How To Stay Focused On Your Goals And Crush Them

So many people set goals and do nothing to crush them. I get it, it can be hard to stay motivated and do the work needed to reach your goals. Everyone has different goals but when it comes to ‘crushing them’, it comes down to the same old things which we’ll touch on in this post.

I’m writing this post because I’ve put a lot more focus on goals this year and I’ve finally managed to crush some of them into smithereens…

These were:

• keep losing body fat all year (no matter how small)
• be flexible enough to touch my toes without bending my knees
• write every single damn day

But it wasn’t easy, there were many days I didn’t want to apply myself, even though I was passionate about each of these.

The biggest lesson: to crush your goals, you just have to show up, even when you don’t feel like it. There’s no magic ingredient.

So why can it so hard to reach your goals when you’re first so passionate about them? There can be many reasons why it’s so hard to reach your goals but a lot of it comes down to you, your thought processes and your priorities. I know this is true for a lot of people and it’s the same for me.

Essentially, reaching your goals isn’t a straight path, but I think this post can help guide you if you’re feeling unmotivated. So, let’s get after it!

What is your goal(s)?

It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop. – Confucius

So, what are your goals? I think you have to have a clear understanding of what your goals are to stand any chance of achieving them. This can be done by simply writing them down and sticking to a schedule for when you take action towards them.

Most people are in my position. You might have a family (a young one) and life is super busy. I totally get that. I love to spend time with my family but I also get ‘the passion itch’ which is usually when I get agitated when I think of a great article or a great video I want to make but can’t. I also know that if I’m not able to work towards it, I get grumpy…

Set your goals out clearly so you can visualise them. Once you’ve done that you can start to see when you might have time to do them.

Heck, download this free SMART goals worksheet to make your life even easier. That way, you can figure out if your goals are even realistic, to begin with…

Don’t beat yourself up, seriously

I think goals should never be easy, they should force you to work, even if they are uncomfortable at the time. – Michael Phelps,

If you’re like me and you create content, you think of producing content at the worst times, usually when you’re busy and can’t create it. I don’t know if this is part of having an anxious personality but I find myself getting frustrated a lot when I can’t take that action. I love to make things and carry out projects. Maybe it’s the artist in me but I always have to be making or working on something to stay feeling productive.

I have learnt however, you shouldn’t beat yourself up when you can’t get the time to work on your goals. I know myself that it doesn’t help things at all and instead, I plan the free time I do have (which isn’t very much) and take action then.

The idea of needing to be ‘laser-focused’ on what you want to achieve is nice, and of course, we all want to be, however, the reality isn’t always as easy as that.

Don’t get me wrong, your goals should be near the top of your priority list but of course, my family comes before anything else. This is why I think it’s not just about being focused, but realistic.

Let’s look at an example;

You’re trying to lose weight, you get pumped up and start working out and dieting. One weekend, you’re invited to have a big family meal. You don’t think that one bad meal will hurt, you also don’t think that having one drink will hurt.

Before you know it, you have dessert and 5 more drinks.

You end up thinking to yourself; ‘I’ll start the diet again on Monday’. Seriously, how many times have you heard this?? I put off my goals for most of my life and it got me nowhere.

But I also learnt along the way not to beat myself up if I can’t “go after it” when I feel that itch or I eat too much one evening. Life doesn’t work that way. Things won’t always be perfect.

Stay focused on your goals…”Just Do It”

The trouble with not having a goal is that you can spend your life running up and down the field and never score. – Bill Copeland

When you do fall off the wagon, you can easily start to fall back into bad habits. So you have two choices: You can either stay wrapped up in these patterns or you can start planning ahead more so you have a clearer plan and time slots to work on your goals.

By this, I mean when starting a diet you really have to be conscious of the fact situations like this are going to arise. If you do fall in and have a bad few days of bingeing, it’s about snapping out of it quickly and being aware of where you’ve gone wrong. This comes back down to ‘the bigger picture’.

It’s super easy to say, ‘I’ll start tomorrow’. What I’ve learned quickly is that if you’re not actively taking action your situation won’t ever change by itself.  You just have to do it. Get back on that horse ASAP. Not tomorrow, not on Monday, just do it…

If you’re losing weight, for example, try and think of ‘the tomorrow’s’. Try to visualise your goal. It’s not going to magically happen and if you don’t start right now, you’ll be in the same spot in ten, fifteen, twenty years.

You might now say that’s “Easier said than done!” but if you’re thinking that then I wonder if you really want to achieve your goals or not.

