16 Epic Tips That Will Help You Reach Your Goals

There is no doubt you want to reach your goals.

No point in making them if they’re not something that’s high on your most wanted list, right?

Of course, the absolute rule #1 for success is to really work on your goal.

(I know… it sounds tedious, harsh, and so unsexy – but it’s the only way…)

In light of that fact, most of the time persistence is what will eventually get you to reach your goals.

But how do you stay motivated on this, often long, journey?

Here are 16 tips that’ll help you get through the rough times and make sure you reach your goals’ finish line.

Reach your goals by having the right mindset

If you set a goal but feel skeptical about it right from the start, there’s a high chance you will not achieve it.

With this way of thinking, you’re actually preparing yourself for an unfavorable ending (a.k.a. a failure). 

Is this what you want for yourself?

Of course not!

Therefore, the first thing you should do is to believe in yourself and your ability to succeed.

And I mean really believe.

Develop the “I can do this” attitude.

Remember, no goal is out of reach, no matter how it may seem in the beginning.

Unless you want to be the first person who will truly live on Mars (or some other strange extreme), you’ll easily realize that there are other people who had the same goal and, yes – they achieved it. 

Use this knowledge as proof that it can be done. 

And I know what might have crossed your mind now. 

You may be thinking “yes, that’s true, but that person has a better background, or better starting point, more money, connections…”(or any other favorable possession that you believe you lack)

This gets me to another point, and that is…

Ditch excuses.

If you start following the excuses path, chances of reaching your goals will be slimmer and slimmer.

There are almost endless excuses you could make to justify why things aren’t working in your favor, so it’s very easy to go down this road, but guess what?

There are also many ways the same thing CAN be done, as well.

In a glass-half-empty Vs the glass-half-full way of thinking, choose option #2.

Look on the bright side and see what you can learn from any situation you might be in.

How can you overcome or bypass the obstacles?

Don’t let the circumstances take control of your belief in the power to succeed.

Learn to master your thoughts, time, and actions, because all of this is something you’re in charge of. 

And lastly, stay positive.

(and you can have a look at the list of my favorite inspirational quotes for a positive and happy life)

What applies to magnets doesn’t work here.

Positivity attracts positivity and negativity attracts negativity. 

When thinking positively, you’re opening yourself to creative ways of how you can solve a problem.

And we’re back to the start – you can do this.

Period.

Remember your why

A great motivator to stay persistent and reach your goals is revisiting your “why”.

From time to time, remind yourself what was the reason for choosing your goal.

Why you’ve decided to pursue that specific one over so many others?

Look for what lies deep behind it and why it matters to you.

You’ll often discover that the answer to this question will give you a very powerful reason to continue moving forward.

Get an accountability buddy

Nobody ever said you should torture yourself in solitude until you achieve your goal.

You’re not alone in life, and shouldn’t be alone on this journey, either.

Therefore, get an accountability buddy.

It should be the person with whom you can exchange ideas, talk about your achievements and obstacles, have brainstorming sessions, and most importantly, it should be someone who will really hear you out and motivate you.

Now think who that person might be.

It could be some member of your family, or a friend, a colleague.

You could also search online for groups with the same interest and find an accountability pal there.

You can even have a personal coach by your side to guide you along the way.

The bottom line – find a person who will support you and give you a necessary nudge in the right direction when things get tough.

(and p.s. you don’t have to choose only one person – the more support you have, the better!)

Make parts of your goal a habit

I’ve already mentioned the importance of persistence when it comes to your goal’s success.

However, persistence AND consistency is an amazing combination!

When you turn the parts of your goal into habits that you do on a daily basis, you can be sure you’re making the right steps each day to achieve your goal.

Therefore, think about what actions you can treat as habits.

Using a habit tracker for this purpose can help you turn those actions into habits and make your days more streamlined and efficient.

There are other benefits of using a habit tracker as well (check it out if you don’t believe me 😉 ), so if you’re not using one already, do give this simple method a try.

Track your achievements and progress

Some goals can seem too distant and in this process is easy to feel like you’re not getting a step closer to where you want to be.

But is it really so?

When you start doubting yourself and the progress you make, just taking a look at one piece of paper that keeps your achievements in one place can make a big difference.

Really big.

It’s your proof you’re doing a good job in black and white.

So if you haven’t created your achievement list from the start, make one right now.

(and while you’re in the process of making lists, see what are the 7 lists you should absolutely use for a balanced and content life)

Recharge yourself so you can reach your goals

Working day in and day out is exhausting.

