Do you remember the start of the New Year, and all of those shiny new goals and resolutions that you made? How are you coming along? Have you achieved everything that you set out to do this year, or did you hit some distractions or even roadblocks along the way? Perhaps you were focussed at the start of the year and just lost your sense of direction as the days and weeks began to pile up. Maybe as time passed you came to realise that some of your goals needed fine tuning or complete reworking.
The good news is that regardless of what’s happened, if you’ve not achieved everything that you set out to at the start of the year, you still have a little over three months left to do great things and make 2014 one of your best years, on both a personal and professional level!
The following steps can help you make progress on your goals and get back on track to make 2014 your best year yet!
Review Your Situation and Goals and Set Your Intentions
Before you decide what goals you are going to focus your efforts on for the rest of the year, it’s important to take some time to look over the goals that you originally made. A good way to get started is to ask yourself the following questions:
- How much progress have you really made towards your original goals?
- What are the obstacles that are preventing you from completing your goals?
- Do you still want to complete this goal or has something changed so that the goal is no longer relevant?
If you truly want to make progress and get things done, it’s important that you are really honest with yourself during this review process. It’s also helpful to write down your thoughts during the review process and create an actual list of what you want to achieve in the remaining months of the year.
When creating your list, focus on creating new goals or renewing existing goals in the areas of your personal and professional life that you want to improve and that are in line with your personal values.
Map Out the Steps You Need to Make Progress and Achieve Your Goals
Think carefully about each goal that you have written down and committed to for the rest of the year. As you go through your list, making notes in the following areas will help you to see more clearly what actions you need to take to accomplish your goals.
- Make notes about the resources that you have available to help you complete each goal, as well as the obstacles that are be holding you back.
- If there are certain resources that you will need to complete your goals, think about how you can obtain these resources, and include these plans in your list.
- Think about what is holding your back from completing your goal and what steps you could take to remove or work around these obstacles and include this on your list as well.
- Carefully consider what steps you will need to achieve each of these goals, and then write out each step that you will take to achieve your goal.
Take Action
Now that you know what you want to accomplish, and have a plan to get there, what are you waiting for? Take action now! Focus each day on implementing each step of your plan. When difficulties arise, remain calm and continue to follow the steps in your plan. Before you know it, the end of the year will be here – so be bold and don’t be afraid to take the steps that you must to make this your best year!
