How to Achieve Goals Faster and with Less Effort

Recently I was working with a client on achieving goals. There were some things she really wanted to achieve, they were tied into her core values (not just “shoulds”), but she was struggling with taking action. So, we worked together to identify her secrets to success in the past and now she is well on her way. As I was thinking about her particular success secrets, I realized that these steps are really universal. Assuming you are working towards a goal you really want, these steps work every time.

1) Set yourself up for success
This is about working according to your rhythms and setting yourself up to succeed. So often we bite off so much more than we can chew, experience a setback, then give up (all while beating ourselves up). Setting yourself up for success looks like:

• Making an appointments with yourself so you have time set aside to take action
• Asking for and receiving support you need
• Breaking down the actions you need to take into bite-size chunks (you wouldn’t think of eating your 8oz steak in one bite without choking to death, so why do it with your goals?)
• Taking good self-care so you can be at your best

2) Define Your Tasks and Focus

One of the biggest barriers to having what you want is vagueness.  When something is vague it is overwhelming, scary, and unknown.  Getting clear on what each baby step task is is key to mapping out a do-able plan.  If your goal was to write a book and I said – get into action, write that book!  You’d gasp, feel overwhelmed, and give up after the initial surge of excitement.  If I told you to write for 15 minutes every day, you could probably do that.  It is clear, manageable, and measureable.  With clarity comes the ability to focus.  In my example, you could focus like crazy for 15 minutes to write. No phones, voicemail, pagers, email, twitter, etc.  If I told you to do it for 6 hours a day, well that would be less likely.

While initially you might think you’re not working “enough” to achieve your goals, trust me, small steps strung together are what gets it done.

You might say – this all sounds so constricting!  What about the creative process? I need to be free to create and wing-it and explore.  Yes you do… yet I say you need to follow this maxim:

Allow yourself to be in the creative process, think outside the box, have creative solutions… within the context of #2 above

[clickToTweet tweet=”Tap into the power of creative chaos. Designate a period of time & get fully creative. No holds barred. ” quote=”Tap into the power of creative chaos. Designate a period of time & get fully creative. No holds barred. “]

The stories of creative genius run amok are many.  We can all name creative genius who die too young or have totally messed up lives.  The end-game is to be creative AND live a fulfilling life.  So, to tap into the power of creative, yet contained chaos, designate a period of time or set of parameters in which you’ll get fully creative. No holds barred.  Then, when that period of time or activity is complete, come back to being grounded. Descend from the ethers of creation and ground down into the earth. The here and now.

With these few tips, you can let your creative best shine while also achieving goals you set consistently, quickly, and effortlessly.

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