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You’re not too fond of your job but it pays the bills, well at least the important ones.

You tell yourself once again that you need a new job and that you have to get moving on that. Planning that one day you’re going to sit down and sort it out to get the ball rolling.

Then one day, shortly after, you convince yourself that today is that day. You sit down at your desk and before your laptop even powers completely on your phone vibrates with a text from a friend wanting to hang out.

You decide to go because your life is hard already so you might as well have some fun. And perusing the mall is more fun than figuring out where your career is going.

You can always take a stab at it another day. One day isn’t going to make much of a difference anyway.

But tomorrow never comes.

The days go on, and they’re just like the previous ones, the ones where you didn’t do anything.

You would think the process of achieving your goals would be as easy as setting them but it doesn’t really work out that way. That’s why you always lose steam right after setting them.

But you don’t have to stay stuck on the first step indefinitely.

You’re in the Majority

Did you know that about 80% of people don’t maintain their new year’s resolutions? I know that’s not too shocking since you probably know a bunch of people that make the same ones then drop them after the first week.

But think about that pattern of behavior. You get all excited to do something, set a date to start it and then drop it like a hot potato.

The real question is, are you doing this to more than just your resolutions?

If this is happening to all of, or even most of, your goals then you’ve got a huge problem.

You’re not staying focused on your goals long enough to make an ounce of progress. You just keep pushing it back until you forget to do the littlest thing.

You’re letting text messages, phone calls and even your internet home page distract you from staying on course.

Pretty much everything that you deal with on a daily basis is coming between you and your goals.

Now, life is going to happen and there’s going to be things that you have to take care of but you shouldn’t let distractions, like an invitation to go shopping, push your goals to the back burner.

But you’re not alone. A lot of people do it but that still doesn’t make it right or ideal.

Flipping the Script

You see how easy it is to get distracted and switch gears? You have to use that to your advantage to stay on course.

You have to make things simpler for you to keep your eye on the ball. That’s the only way you’re not going to look at your goals as another chore you want to ditch as soon as something better comes along.

Finally, you won’t be stuck on the same step year after year. When you make it easier for yourself you’ll be more focused and work on it longer and harder.

The next thing you know you’ll be texting your friends to hang out and celebrate your next career related achievement. That’s the kind of distraction you put something on hold for.

1. Pinpoint it

There are problems you want to fix in your life. It’s more than just your career.

When you think about all the things you want to do a bunch of ideas come flooding to you. If you really sit down and write it you can probably come up with a page filled with goals.

But it becomes hard to focus on them all at once. And you only have but so much free time each day. It can become very easy to get frustrated and give up on all of them.

Don’t spread yourself too thin. Pick 3 top major goals, at most, to achieve over a fixed period of time.

2. Divide and conquer

Once you’ve narrowed things down to up to 3 goals things can still feel a little heavy. I mean you are doing more than what you’re used to already.

To lessen the pressure that major goals can bring you’ll need to break them down into small steps.

Make each step specific and achievable. This will make it easier to do the work, leaving no time to diddle-daddle trying to figure things out.

Every time you complete a step take a little time to celebrate and appreciate your progress. This will keep things fun and keep your momentum up.

3. Keep track

And not just in your head. You may think that that is sufficient but it’s really not. You’d be surprised how quickly you can forget how far you’ve come.

Record your progress. Track what you’re doing and the steps you’re taking.

Not only will it affirm that you’re getting somewhere but it’ll rejuvenate your motivation.

4. Have a vision board

It may sound crazy or even look serial killer-ish having cut-out pictures posted on your bedroom wall but it’s helpful. Besides you can always make a digital one on your computer or phone if you don’t want to put it on display.

The vision board will serve as a reminder of what you’re trying to accomplish, why you made the goal to begin with.

So open up a PowerPoint presentation or pull out a poster board and get cracking.

Whenever you look at the board you will be motivated to continue on and feel good about your goal all over again.

5. Don’t bite your friends’ heads off

You might want to share your goals with friends and family as a result of your excitement or just to let them know what’s going on with you.

So when they ask you for an update don’t bite their heads off. Let your friends hold you accountable for what you said you’d do.

And if you end up falling a little behind don’t take out your frustrations on them. Talk it through and let them help you brainstorm solutions to whatever challenge you’ve encountered.

If they’re truly supportive they’ll only be coming from a good place so don’t punish them for caring. Besides, they are the kind of people you want to keep close.

Focus on Your Goals

The truth is the most meaningful goals won’t be the easiest to get off of the ground. So you have to do everything in your power stay focused on them.

You can’t continuously let simple distractions get in your way of achieving them because then you’ll just stay stuck on the same step forever.

You have goals for a reason and that’s why you need to achieve them. Consistent focus and effort is the only solid way to make that happen.

Do these things and your focus will be razor sharp.

 

So…

What goal are you going to focus on?

———

Lea Bullen is a certified life coach, foodie and lifehack expert. When you focus your dreams can be your reality so stop settling, get unstuck and to the next level. Get unstuck and to the next level. Take the eye-opening Live Your Dreams course to get moving!

You’ve read 5 Helpful Tips That Will Make It Easier to Focus on Your Goals, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

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