really a chance to getting that done.

Often times as well we find that our agenda is driven by other people. So we invest our time trying to solve other people’s goals at the expense of our own. Another area to be conscious of is trying to do too many things at the one time.

Multitasking is a great thing but we’ve all heard about the busy fool so if you’re trying to do too many things at once chances are you’re not going to get all of them done so they’ll actually work against each other. And finally not reviewing progress.

If you don’t take the time out to look at where you’re going along the journey of achieving that goal you won’t have the chance of adjusting some of your activities to make sure that you stay on track. I want to take a special view around procrastination. It’s a hard word to say but basically often times our goals are mitigated because we fail to engage with them.

We find all sorts of excuses for not doing something or not doing something on time. So for example we say oh we’ll survive the whole week to do it. I’ll start it on Thursday instead of today. Sometimes we might come in of an evening get comfortable on the couch. The box set goes on and you go okay I’ll just watch one more episode before I start what it is that I’m doing.

So we kind of try and put off things and that’s very very detrimental when it comes to achieving goals. And it has a bigger impact as well because if we don’t get our task done and we get sidetracked in it then afterwards we also feel guilty that we didn’t do it. So we get a lot of negative self-talk going on there. So you need to avoid the procrastination.

It’s often been said a dream without a goal is a wish. A goal without a plan is just a dream and that goes around in circles. And sometimes that’s what happens to us is that we don’t engage and clarify what it is that we’re actually doing. So we don’t put a plan in place and therefore it just stays up there in the ether and doesn’t really move forward.

So let’s focus now on what are the elements of effective goal setting and why that’s important. Well for a start setting effective goals help you to choose where you want to go and that’s really important. Knowing where you want to go and precisely what you want to achieve will give you the tools necessary to get there. So finally it’ll also help you to know where to concentrate your efforts.

Okay so the first step we need to do is when it comes to setting goals is to actually try and capture what it is we want to do.

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And this is something we can do in our personal lives and in our professional lives. Take the time out to brainstorm. Sit back with a blank sheet of paper and let your mind go to work. Don’t put any restrictions in there and the goals will come out. Things you want to do, things you want to achieve. Just jot them down and don’t try and judge them. Just get them down on paper.

That’ll be a really really good start. Once you’ve got all your ideas then you need to narrow the focus and we can do this through the SMART process. I’m sure you’re all familiar with the SMART process but just to recap. S stands for specific. We need to know exactly what it is we want to do. M measurable. How do we know we’re going to achieve the goal? What metrics can we put in place?

Milestones along the way that we can say my progress is going in the right direction. A stands for attainable. The goal needs to be attainable. It doesn’t need to be easy but it certainly shouldn’t be you know a fantasy. It has to be something that’s achievable or it’s often called realistic as well. So achievable is very very important. The OR in SMART refers to relevant.

What is the relevance of the goal that you’re looking to do? And this is linked to your motivation which is very very important. that has to have a reason for being, otherwise when the going gets tough you won’t have the motivation to drive on. And finally the T is time, time bound.

You need to put a beginning, a middle and an end onto the project of goals that you have available to you, so you can put your plan in place accordingly. So that’s smart. Now what I’d like to do is to go back and break the SMART goal model into 7 steps. And these steps will focus on the things we can do, each step of the way, to enhance our chances of success.

So by doing this we give ourselves every opportunity of reaching the goal we have in mind. Step 1 is understanding your motivation. Why do I want to achieve this goal? You need to ask yourself that question and you need to understand where the motivation for it is coming from so that you can connect with that motivation.

So is it something you’re doing for you or something you think somebody else will be pleased about or be happy for you that you’ve done it? So say for example it might be to improve your financial situation, to get recognition at work, maybe get that promotion, or it could be wanting to improve your own self-satisfaction by achieving a goal around maybe a sports achievement or something like that.

You need to create the expectation of what that is and what it will look like so that you can connect with it. As I said earlier, because there will be bumps along the road, there will be setbacks and that doesn’t mean you have to start again, it just means you need to redouble your efforts.

