7 Habits That Will Help You To Consistently Achieve Your Goals
The importance of rock-solid habits, routines, and systems
What do you do every day?
That’s the question that will determine whether you accomplish your goals or not.
Habits are the foundation of all that we do. They can make us excellent, or a peasant in a world of people struggling to know which way to point their efforts.
“Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible.” — Frank Zappa
Here are some of those keystone habits that you can incorporate in your daily life to be more successful in every facet of life:
#1: Using a tracker
One thing that has transformed the way I pursue my goals is the act of being more action-focused rather than target-focused.
At the end of the day, I can’t control how many people read the post that I wrote, bought my online course, signed up for my class, or read my eBook.
All I can control is my actions, and that I’m doing the best thing, in the best way possible.
“Our character is basically a composite of our habits. Because they are consistent, often unconscious patterns, they constantly, daily, express our character.” ―Stephen Covey
This has led me to believe very strongly in habit trackers — more simply stated, an action tracker.
When you “do the thing”, so to speak, whether that be writing an article, outlining a chapter of your book, drinking a glass of water, or going on a run, you can check that off.
That way, you make sure you are daily taking steps toward accomplishing that goal.
This also helps you take steps towards accomplishing goals that involve the targets that you do have control over — such as running, or physical action goals.
#2: Dividing goals into smaller milestones
Running 10 miles all at once is not a goal that you can simply go out and “achieve”. It requires some build-up. However, the human brain was not made to be motivated by a goal that is so far out.
That’s the same reason it’s slightly unattainable to set out to save $500,000. People who do that, even if they don’t explicitly write out the steps that involve getting to that, are aware of the steps and the milestones along the way.
It’s like they say, the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
“If you want to experience significant progress toward your goal, you need to be intentional about the work you’re doing every day.” — Anonymous
I recently heard a football coach talk about achieving the “1–0”. The message behind this motto is simple: Go for the next win. The next victory. The next first down, or the next successful play. Always be going for the next small success you can have.
After all, $1 in savings is a whole lot better than nothing and will give you enough of a dopamine hit to put in more and more as you’re able to along the way.
#3: Giving yourself credit (i.e. tracking progress)
Yes, even the little bits of progress you make on the bad days.
One thing that has radically changed the way I see the world is the habit of writing down what I’ve accomplished. I have to be careful not to lie to myself and try and convince myself and others that I’ve been more productive than I have.
However, for the most part, it’s a helpful habit to incorporate in my life. When I track the small steps, I achieve two things:
- The first thing I receive out of this habit is a better awareness of what I can get done in a day, as well as what I need in order to do it. I learn how long different kinds of tasks take, as long as what I need to set up and when I should start working in order to be the most productive.
- The second thing I get is a launching pad for my next work session. If I know that I finished outlining my book and I see that in my progress log, then the next time I sit down to work, I know that I can use that outline to continue writing.
“Allow yourself to be proud of yourself and all the progress you’ve made. Especially the progress that no one else can see.” — Anonymous
Tracking what I’ve worked on shows me where I can pick up from, as well as realistic expectations about what I can get done in a day.
One day, I read the next chapter in my textbook, completed a dynamic study module, read for my book club class, completed a lab report, and studied on Quizlet for half an hour.
Now, I know that I can show up and do that again on another day.
This can even improve my ability to realistically plan my week in the future. I’m able to see what I’ve done in a certain amount of time in the past and prepare to do it again on the day at hand.
#4: Reality-checking your goals (often!)
I’m the person who, in the past, would plan to make $2,000 from writing in a month without ever having made more than $300 or so.
While making $2,000 in a month would be amazing and is certainly attainable, it’s not something I could realistically churn out this month without a serious change in my writing behavior and readership, which I’m not able to produce at this time.
I’m preparing to go out of the country, finish my novel, read a certain number of books, and perform well on exams. Focusing more on writing than I ever have simply isn’t in the cards — or the calendar.
“The moment a man ceases to progress, to grow higher, wider and deeper, then his life becomes stagnant.” — Orison S. Marden
On the other hand, making $500 is a bit of a fair stretch given my numbers have been trending downwards and I haven’t had a viral story, but it’s certainly attainable given the past precedent of how much I’ve made writing.
