How to Simplify Your Goals

How to Keep Up With Your Goals / New Year Resolutions and Not Become Burnt out Easily

With the New Year being amongst us, you might find it inspiring to set goals and envision your ideal life for this year. Establishing goals and crossing them off our calendars can give us a great sense of purpose and achievement. However, what happens when you need more drive to set goals or you begin to feel overburdened by everything you need or want to accomplish?

In this article, you will find advice on how to simplify your goals so that you won’t burn yourself out quickly as well as some tools to help you build and manage those goals.

• What is a Goal?

• Set Realistic Goals

• How to Simplify Your Goals

What is a Goal?

If you Google what a goal is, you’ll find the definition stating, ‘The object of a person’s ambition or effort; an aim or desired result’ 

To put it simply, as if you were five years old, it's what occurs when you set your mind to something and take the required steps to achieve it. Sounds simple enough, doesn't it? So why do we make our objectives so complicated and then usually abandon them by March?

In the US, between 38 and 41% of adults make resolutions or goals for the new year. The most popular ones are to increase income or save/lose weight. It may seem simple, but shockingly, just 9–12% of people have stuck to their resolutions by the end of the year. You can certainly think of a few reasons for this just by reflecting on your own life, but let's go back to the five-year-old's definition of a goal: "... to take the necessary steps to get there."

The majority of us frequently make the error of focusing just on the BIG objective without realizing there are frequently smaller steps to accomplish it, which results in unrealistic goals. Let's discuss how we can overcome that.

Set Realistic Goals

Many of us have major goals, and in an ideal world, we could just snap our fingers and make them come true. But, you must be careful when establishing your goals so that you don't burden yourself by only looking at the bigger picture. As my friends say, "Don't forget to give yourself GRACE."

"Grace gives power to do good." – Lailah Gifty Akita

For example: Let’s say your goal is to read more. If you give yourself a goal of 20 books to finish for the new year, that is a bit much, especially if you have never really enjoyed reading. Instead, try reading for 30 minutes a week. Sounds minor compared to 20 books in a year, but getting yourself in the habit of reading will keep you motivated longer than weighing 20 books on your shoulder.

Let's look at another example.

One of my personal goals is to lose 25 pounds this year. Without even starting It gives me anxiety because that seems like a lot of weight. If your goal is similar to mine, let’s try starting with being active at least 3 times a week. Or try alternatively applying the 80/20 rule to our diet, which states that we should eat healthily 80% of the time and indulge in our desires 20% of the time. (Yes, I am aware that losing those 25 pounds requires a combination of both food and exercise.)

What I'm saying is, don't get so fixated on the big Instagrammable goal that you psych yourself out of it before the weather even changes. Making it simple is the simplest approach to accomplishing whatever you want to.

Make it Plain

You simplify your goals by making them plain. But not just simple in writing (K.I.S.S), but simple in doing as well. There’s a smaller step to every goal you have and once you master that, you make the next step towards your greater goal.

In the book Atomic Habits by James Clear, he introduces the concept of Habit Shaping. I won't spill it all because it’s a great read (Get the book on Amazon here) but to paraphrase, he teaches us that every GREATER goal has a Smaller step right before it and it can usually be broken down into 5 phases.

For example, if you want to become Vegan, your habit phases may look like this:

Start eating vegetables at each meal. > Stop eating animals with four legs (cow, pig, lamb etc). > Stop eating animals with two legs (chicken, turkey, etc.). > Stop eating animals with no legs (fish, clams, scallops, etc). > Stop eating all animal products (Eggs, milk, cheese).

Let's Get to It!

Lastly, I can't express how helpful it is to have an accountability partner. They can easily help you with motivation and discipline when you become distracted or fall off course. Even better, this person will celebrate your wins with you as well. So call that person up today and set up a check-in schedule that will benefit the both of you.

We'd love to hear from you ! What other tips/tricks do you have that help simplify your goals?