Setting goals is easy. Achieving them, well… that’s another story.

For a lot of entrepreneurs, goal setting is the easy part. It’s taking the actions that get you to your goals that can be a challenge. So here’s a tip:

DEVELOP ROUTINES THAT SUPPORT YOUR GOALS.

Let’s break it down:

If your goal is a steady stream of client work, you need to make consistently selling part of your routine.

If your goal is getting up earlier, you need to make going to bed earlier part of your routine.

If your goal is to master a new skill, you need to make learning and practicing that skill part of your routine.

Quick story:

At the beginning of the year, I decided to create a food prep routine to support my goal of eating at least one serving of fruits and vegetables with each meal. I decided Sunday evening would be THEE time.

But that first Sunday rolled around and y’all, I did NOT feel like chopping kale. I was already on the couch, I’d finished my weekly planning, and getting off my butt to do Yet Another Thing was just…tew much.

So I decided to trick myself: I added food prep to to the end of my grocery pickup routine.

It worked! Adding to a current, already established habit was much easier: the necessary tools were out, I was already in the kitchen, and it felt like a natural flow from one task to the next.

Doing something 80% of the time instead of 0% of the time is a TRIUMPH.

A few tips for developing new routines:

1. START SMALL

Set aside 5-10 minutes at the beginning. Your goal is to establish the habit of starting The Thing, not necessarily finishing it. All you need to focus on at first is showing up.

2. BEGIN WITH THE BASICS

Take time to figure out how to set things up, which tools to use, and the best way for YOU to do things. Be patient with yourself the way you’d be patient with anyone learning something new.

3. ADD TO A CURRENT ROUTINE

You can gradually add more steps to a current routine if there’s a natural flow from one task to the next. Atomic Habits calls this “habit-stacking”.

The more easily your new routine fits into your current lifestyle, the easier it will be to stick to. See story above.

4. TAKE YOUR GOALS SERIOUSLY

For me that means putting things on my calendar; for you it may mean hiring a coach, taking a course, or working with an accountability partner.

5. DON’T EXPECT PERFECTION

You WILL mess up or miss a day (or five). That’s OK, life happens. Don’t give up completely because you missed a day/session/meeting. I like to shoot for 80% completion—hey, a C is a passing grade. Doing something 80% of the time vs. 0% of the time is a TRIUMPH.

Once you master creating routines to help you achieve your goals, you’ll easily make progress on anything you want to do.

If you need help figuring out which routines will help you reach your goals and how to break them down into small, actionable pieces you’ll actually DO, contact me and I’ll help you get the ball rolling.

Need help taking that first step?

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