And when you focus on the motivation of why you’re doing that particular goal and what the reward will be at the end of it, that will give you the energy to keep going. Number 2 is to be specific. So to make it measurable.

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Avoid vague statements like I want to be happier or I want to get fitter, I want to do that better. Anything ending in ER is usually a vague statement because how do you know when you’ve actually achieved it and what are you actually measuring yourself against. So you need to know what you’re focused on and what you’re going after.

So say instead of losing weight, say I’d like to lose 5kg in the next 10 weeks and then you can put a plan in place with processes that help you get there. So it’s much more specific. And quantify what you want to do. Say for example if you want to run a marathon, you can’t do that overnight.

So what you need to do is specify what steps you’re going to take, what training regime you’re going to use, what sort of changes to your diet or nutrition will you put in place so that by doing those things you can measure them along the way and you can know specifically at any moment in time where you are against that goal. Number 3, don’t just think it, ink it. Write it down.

It’s very, very powerful when it comes to setting goals to visualise what’s going on and what it is you’re trying to achieve. Incredibly, Stanford University did some research and what they found was that when people write down their goals, their probability of achieving them increased by over 70%. That’s an incredible figure.

If I told you for example that your possibility of winning the lotto would be increased by 70% if you did something, I’m sure you’d be very happy to do that thing. So it’s really, really important to write down what it is you want to do and then also visualise what it’s like to achieve that goal. Try and imagine what emotions you might feel when, let’s say, you cross the line of the Dublin Marathon.

That’s very, very powerful and will help you in the motivation of delivering on your goal. Number 4, design your environment. This is often the most overlooked element of delivering on goals and being effective in terms of achieving goals because our ability to deliver is very much influenced by what’s going on around us. Let’s go back to the losing weight example if that was the goal.

Well, if your house is full of treats and sweets and nuts and snacks, you’re not really going to give yourself a very good chance of beating that goal. So you need to modify your environment such that it lends itself towards your success in attaining that goal. Also, try and get positive people around you.

Tell people what it is you’re trying to do, especially when it comes to personal goals because they’ll work as your support, they’ll cheer you on and they’ll help you along the way, give you advice so that it makes it easier for you to get your goal when you’re not maybe feeling as motivated as you would like to be.

If you have people around you that are detracting from you, or maybe having a bit of a slag at what you’re trying to do, or not really being supportive, as best you can, you need to minimise your FaceTime with those people.

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Negative people will really block you and be an obstacle in terms of you delivering your goals. So remember your motivation. This is for you, this is something you’re doing for a specific reason, and you’ll always have people who’ll try and prevent you from going there. So make sure you’re conscious that you have positive support around you.

And that can also be achieved by, say for example again, if we think back to running the marathon, join a running club, go sign up to park run, or get a training buddy. So on the nights that you’re sitting in, and you’re getting a bit comfortable on the couch, that knock will come on the door, and you’ll go and you’ll run, and you know what, you’ll feel so much better when you come back.

So creating the environment is incredibly important. Try not to overlook that one. Number five is narrow your efforts. As I said earlier, multitasking is all fine and dandy, but it doesn’t actually support the effective achievement of goals. You need to prioritise. And prioritising is putting a list in order of priority. You’ll often hear people saying, my top three priorities are. There’s no such thing.

There can only be one priority, and then there’s a list of less prioritised goals that follow on from there. So try and not take on too many things at once. Not everything is a priority. You need to decide for the right reasons what your priorities are, and follow those. Put all your energy into those.

So for example, start with one big goal, and break that goal down into small attainable steps, and work your way through to the end on that. So you’re actually following a process. Prioritising process, very important. Focusing on the process is actually number six. You’re not going to get immediate success. Success you’ll often hear doesn’t happen overnight.

And again, the example of the marathon, I think, is a really good one. You can’t run a marathon after two, three weeks of training. You have to put a proper process in place, and then focus on the process of what you’re going to do. Be it how often you’re going to train, what you’re going to eat, where you’re going to run. Let’s say you might start with couch to 5k, then you might run at 10k.

