Let's face it - we all have these great dreams and goals, and every once in a while we commit on pursuing them. But then distractions, excuses or other things get into the way and quite fast we stray off that path on pursuing these goals. Have you ever wondered why it is so difficult to get a project done, to lose weight, to save money, or to get to the next level in your company?
The reason for it is simple... and gladly the solution as well. Sadly, its execution is not easy though. The reason why such goals are so hard to pursue is that they are mostly mid- or even long-term. Just like losing 10kg in 2016 (1 year), getting to the next income level in the next 6 months, or paying off 100K of debt over 5 years. All these goals take time and during this time, small short term challenges appear. Chocolate pops up, emergency spending is required, Social Media or the Phone distracts us from doing productive tasks. So, here is my solution that gets me through all that. I have been prone to all the above more than probably anyone else. I get distracted easily and I love to snack on sweets like crazy for example! This would be me without my techniques:
The solution is:
Set rewarding mid- to long-term goals
combined with punishments for short-term steps.
So, how does this work?
Imagine you want to lose 10kg until the end of 2016. This goal is great, but it is too long term and therefore it is too easy NOT to stick to it during the next days and weeks, and before you know it, your long term goal will be out of sight. I mean, come on, what really happens if you do not eat properly or do not work out now? Pretty much nothing - and the reward for achieving your goal will take time. Even thought that reward would be awesome. So this is the first step:
VISUALISE YOUR REWARD CLEARLY
How would it feel to lose those 10kg? How much better would you look? How many more people from the other sex could you attract? How much healthier would you feel?
or:
How awesome would it be to have paid off that debt? What would you be doing with the extra money? Who would you want to impress?
Visualise the reward. You have to know WHY you want to achieve, whatever you want to achieve!
Ok, but many self-help books teach exactly that part...
And yet, 95% of the people never achieve their goals - and the reason is step no. 2, that still has to be done:
BREAK DOWN YOUR GOAL
AND PUNISH YOURSELF FOR
NOT COMPLETING THE SMALL STEPS
This is the key for pushing through! If you watched my Free Webinar of Proper Goal Setting, you will know how important it is to NOT focus too much on the outcome, but actually on the process. So, break down what you have to do EVERY DAY, to lose those 10kg within a year. How many calories are you allowed to eat of what? Or, how much are you allowed to spend? Or, how many sales calls do you have to make? Break it down to the smallest calculable unit possible - best: per day!
And now you have to set a punishment, for NOT achieving these small steps. For example let's assume you said you wanted to reach the next level in your company or sell x amount of products in 2016. You come down to the conclusion that you need to do 3 sales calls per day (1,000 calls per year) to achieve that. What will be your punishment for NOT achieving these 3 sales calls? This is REALLY IMPORTANT! If you do not have a punishment in place, you will not hustle hard enough over the long period of time, to get the long term reward. Too many small things will pop in!
You can set punishments like money, or not doing certain treats or use www.stickk.com
Remember, punishments motivate us human beings around 5x more than a reward. Think about the following question: Would you do a gamble with me, that we throw a coin and if you have heads, you get 100 USD from me, but if it is tails, you have to pay me 100 USD? How much would I have to pay you, until you would play that game? Probably at least 500 USD when winning, while you lose 100 USD for losing. Even though the odds are 50/50 for either scenario. So what's my point here? Punishment is so much more powerful! So use this to your advantage! You want a long term reward, but you need a short-term punishment!
So, how do I use this process at the moment for myself?
I punish myself with 100 Euro per day, in case I do NOT pursue either one of 4 things:
Eat unhealthy carbs
Watch more than 15min of YouTube/TV per day
Spend more than 15min per day on Facebook
Make a minimum of 20 sales calls per day
The 100 Euro a great motivator for me - I hate paying money! For you it might be something different! And I achieve my long term goals: Fit body, high productivity and great sales numbers! I will put the 100 Euro into a pot, that I give away either for a charity or probably for my own little charity-fund, that will go towards someone or a group as a gift. So, even though it is a "punishment" for me, it will have a great reward after all anyways. WIN-WIN!
Hope you can apply similar concepts to your own life!
What is really important if you find this helpful, is that you commit on doing these steps explained above NOW! Otherwise, you will procrastinate and never do them! Also, feel free to share this with someone who needs to read this!
Have super productive day!
Cheers,
Julian
