Once it’s that time of year again when autumn rolls around, some of us get excited for that fresh new academic-year-feeling that reminds you of when you were at school. You know the one where you go out and buy all new pens, pencils and other stationery, feeling inspired to give the last quarter or the year everything you’ve got. With pumpkin spiced lattes on the horizon, autumn leaves and cosy knits, what’s not to love?! Added to that, autumn is officially Harry Potter season among Pottermore fans worldwide, so it’s time to re-watch all of the films and curl up to read the the entire 7-book series, starting with the first and its famous opening line: “Mr. and Mrs. Dursley of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.”

On the other hand, some of you might be filled with uncertainty and disappointment that the year is drawing to a close and you’ve not achieved everything you set out to achieve. Those goals you set yourself at the beginning of the year are as well and truly gone as the Christmas pudding you polished off on Boxing Day. Your motivation to stick to Dry January was going well until you convinced yourself that the red wine was a multifaceted, more economical, mood-boosting solution to the cold weather, dark nights, high heating costs and not having any holiday booked for the foreseeable! 

Whichever way you view autumn and this coming chapter of the year, there is always time to reverse bad habits and get back on track. Although adequate planning and preparation is important when achieving your goals and holds more guarantee that you’ll accomplish what you set out to do, it’s never too late to start something new or to acquire new, positive habits. Provided that you have the desire to reach your goals and apply the right strategies to do so, there’s no reason why you can’t finish the year strong and smash those New Year’s Resolutions by the end of the year!

Why Biggest Mistakes People Make When Setting Goals

The New Year isn’t always the best time to set yourself new goals and here’s why:

• You might feel forced to set goals for the year, which therefore results in you setting targets that you aren’t passionate about reaching. Maybe you feel that because everyone else is setting ambitious new goals, you need to be doing the same. It’s better to focus on watering your own grass and paying attention to what you really, really want to achieve, rather than following the crowd. 
• At the start of a brand new year you have the whole year ahead of your - 12 months, 365 days - that’s a lot of time and surely, more than enough to conquer your goals. This is why our initial plans at the beginning of the year don’t always go according to plan. If we’re not tracking our progress to ensure we reach targets and are moving closer to where we want to be, we don’t end up getting there! A goal that isn’t measured or tracked rarely becomes a reality. 
• Sometimes, keeping up a new habit can seem more daunting at the beginning of the year because we have so much time in front of us and that can feel overwhelming. Instead of trying to comprehend the entire year as one, consider breaking it down into manageable periods, either by week, month, or quarter.

3 Easy Steps to Getting Stuff Done and Reaching Your Goals

There are so many amazing resources out there, which go into great detail about goal setting and how to achieve them. However, if you want an easy-to-understand, humble view on how to get stuff done then we’ve digested the lessons we’ve learned into 3 easy and manageable steps.

Set Yourself Manageable Goals

When setting goals, make sure you’re realistic in what you can achieve and by when. If you’re serious about accomplishing a certain task or reaching a milestone then you must also add an end date. Let’s say for example that you want to earn £10, 000 in the next month. The deadline must be stated when writing down your goals so that you can measure your progress and stay on track. Chances are that you will earn £10k at some point during your life, but in order to see that £10, 000 sitting in your bank account as one lump sum, you need to have an end date in mind. Once you’ve set your goals and given each deadlines, you then need to figure out what you need to do each and every day to get closer to ticking them off your list. So again, going back to this goal of earning an extra £10, 000 in 30 days, you need to work out what you need to sell or how many hours you need to work each day, how many new client sign-ups you will need to reach this figure. 

Check Back on Your Goals Every Day!

After you’ve set yourself goals, make sure you check back on them every day! This might sound quite obsessive but how do you know that you’re on track if you don’t remind yourself what you want to achieve? It’s easy to forget about the goals you set yourself, which is why it’s important to keep referring back to them to make sure you’re still doing all you can to reach those targets. You might find that what you’re doing isn’t really working or that there no longer important to you, in which case it’s a good idea to switch up your goal - in order to keep you motivated and striving for something, or change your strategy if you’re current plan of action isn’t getting you the results you want. 

Track Your Progress

Finally - track your progress! Tracking your progress might sound daunting if you feel like you’re a million miles away from achieving your goals and that’s how we get out of putting in the hard work. On the other hand, it’s important to track progress because if we’re not getting closer to where we want to be, clearly we’re doing something wrong or not doing enough. The trick here is to make it fun. Use a habit tracker or a Bullet Journal to make habit tracking and charting progress enjoyable. Once you make tracking your progress more enjoyable and rewarding, you’ll want to do more to achieve your goals in order to log your results.