For me, I know that I don’t want to be in the same position I’m in now in ten years. I want to look back and see everything I’ve created, every person I may have helped and so I decided one day that enough was enough.

And all that starts by simply doing, not thinking.

Make it essential

You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great. – Zig Ziglar

When I look back on what I’ve overcome over the last ten years already, I feel pretty good. I’m not arrogant or have a big head but I’ve come a long way from being totally anxious and self-doubting and it all started with saying, “Enough is enough.“

I made my goal essential, I made it life or death to get over my anxieties and started believing in myself because the thought of being that way for the rest of my life scared the hell out of me.

For me, It wasn’t a case of, “That might be nice to not feel anxious every second of the day”, it was a case of ‘there’s no way I’m going to stay this way and I’m going to do everything in my power to change it.’

So, if you’re trying to lose weight, for example, make more money or whatever else, you have to make it a painful thought if you don’t reach your goal. The thought of not working towards or achieving your goal has to make you feel bad. It has to light a fire under your butt.

If it doesn’t, then maybe you don’t want it enough.

It has to become essential to reach your goals or you won’t have the motivation to keep aiming for them. It’s that fear of not succeeding that motivates you to keep pushing and pushing, not external motivation. I know that for me, I could easily fall into bed when I get in after a busy day. That’s usually when the feeling of not making progress lights a fire under me and I get up and turn my laptop on.

It’s that burning passion that keeps me on track and chasing what I want.

If you feel this way too then I think you’re onto something good. Staying focused on your goal shouldn’t feel like a chore, it should feel like a meaningful passion. I really think that you should and you need to enjoy the process. If you don’t enjoy the process then you won’t have the motivation to keep going and you may even give up.

Don’t accept failing

If a goal is worth having, it’s worth blocking out the time in your day-to-day life necessary to achieve it. – Jill Koenig

Even if you fail at reaching your goals, it doesn’t mean you should give up. So many successful people fail the first few times before they hit it big. I always like the example of Gordon Ramsey. He had 3 failed restaurants before he started making a living as a world-class chef.

If this tells us anything, it’s that you can achieve anything you are relentless with. If you’ve got the determination because you love what you do, you can reach your goal one way or another. I believe it starts with the mindset of ‘maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but it’s only a matter of time.’

If you are personally hell-bent on reaching a goal, there’s no one that can stand in your way apart from you yourself.

It comes back to the idea that you can sit on your couch, or lay on your bed and dream about what you want to reach but if you don’t get up and do it, you’ll never have it. I think that we’re all more capable of achieving things than we realise.

When I wanted to give up and stay in all day, I felt like shit. It was only the day I woke up and decided “I’m not going to be this way forever.” I didn’t know how long it would take me to learn to get over my anxieties but what I did know was one day I would.

The only way I knew this for sure was because I knew in myself that I wouldn’t give up until I found a way. And…that’s exactly what happened, I came out of myself and I’m 1000 miles away from that person now because I wasn’t going to accept anything but the relief I was so badly chasing.

Make focusing on your goals fun

Success is the progressive realization of a worthy goal. – Earl Nightingale.

Focusing on your goal(s) should be fun. I get a great sense of fun writing on projectenergise.com because I know I’m working on something that is mine. I enjoy the process and don’t focus so much on the end result.

The reason for this is that the end result isn’t really an end result. This is because when I reach the goal or ‘end result’ I know I’ll be setting another and then another and another goal. It’s a constant work in progress and that’s what makes it interesting and exciting.

It’s the same again when you’re working out. You don’t just reach a weight you’re happy with, you might enjoy the process (and should) of losing weight and working out and that will keep you motivated to maintain your weight or build more muscle. This is why it’s a constant work in progress.

Even if you’re happy with your new weight, there’s a great deal of maintenance that needs to be done if you want to stay that weight. It’s the same for everything. People don’t start businesses for example and then walk away when they make enough money from them. They usually try to make more or they start another business.

It’s this ongoing process that should feel addictive, much like how developing skills for the future of work can be a continuous and rewarding journey. As you master new technologies or improve your leadership abilities, you stay relevant in the ever-changing professional world.

It’s the process that should feel addictive.

Wrapping it all up

To stay focused on your goals you have to be in love with them. They have to feel addictive, you almost have to dream about what you want otherwise you won’t be motivated enough to keep trying to reach them. Ditch external motivation, turn to the fire in your belly instead.

I really hope you find the process of reaching your goals enjoyable, and if you do, I’m sure you’ll succeed in the end.

I hope you found this useful, if you did, please leave a comment about how you’re staying focused on your goal(s).

Here’s to your success – Sean