Are you taking action on everything you desire?
Chances are, you have some areas that you want to see some growth in – relationships; hobbies; skills; business building. Some things may be best for a future time but perhaps you have a couple of ideas, projects or ventures that you really love thinking about doing but the doing part just isn’t happening. Or, maybe it’s not happening consistently.
If you are having difficulty achieving life goals it means you’ve got something to work through that is holding you back. No biggie though. It will just take a little time and better awareness. After you’ve overcome those challenges you’ll be much wiser and better able to adapt, adjust and learn quicker for the next ones. And you know there’s going to be more setbacks, hurdles and unknown obstacles because that’s what happens in life; it’s the purposeful life to face our challenges head on and be an overcomer!
Overcoming Challenges Makes a Better You
The first step in getting closer to achieving life goals is to acknowledge with certainty that you ARE going to gain great wisdom about yourself and your greater purpose by working through this issue. Think of it like a puzzle to solve and as long as you keep moving forward in a positive way you will get the big picture in the end. If you let frustration, anger or depression take control you’ll experience greater setbacks, lose focus on what matters, and see many different areas of your life suffer because of it. Especially some of your most important relationships (yep, speaking from personal experience).
Believe with unwavering faith that you are where you need to be right now and you’re only getting better!
The second step is to explore what is holding you back is to write, talk and pray (God is an excellent listener and He’s always at work around you). A support person to help you move forward is someone who will mostly just listen to you talk and encourage you to discover the best next steps for you. If you don’t have someone in your life that you feel comfortable talking to, you can get the help of a professional life coach (like me). If you don’t want to pursue a coaching relationship because of finances or your preference then some mindful journaling will still be very effective in helping you identify how to change your habits to be more successful.
The third step is to set small achievable goals that are related to moving forward with your dreams and desires. Don’t overachieve just yet! Ease into getting stuff done and make goals that seem like they are almost too insignificant to write down. And yes, you need to write them down. Get a book, an app or a big poster board taped to your wall where you can write and review what you plan to do and what you’ve done. You’re looking for lots of small wins in moving forward to encourage your motivation. So, make little tasks that aren’t too time-intensive but still move you toward achieving those life goals.
That’s it. Notice how you don’t actually need to discover why you’re not getting done what you want to do. You may come across some good reasons in your journaling or while talking it out with a trusted friend, but your focus should not be to figure out what has caused you setbacks. Maybe you already know that, or have an idea of what unhelpful habits are keeping you stuck. It’s not bad to have a revelation about the psychological rut you’ve fallen into. Just don’t make it your focus.
What you focus on grows. Focus on your dreams, your aspirations and achieving your life goals and you will see growth and opportunity. But, if you focus on the drama, the setbacks or the personal issues that are holding you back then you will also grow in those areas.
Always be learning . . . learning new skills, better habits and more about the meaningful, purposeful life you are meant to live.
Written by Steph Morrison
Steph has been building businesses, mostly from home, for over 10 years, motivated by her strong determination that her two youngest boys would be educated at home. Pursuing her calling to help parents enjoy the responsibility of educating their children, she works in the marketing department of The Old Schoolhouse®, and coaches and trains entrepreneurs to start and grow their business from home. Her and her family are perfectly placed in the prairies of Saskatchewan, Canada. She loves being a homebody and building up her permaculture property. Learn more about Steph at the About Steph page.