(and this can happen to you if you want to achieve your goal in a record-breaking amount of time)

To keep yourself from burnout, every now and then make a pause to recharge yourself.

(and I don’t mean on energy drinks here!)

Do something completely different from the type of work you’re in to refresh yourself and get the balance back.

If you’re mostly sitting, go for a walk or do a little exercise.

If you’re mostly in a standing position or are working physically, sit and read a book or have a massage.

Or just go out and have some fun! 🙂

For a bit of time, distance yourself from working on your goal, and afterward, you’ll feel more motivated to continue with it.

Try out some of these self-care activities you can do to feel recharged throughout the day. What’s great is that each of these ideas can take less than 10-15 minutes of your time!

Be open to possibilities

There are often more ways than one to reach your goals.

Don’t force the same method if it doesn’t get you results anymore.

Whenever you catch yourself stuck in a situation like this, think about alternative methods you can use to accomplish what you started.

On the other hand, being open to possibilities also means accepting new opportunities as they come by and adjusting your course to these situations. 

This can make you feel like taking a fresh start (along with the excitement that follows along) as well as adding new experiences in your life and expanding your personal growth.

Make adjustments

We mostly start working on our goals with one plan in mind.

(or preferably, written in a planner)

Yet, sometimes the plan gets you to a certain point, but after that, it seems like you’re only tapping in one place.

This is the moment when you should take a pause, and evaluate and revise your goal.

(although this method is good to be used in any case)

To be clear, evaluation and revision of your goal don’t mean you gave up on it.

Instead, it enables you to fine-tune your goal along with actions you should do to achieve it.

This process will help you to figure out what works and what doesn’t.

Once you get a grasp of it, discard what doesn’t work anymore, look for alternatives, apply and test them – and you’re bound to reach your goals sooner or later.

Keep yourself inspired to reach your goals

To keep the motivation going there’s nothing better than staying inspired along the way.

There are a number of ways you can get the motivation back when you don’t feel as enthusiastic to proceed further.

You can pump yourself up by reading about people who inspire you and see how they’ve managed to accomplish what seemed impossible at the moment. 

You can also read books about the subject of your goal, and try to get some ideas from there, as well.

(what I found to be useful, especially if you’re reading a lot, is to keep a book journal. take a look and see what my 5 must-have journaling pages about books are) 

If you’re a creative type of person, you could make a vision board, and as a bonus, have fun in the process. 🙂

Don’t forget about the power of quotes.

(I’m so crazy about goals that I have a post with 100 quotes about goals that you can check out)

Once you find those that inspire you the most, make sure to place them everywhere around you.

Use them as your phone or computer background, place them in your planner, bullet journal, on your desk, walls…

Think about the ways you can add inspiration to your morning or evening routine and make it a part of it. 

This way you can be sure you’re getting your daily dose of optimism so you can keep moving forward in an unstoppable way.

Ask for advice or feedback

Be prepared, this might sound hard, but – you’re not the smartest person who knows everything.

And to be clear, nobody is.

(although everybody likes to think so about themselves from time to time 😉 )

Even if you’re an expert in some field, you can still learn something new and discover tips you didn’t know before.

There is one pretty straightforward way you can harvest this wisdom.

And that is – ask for other people’s advice or feedback about the matter you’re into – it’s not something to be embarrassed about.

Ask people who have already achieved the same goal you pursue now.

If you’re ambitious, you can even try to reach some big-time names in the industry.

Don’t think they’re untouchable or out of reach.

They are humans just like the rest of us, and surely remember what helped them along the way.

(in the worst-case scenario, you could be ignored and nothing more)

Also, don’t underestimate the “ordinary” people in your surroundings.

These are the people you share your life with (in one way or another) and know you as a person on many different levels.

Exactly because of that, they can give you truly valuable – and sometimes more holistic – advice.

Choose your focus

Chances are, your goal consists of many smaller parts. 

And all of those parts have to be fulfilled so you can triumphally proclaim “Goal achieved!”.

Instead of focusing on the end goal (which will probably make you feel pressured all the time, or feel like you’re not getting anywhere), switch to focusing on those smaller parts (and completing them).

It will make your actions more specific and clearly targeted, and since they’re quicker to achieve, you’ll easily track and see the progress you make.

Reach your goals by focusing on one thing at a time

Since we’re on the subject of focus, there’s another thing worth mentioning.

Sometimes less is more, and this is that case.

