“A Dream becomes a Goal when Action is taken towards its Achievement.” by  Bo Bennett

You know the difference only when you write your goals down. They Should be meaningful, measurable & attainable. Writing them down make it clear to you otherwise you are all over the place.

I have decided to work on accountability to my goals this year. It’s Still too early to say but I have crossed the threshold of the excitement of new year. Now its accountability and discipline in action. These 3 practices are helping to be accountable to my goals on daily basis.

1-Write Your Goals –

I have written down my goals in very details this year. In the format of what I want to achieve-when, I want to achieve in what measure-what will I do every day to achieve them. I also have milestones to how I will track my progress (Weekly/Monthly etc).

Dr. Gail Matthews from Dominican University in California found that you become 42% more likely to achieve your goals and dreams, simply by writing them down on a regular basis. It brings more clarity if you associate it with some measurable numbers (Ex deadline/ frequency or amount) .Your subconscious gets involve if you write your goals down and read them often.

2-Visualisation–

Seeing is Believing, First thing in the morning I visualize each goal and action associated with it.  Sometimes I do it in form of meditation or just simply close my eyes and go thru all I want to achieve . I have also put a vision board with pictures & quotes related to my goals. It puts me in mindset of doing things in alignment to my goals. It increases the chance that I will follow my action plan thru out the day. Visualization comes with practice but I feel  when we visualize our desired outcome, we begin to “see” the possibility of achieving it. One thing to remember here is that you need to act in accordance to your written goals, visualization helps but its not complete unless your action supports it.

3-Accountability Partner-

When you are accountable to someone or a group of people for doing what you said you would do, you can get stuff done because you want to keep up the commitment. This one was tricky for me. If you are new to goal setting and writing them down, it can be tough to announce or share with anyone. but if you do not share it with anyone its easy to make excuse when it gets tough to move on.  Do something easy or comfortable rather stick to your goals. I have committed my goals to my spouse. I asked him to hold me accountable if he sees me getting distracted from my deadlines. Sometimes in my slow times this declaration of goals to him helps me to focus better.

This helps me to stay motivated & keep me on track.  It also helps me to review and evaluate my goals consistently and give me clarity.

Build a plan for yourself which includes some of these practices and see the difference.

Thanks for reading, also check out my Video on Simple goals for the year 2018 on my Youtube Channel Simple Life Notes.

Let’s Live Simple.

Shivi