You may have made plans at the beginning of the year and still be finding it difficult to begin. Wherever you are in the year, you can review what matters and choose a manageable next step.
Every New Year we make our most secret wishes and write down plans for our wishes, but they do not always come true, many remain on paper and are postponed from year to year. Why does this happen and how can you stop putting things off for later and finally make your plans come true? How can you move from the state of yourself putting things off for later to the state of an actor and executor of your wishes and dreams?
I offer you a list of several extremely important steps that will help you move into the state of realizing your dreams!
1. Create a list of your desires, but not the usual way of “simple uploading”. We take an A4 sheet of paper and divide it into 2 parts (2 columns): 1 – what gives you feelings of joy, pleasure and 2 – what needs to be done this year. And here, in each column, we begin to upload our desires for ourselves. For example, to lose 3 kg, learn a programming language, take a course, start running, etc. It is important to formulate the necessary tasks for execution into a specific positive and tangible, measurable goal for you, when you think about it, and already imagine yourself in a new image, and in new sensations. For example, what will you be like, having lost 3-5 kg? Imagine yourself already running and experiencing pleasure from the result, joy from the sensations in the body and yourself in this process.
2. Detail your desires: you have written down your desires for yourself, you understand what is really important for you to achieve. But how can you now find a direct path to these goals? Often, the desire to put things off for later is due to the simple lack of an action plan, and fear, as we know, has “big eyes”! A big goal is frightening in itself. Ignorance and uncertainty about the process frighten us, no matter how motivating the goal itself is. That is why there is a desire to put off the task for later, continuing to put it off further. It is necessary to break the big goal into specific and real sub-goals and time periods. Then each sub-stage will seem not so scary, but even quite achievable! And return to this point 2 in those moments when you realize that you are procrastinating or “dumping your goal” for later! As a result, we should get a list of desires, under each of which a simple and clear plan of several steps is made on how to implement what was planned for this year!
3. Set deadlines for yourself to implement your plan with sub-stages. Not everyone may like this point, but it is important, because now we set real deadlines for ourselves to implement our plan. Someone may say that it is very difficult to plan these days, but timeframes are exactly what we can set and control ourselves, this is the control that depends on us. And if something goes wrong, you ask? We adjust the old ones. We set new ones that are real and tangible for ourselves. And we move on, implementing our own plan. Constant movement, without stopping. Plans change, we change, and we create new ones again. The planning stage is already a motivational stage in itself, giving energy for inspiration and structuring what needs to be implemented in life!
4. Take the first step from the list. Do it right now. Do the next step within the next 24 hours, and so on, plan steps for 7 days. Make a plan every week and implement it. It is also important to remember our own internal defense mechanism, which does not want to let us out of our own comfort zone and conditional safety. Ahead is the unknown and possible dangers, and here is comfort and everything is familiar, sometimes, however, to the point of nausea. Therefore, the condition of constant new action and “a new try of the pen” every 24 hours helps our anxious mind to calm down and see that everything is going according to plan and everything is fine. There is nothing to be afraid of anymore.
5. Review your choice without blaming yourself. You may decide to continue, reduce the size of a goal, seek support or choose a different direction. Difficulty starting is not simply a lack of willpower. Ask what is getting in the way and what would make the next step realistic.
6. Plan for 1-2 failures along the way - sometimes you won't be able to do everything and not everything will be easy, maybe sometimes you won't even want to get out of bed. But...
7. As the famous proverb says: sow a thought - reap an action, sow an action - reap a habit, sow a habit - reap a character, sow a character - reap a destiny! Even small actions performed regularly every 24 hours will help you believe that everything is possible, there is nothing to be afraid of, it is important to just continue moving forward towards your goals! Then you will succeed!