• James Walton

A Simple Method to Accomplish Your Goals

If you establish a goal, it's best to write it down.

And if you write it down, it's best to track its progress over time.

And if you track it, it's best to keep the tracking method simple.


Here's a simple method:


Take a piece of paper (a page of Moleskine notebook works perfectly) and create a grid 31 columns across and 2 or 3 rows down. Number the columns - these are the days of the month. It'll look like this:

Choose 2 or 3 goals - no more! - to measure this month. Write them below your grid.


To make sure your goals are measurable, imagine the behavior had to be recorded on video to count. "Eating healthy" is a non-measurable concept, but "eating 800 grams of vegetables each day" is a measurable behavior.

What you're tracking in this chart is whether you accomplished that behavior that day. Simply write a "Y" or a "N" in each box to track your behavior each day.


A few things I've learned after practicing this method for several months:

1. Start slow and build. Two goals is plenty. Six goals is a recipe for disappointment.

2. Record without judgment. Simply observe yourself and your behaviors and write them down. Don't let a "N" send you into a spiral of self-doubt and anxiety.

3. Tally your progress at month's end to create a completion percentage. The first month I tracked my two behaviors, I completed them 53% and 77% of the time. The second month, I kept working on those same two goals, and my completion percentage increased to 84% and 94% of the time.


Achieving your resolutions can be done if you keep it simple and measurable.


Stay patient with yourself. Your goals are attainable. And if you put this into practice, you'll know when you've achieved them.



 

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