How to Easily Reach Your Goals
The more specific you are with your goals, the more likely you’ll reach them.
In my last article, I wrote about why identity-based habits are better than outcome habits at helping you accomplish what you want.
I went on to briefly explain why starting small is ideal with the info-graphic below. As you can see, by taking small actions and getting specific, you’re more likely to get things done and as a result, you’re closer to your goal.
By breaking down the steps that need to be taken to get to where you want to get, you make it easier. How could making things easier not work? It’s the idea of not feeling overwhelmed.
We tend to create these big, grand goals but then are left empty without a plan. So we make a plan but our plan consists of to-do’s that are too broad and not helpful enough. In the words of BJ Fogg, author of Tiny Habits, you need to “take baby steps.”
By taking baby steps, not only is it easier but you’re more clear on what to do because of the specificity of that step. This clear, easy picture results in you staying consistent and as most of us know, consistency is key. But people have a hard time creating that consistency because they’re missing that piece of the puzzle which as you just learned is taking baby steps.
This leads me to the different mindsets that will be better at taking baby steps which are growth and fixed mindsets. The former will be better at taking these smaller steps because growth mindsets are all about learning and being open since they don’t have an ego stopping them. On the other hand, fixed mindsets tend to think all or nothing where if things don’t go their way as fast as they want them to go, then they move on to the next plan because their ego is more alive than of a growth mindset. This turns into an exhausting cycle that essentially gets them nowhere.
Before you get ahead of yourself and think “I don’t have the patience to take baby steps, though,” try to learn what kind of mindset you usually have, and maybe, you can put those doubts away for good and finally take control of your journey. Plus, the fact that you doubt yourself because you think you’re not the type of person to be patient and take baby steps, says a lot about how you’re approaching your plan. In this case, you’re using outcome-based habits instead of identity-based.
In my last article, Use Identity-Based Habits to Reach Your Goals, I go over how it’s important to establish the identity first then a process, and then the outcome will happen. When you do the opposite-outcome then process then identity is established-you can come across some self-sabotaging because the tasks that need to be done don’t align with who you think you are. So you give up. By determining you are that type of person first (identity-based habits) you’re more willing to do those tasks on top of making them easier to do by using baby steps.
Your Environment
Taking baby steps is just one way to break down the habits you need to obtain goals. Another one is creating the right environment. Both BJ Fogg and James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, insist on this strategy to accomplish habits with little effort. By creating an environment that aligns with what you’re trying to do, you’re more likely to do it because it’s more accessible. For example, if you plan to cook dinner after work, then you will have a better chance of doing it if you stop by the grocery store after work. So how can you guarantee you’ll actually stop by the store? By taking the route that leads you to the store. That is creating an environment aligning with what you are trying to do. Let’s say your bigger goal is to learn how to cook. As a result of acting on these tasks above, you’re getting closer to the goal of learning how to cook and even better, someone who cooks (identity-based). The outcome will make the appearance eventually but you have to work on the process first with the help of establishing your identity.
There is obviously so much that goes into forming the right habits to reach your goals but the more you study these strategies, the more ingrained they will become, and the less overwhelming you will feel during the process. I highly suggest reading Atomic Habits by James Clear and Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg to get into more detail on how the process works.