Once you choose your current focus, concentrate your efforts only on it and treat all the other pieces of your goal like they don’t exist.

If you don’t do this, there’s a high chance that somewhere along the way you’ll start working on another task that’s related to some other part of your goal.

And then on some other, and other…

(this is especially true if you’re already a fan of the “shiny object syndrome”)

At the end of the day (or a week, or a month) you’ll do all this work, but nothing will be fully completed.

This will make you feel exhausted (with every right!), scattered, and unsuccessful because, basically – no matter all you’ve done, everything is still there, waiting for you.

(not something inspiring to keep you going further!) 

My point – don’t do this to yourself!

After you set your focus, work on it until it’s completed.

Also, DO one thing at a time.

(although I’m taking a stand that multitasking is possible, it is only doable in specific scenarios – and this is not the case!)

Be prepared for things you don’t like

On a journey to reaching your goal, you will be faced with things you don’t like.

Sometimes, with A LOT of things you don’t like.

Things that you don’t like to do, or don’t like to happen to you.

I know this doesn’t sound very stimulating, but it’s the hard truth, and you should better mentally prepare for it because it’s simply unavoidable.

You know how it goes – the bigger the goal, the harder the path, and nobody said it will all be easy.

But remember, the end will be worth it.

So stop procrastinating and eat the frog.

You’ll be glad you did, once it’s over.

And who knows?!

Once you get the hang of it and make peace with the thing you resented at first, you might even start to like it!

You can’t have it all

Now, wait, WAIT!

Let me say what I mean by this.

(and you’ll see, it’s not as devastating as it sounds)

What I wanted to say is to acknowledge the fact that you can’t have it all at the same moment.

You can’t frequently eat the whole cake and expect to lose weight.

You can’t impulsively buy things you do and don’t need and expect to get out of debt.

You get the point…

Also, time has its limits, and there will be moments when you’ll have to work long and hard on your goal so you’ll not have much time for family or friends.

(well, at least not as long as you’d like)

Although technically you CAN do all of these things at the same moment, they will stretch your goal’s deadline to an indefinite period of time.

(which can be almost equivalent to never actually achieving it)

So what is the solution to this?

Just accept it and be ok with it.

You’re depriving of certain things now for a higher good in not so distant future.

Ask for (or get) some help

No matter what your goal is, there are people who can help you along.

(other than your accountability partner)

You can lift some weight off your shoulders if you let other people do certain parts of your goal or even some things that are not directly related to it.

If I’m not being clear, allow me to explain.

A lot of tasks can be outsourced these days. 

For example, being in a digital type of work, I have to say there are a number of tasks that can be delegated – starting from creating a website, SEO, marketing, social media management, various graphic design services, while there are also many types of virtual assistants and even blog post copywriters.

You could now say, “that’s great, but my goal is to lose weight, and that’s not something other people can do instead of me”.

You’re right – to a certain extent.

You see, people can help you with your goal even if it’s not directly related to them.

In this case, you could find a person who could give you delicious yet low-calory recipes, or somebody who knows what type of exercises will be the most effective in your particular case, or get a helping hand from someone who’ll do the household chores so you’ll have the time to visit the gym more often.

As you can see, some of these things are paying services, and maybe you can’t afford them at the moment, but there are also things people can and are willing to do for you for free and there is no reason why you shouldn’t use this opportunity (don’t forget to pay respect to them).

Reach your goals by celebrating milestones

To stay motivated on what can seem like a never-ending journey, you should adopt a practice to celebrate smaller milestones you reach along the way.

When you created a plan on how to achieve your goal, you probably already defined those smaller milestones.

(and if not, do discover them now!)

Therefore, the only thing you have to do is to think of ways you can treat yourself once you accomplish these small wins.

Now, this shouldn’t be a hard task, right? 😉

You can even make the “prizes” get bigger and bigger as you’re approaching your goal, so you’ll feel excited and more motivated to reach them.

And that’s it!

(phew, this was a long one!)

I hope at least some of these tips (if not all 😉 ) will help you to stay motivated and reach your goals.

Now, since my goal is to inspire, and motivate as many people as possible to become the best version of themselves and enjoy the life they’re living (quite ambitious, huh?), I have to ask for your help. 🙂

(it wouldn’t be right to ignore my own advice given here, right?)

Please, share this or any other of my blog posts on Pinterest (or some other online place of your choice) and help me spread the word.

Many thanks!

Pssst... Here are more related posts just for you, dear! 😉