We all know how to set goals that excite us. And I can bet you have quite a few in front of you right now.
We also know that there’s a space in between setting and achieving.
That space consists of the actions we take.
During the first days or weeks, taking action can be easy because everything is still new and exciting.
However, once life, fears and/or the unknowns start to come in, the excitement can wear off.
I call this the week two dip and have seen this happen in multiple areas of both business and life for both myself and the women I support.
Whether it’s a new course that was purchased, a workout program that was started or a new habit that is being developed… it all starts off strong until the two week dip.
With this awareness, there comes a choice.
We can beat ourselves up for not being “disciplined enough” or “able to follow through” and look for external motivation or learn how to find our own internal motivation to get us to the finish line.
I call this concept intentional discipline and first introduced it to the women in The Collective in 2019 because I was seeing just how much this has helped me to achieve my goals and wanted them to be able to incorporate this into their businesses and lives as well.
It not only worked but allowed achieving goals to be more fun and exciting.
And this is why I want to bring this to you as well.
Creating Your Personal Action (and Distraction) Plan to Follow Through On Your Goals
All goals are achieved through small actions over time. They can also be derailed by small actions over time.
Let’s address both of these first.
I personally like to write everything below on an index card so that it can be front and center in my office. However, you can choose to list the following in whatever way keeps it front and center for you.
- 1: Select the goal
This is the easy one because you already know the goals you want to achieve in your business.
No overthinking allowed. Simply pick one of the goals you have on your list for this quarter in business so you can get a feel for how it works.
This will be listed at the top of the page/index card.
- 2: Identify the actions that show you’re on track.
What are at least five actions that support that goal the most?
The truth is, you know what you need to do, you’re typically just not trusting yourself.
Write down what first comes to mind on the left side of the page/index card. Again, no overthinking.
EXAMPLE: Let’s say your goal is to earn an additional $60K this quarter. If you’ve hit that goal or not in the past is irrelevant because we’re simply focused on the actions that support that. This could be 1) Launch my scalable offer 2) Sell at least 3X a week on social 3) Collaborate with others who have a similar audience for more leads, etc.
If you are truly stumped on what actions you can take, because you’ve set a goal you haven’t achieved yet, take a look at someone who has already hit that goal. What consistent actions are they taking? Success always leaves clues. - 3: Identify the actions that show you’re off track.
What are at least five actions that take you away from that goal?
This is when you need to get honest with yourself and the things you do that take you away from your goal. The busy work, the procrastination tendencies, etc.
These are your personal “red flags” that signal that you’re off track.
Write down what first comes to mind on the right side of the page/index card.
EXAMPLE: We’ll use the same goal of earning another $60k this quarter. Some actions that signal you’re off course could be 1) Not showing up on social for more than three days 2) Spending more than twenty minutes in Canva. 3) Booking another 1:1 client and then not having time, etc.
The reason I like having this on paper and front and center, is because this will allow me to identify what both supports and doesn’t support my goal.
And when I see that I’m doing an action that takes me away from my goal, I can tap into the personal motivation factor to bring back my focus.
What’s your personal motivation factor? Read on!
Creating Your Personal Motivation Factor to Follow Through On Your Goals
This is where it gets really fun!
There are four key areas that every person is internally motivated by and we’re going to leverage them to support you.
As you read through the four factors below, think about the specific goal you’ve identified.
This is important because your motivation factor can change, depending on the goal (e.g. I can be motivated by money for one goal and motivated by a cause for a different goal).
- Personal Motivation Factor 1: Money
This is when you pay to stay on track to this goal.
If you’re someone who’s motivated by money, you’ll pay to keep yourself away from the actions that take you away from your goal.
Essentially, you’re putting your money where your mouth is.
Examples of this could be:- Hiring a coach at an investment that stretches you, knowing that you’ll show up and do the work and/or that they will keep you accountable for doing so.
- Telling a friend that you will donate a certain amount to a cause you do not believe in, if you don’t take certain actions by a certain period of time.
- Hiring team members that will cause you to rise up in that area as someone is being paid to support you in it.
- Personal Motivation Factor 2: Accountability
This is when you are accountable to someone other than yourself to stay on track.
Examples of this could be:- Working with a coach and/or asking a friend who is aware of your goal and will check in to make sure you are still on track.
- Sharing your goal publicly, to those who follow you, and sharing the progress towards that goal along the way. (e.g. “My new program will be starting March 1st!” and then doing the work behind the scenes to stay true to what you said by sharing the development of it along the way.)
- Letting your team know about your goal and giving them permission to remind you of it and/or call out when they see any of the actions you’ve listed as ones that take you away from that goal happening.
- Personal Motivation Factor 3: Rewards
Love to treat yourself? Great, use it to your advantage!
Rewards can be experiences and/or actual physical items that spark enough joy to keep you in a place of action that supports your goals.
Important note: If you are motivated by rewards, keep your timelines short so that you can reward yourself often as you move along. This will help you keep momentum going instead of feeling like everything you want is too far away.
Examples of this could be:- If you’re a foodie, you can reward yourself with trying a new restaurant, after taking actions that aligns with your goals for a set period of time.
- For every new sale, you can put a certain amount of money away towards a vacation you’ve been wanting to take.
- Create an Amazon wish list for yourself and purchase one item at a time, when you’ve completed certain actions for a set period of time and/or those actions have resulted in a certain win.
- Personal Motivation Factor 4: A Cause
You may have one or multiple causes you believe in and use your business to support.
In what way do those causes suffer by you not showing up with the actions that support your goal?
If your business isn’t making money because you’re not taking the actions needed, it might be impacting the lives of people and not in the way you would like it to. This could be because they’re not getting the support, money, or other resources that you are able to provide, through your actions.
Examples of this could be:- Committing to donating a certain percentage of your sales to a cause of choice at the end of the month.
- Donating a set amount of each new sale to a cause of choice so that you can donate all throughout the month.
- Taking a few minutes to write out or think about why this cause matters, before taking the action you need to take that will, in turn, support this cause in a bigger way.
When you look at the goal you’ve identified, what personal motivation factor speaks to you?
If you need to, reflect back at your past and see what has helped to drive you in a similar area to show up and take action.
This is what you need to implement for yourself before doing anything else as this is what’s going to motivate you to take action during the inevitable dips that will come up in the journey.
Thus, making the goal you’ve set for yourself non-negotiable as you have a plan for both the days that are easy to show up for as well as the days that aren’t.
And that is how you WIN!
What Goal and Motivation Factor Are You Focusing On First?
I’d love to hear it! Head on over to Instagram and let me know in the DMs, along with what personal motivation factor you’re using to make it happen?