So that’s the goal I’ve put forth for myself.
Sometimes this means reworking your goals entirely, other times it means simply downplaying them to make them a realistic stretch goal, rather than an impossibility you can only dream of.
#5: Scheduling time for specific goal-tasks
I alluded to this a little bit earlier when talking about writing, but I’d like to touch on it again. If you don’t have time for it in your calendar, you probably shouldn’t make a goal out of it.
Goals need room to be worked on. Good goals also tendto be more than one-and-done situations. They’re achievements that are going to require a bit more work to check off.
Recently I’ve been trying to bring my novel project over the finish line. Because of that, I’ve been squeezing in writing wherever and whenever I can, scheduling a little time each day to work on it.
Similarly, I want to get back in the habit of finishing multiple books in a month — so I’ve set the goal of finishing eight books by January 31. (Now I only have one left to go!)
Because of that goal, I set aside time to just read this morning, and was able to finish two books that I’ve been working on finishing all month.
“It’s not enough to be busy, so are the ants. The question is, what are we busy about?” — Henry David Thoreau
These are not only realistic goals, but goals I’ve found time more — goals I’m making time for — and I’m seeing the results.
You simply can’t be a writer or a runner or anything for that matter if you don’t make time to do it, to be a participant in the identity you want to have.
#6: Using an accountability system
One of the habits that has had the single greatest impact on my productivity and progress towards more lofty and habit-requiring goals has been working with some sort of an accountability system.
I use the term ‘system’ here on purpose because I don’t think that accountability has to be given through a person, per se.
Sometimes, all you need is a system to keep you on track.
“Never discourage anyone who continually makes progress, no matter how slow.” — Plato
For my novel, I have a small group of friends that I’ve asked to be my beta readers.
They’ve read some early manuscripts of certain chapters and are totally on board with the story. I’ve already communicated with them a certain date that I want to have a third draft copy for them to read.
That external motivation is putting not just pressure on me to finish and not disappoint them, but it’s made me genuinely excited to share my work and finish my goal. The system itself reminds me of why I wanted to write a story in the first place — to share it with other people.
No matter your goal, it can be helpful to set up a system for other people to keep you accountability, or to have a system in place that will keep you reminded of what you’re working toward.
#7: Reviewing each month
Failure is, truly, the best teacher.
And this “failure” doesn’t have to be some sort of dramatic, colossal “Do not pass go do not collect $200” type of screw-up.
Simply not meeting our expectations or achieving every goal we set out for ourselves is a really valuable learning experience, if we examine it the right way.
“There are only two options: Make progress or make excuses.” — Anonymous
The semesters of college I medically withdrew from, the planners I didn’t finish, the chapter of my novel that none of my friends understood — all of these are things that have taught me how to do better.
My habit trackers of old, especially, teach me about how I can improve my process. And every time I’ve reviewed these items, trackers, and records of my behavior and performance, I’ve learned something, and been able to implement new insights about my self and what spurs me most on to being better.
When you look at the past and realize both where you did well and where you can improve, you set yourself up beautifully to make incremental progress, slowly learning more and more about yourself and how best to succeed.
Wherever you are in your habit setting and goal accomplishing journey, I challenge you to look at things with a new perspective. Assess whether your goals and daily habits are realistic.
Ask yourself if you’ve provided yourself with enough motivation and time constraint to accomplish your goal effectively and efficiently.
Make sure you’re looking at the progress you are making, and to prepare for future success by breaking up your aspirations into smaller, more manageable steps.
There’s a quote from “How To Win At College” by Cal Newport that I think applies to all areas and stages of life that I’d like to share here:
“Productive work is any work that is efficiently accomplished in a known amount of time.”
Whether that measure of productivity is a monthly goal or something you want to do everyday this week, make sure you know that you can do it — and that you know when it will be done and when it will be done by.
There’s no reason to put it off. There’s no reason you can’t be successful right now. No need to put it off — get on it…today.
