5 Steps To Achieving Your Goals

Without setting yourself goals, how can you grow? I always have to be thinking ahead, trying to figure out what my next move is and how I'll achieve it. I'm quite organised in this sense, if I don't have everything written down I feel like I've no control of my life, so everything is written, events, appointments, my goals and how I'll achieve them. So without rambling on, here are my five steps to achieving your goals!

1. Planning and Organisation

The first step is a given but must be done with effort. In order to even think of achieving a goal you have to make a goal, so I suggest getting a notebook and titling the first page "Goals" or "Monthly Goals" or "2018 Goals", write them all, the big and the small. So be organised, make it clear on the page and even add a cute little box at the end for you to tick off when completed.

To plan your goals, you'll need to sit down and think to yourself, "where do I want to be next month?" (In terms of school/ college work, in terms of your job, in terms of your exercise plan etc). You can also ask yourself the same question, however changing it ever so slightly, "Where do I want to be next year?". I asked myself this question about a year and a half ago, my response? I want to be in Italy working. Where am I now? Working in Italy.

If you are not organised or serious about your goals then I advise not to be half-hearted about the situation. If you really want it, you can do it. As well as this, make sure you plan plan plan, have everything laid out in front of you, your weekly, monthly and yearly goals. Remember: no goal is small enough and no goal is big enough.

2. Research

Next step, after making a list of what goals you want to achieve, is to research how you can get what you want done. I'll give you my example, I researched many possibilities for working in Italy, I had the choice between doing the ELA Scheme with the Irish and Italian Department of Education, buy a TELF course, study, and hope to find a job through there, or find a job in an English camp for children.

Realistically the best bet for me was the ELA Scheme and I kept that as my plan A, the other two were B and C. So if you have a goal make sure there are many routes into obtaining and achieving said goal. You know what I did do? I bought that 180 hour TEFL Course and I'm currently awaiting my final results. Although I have a job here teaching English, I am covered if anything were to go wrong, I'll still have a certificate to teach English in foreign countries (Plan B).

Make sure you have maximum three or four roads to your goal. If one fails, you can fall back on the next road. Trust me, I've seen it happen to many people, and as they never did research, they just gave up and the one goal they wanted to achieve was gone.

Here's an example for my younger readers: You are sitting your Leaving Cert and your goal is to get Nursing in University. If you don't know the back-roads to nursing and you don't get enough points in your Leaving Cert for it, what are you going to do? Always have a backup plan and you will always achieve your goals.

3. Determination

This step is really key to staying on top of your goals. Like I said earlier, there's no point being half-hearted in the process of goal completion. You need to be determined and focused on smashing it. As they say "you need to be in it to win it", if you are not constantly working towards achieving your goals, why bother? I know that's pretty blunt, but of you really want it, you need to be 100% determined that you will try to get sh*t done. If all fails, at least you'll know you gave it your heart, resulting in no regrets. Sometimes we only have one shot, e.g. college exams, ideal work promotion, dream job interview etc. So when you say you want it, mean it, or it won't happen.

4. "The Secret"

This step may not be for everybody, depending on your belief system, but I have tried this method and with my personal experience of following the rules of 'The Secret', it has never failed me. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, 'The Secret' is a book, written by Rhonda Byrne where she discusses how you can have anything in the world if you manifest it into your daily life. You should always use positive affirmations as if to say you already have that dream job, or you already got that promotion, or you got 600 points in your Leaving Cert. Live as if you already hold what you want in your hand. If you firmly believe that you'll have what you want, it'll happen. If you send positivity into the universe you'll receive positivity, if you send negativity into the universe, you will receive negativity.

As I was waiting to hear if I got my job in Italy, I spoke about it as if I already had it, I genuinely believed that I would get the job. How mad is that? I knew I would get it and I told myself everyday that I had it. Low and behold, I am now entering my sixth month working here. Believe and you'll receive!

5. Don't Stop

Having a goal you deem to be life changing can be very time consuming, you may be working towards this goal for a few months/years and, every so often the pressure and stress can accumulate leaving you to think "why bother", believe me everyone goes through periods like this, however, if you keep the end goal in your mind it'll get you through it.

If you find yourself stuck in a rut, losing all hope, go back to the dryawing board and begin to think of new ways to achieve your goal, new ways you may have never thought about before. It's like a breath of fresh air and it'll get you back on track.

If plan A falls through, and also plan B, don't stop, keep pushing, keep researching other ways of getting your goal in plain sight. By failing we learn and if you stop, you'll never get what you dream of.