Pick a time when you do a half marathon, and just work your way through the process till you get to run in that marathon, and get that really exciting feel of having attained your goal, because you’ve had to work so hard at it. Bear in mind, failure happens, and it happens all the time, and it’s unrealistic to think things won’t go wrong.

So bear that in mind, and don’t feel discouraged that you’re back to square one. You’re not. Especially if you have your milestones, you can just recalibrate and get going again. So failure is actually helpful. It teaches you what you need to adjust to make sure you stay on track. So try and turn that negative into a positive, and I think you’ll find it very, very helpful.

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The last thing we’d say on the process is, don’t forget the other elements of your life as well. Sometimes we get singularly focused on getting things done, and overworking to our own detriment. You need to make sure you can re-energize and revitalize yourself, and have time for your friends, have time for your hobbies.

So there’s a little bit of me time in there too, and it’s just not all focused on doing, doing, doing, and getting that goal at all costs. Final step in the process is, forgive your failures. Remember we’re all only human, and we make mistakes. But mistakes, like I said, can be a great way of learning. They’re a learning curve for us, and they’re a way that we can grow and improve.

They make us more creative, stronger, give us more focus, and help us to improve our performance. There’s some very well-known people in the world at the moment who’ve originally been considered failures, such as Walt Disney, J.K. Rowling, and Oprah Winfrey, believe it or not. So the initial phase is often the hardest phase, so don’t be discouraged.

Give yourself a pat on the back, and remember what I said earlier about small wins, celebrate the little successes along the way. So if you’re on that diet, and you keep it for the first week, give yourself a pat on the back. Take the time to congratulate yourself, very, very important.

It’s important as you come to look at goal setting and the achievement of goals, that any progress made is progress. Sometimes we push ourselves too hard and we say, oh, I’m not going fast enough or I’m not meeting certain milestones and you just always want to push. Just take the time to reflect on where you are.

You’ve made progress, you’re going along that line and as I said, gather positive thinking people around you and have some self affirmations for yourself to keep you going on that road. So you see the end goal in mind, push on and you’ll get there. Decide what your current focus is because it depends on where you are in your goal setting journey. You might just be at the beginning.

So what are you doing about thinking about your goals? How curious are you about what’s possible for you? And are you narrowing your opportunities by using some outside criteria? Remember that brainstorming phase we spoke about? Let your mind open and focus on that if you’re on the beginning of the journey.

It might be that you already have a list of goals you want to do and maybe you need some assistance in how you prioritise them rather than, as I said earlier, just trying to do them all in one go. That’s really not going to work and it’s not the best way.

So again, have a mentor or have someone maybe who’s done the marathon before who can come and tell you this is what you need to focus on and these are the things to look out for. That’ll be very helpful for you.

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And make sure ultimately that you’re focused on one main thing at a time. Go back to the priority. This is really, really key. Focus on one thing at a time and you’ll get that done. So finally, now that we know about the process of setting the goals and so on, a famous management expert in the United States called Peter Drucker came up with a phrase, what gets measured gets managed.

And this is really, really important as well, I think, for the goal setting, to have a goal attainment cycle. So you start, it’s a five step process, you start at analysis, which is basically the goal setting that we spoke about earlier, the brainstorming. What is it you’re going to do? Then we look at ACT is the second step of this. What actions are we putting in place as part of our plan?

Then assess how the plan is going. So this is the measurement phase. Have a look at how things are going and do this in a constructive way. Because then you can look at and be prepared to make changes to the plan. Step four is adjust. It’s OK to make changes just because it isn’t necessarily going to go exactly as you planned.

You take account for what the differences are when you get to that stage in particular. Strange things happen in life and things occur and we need to be able to react to those and proactively put in place some change elements into the original plan that’s going to keep us back on track. And then the last of the five steps in the goal attainment cycle is attain. So this is the achievement part.

And this could just be the little small milestones along the way that once you achieve that, stop, reflect and congratulate yourself. So it just leaves me then to say thank you so much for your attention and I hope you found this webinar helpful for you when it comes to setting your goals.