So without any further ado, let’s get started:

Why can’t some people achieve their goals?

• Not specific enough
• No deadline
• No way of incorporating it in their routine
• Not a priority
• Not attainable
• Not measurable 
• No motivation

These may be some of the reasons why you are not able to achieve your goals. You need to figure out what is keeping you from achieving these goals.

How can you really achieve your goals?

Step 1: Identify what type of person you are right now

Before you dive into the meat of how to achieve goals, you have to figure out your starting point which is who you are right now. Try to identify what type of person you are in 5 different aspects in your life e.g. family, friends, career/education, hobbies/spirituality and health. Be quite detailed on this and this will assist you on reflecting who you are right now and give you direction to your goals. For example, you may realise in terms of health, that you may be exercising very little.

Step 2: Identify who you want to become

After realising who you are as a person, you now want to start thinking about your dream life and the exact person you want to be. Again, make a table or create a vision board and write what your ‘dream identity’ would be doing on each of those 5 aspects you focused on earlier. You may start to really discover those things that you want to do. For example, your ‘dream identity’ might be exercising at least once a week in the ‘health’ aspect.  

Step 3: Write specific steps on each aspect

By doing the previous step, you now know how you want to be in each aspect of your life. It is now time to break down each step. For example, in your ‘health’ aspect of your table or vision board, you may have said that you want to exercise once a week. Now you really want to ask yourself the following questions: What type of exercise will you do? What time of the day will you do this? Do you need to buy a gym membership? How long will you exercise? Answer these questions.

Step 4: Break it down

Now that you know all the details of every small statement on each aspect of your ‘dream identity’, you can start to really take those steps to ensure that you fulfill these goals. For example, if you want to treadmill at the gym once a week, get yourself a gym membership as soon as possible.

Step 5: Incorporate it into your to do lists and/or habit tracker

You have paid for your gym membership. You know all the steps to go and exercise so go ahead and write down your first day of ‘exercise’ in your planning system or to-do list where you plan every day. If you want to gym every Sunday for one hour, add it to every Sunday of your academic yearly planner or bullet journal. You could also add it to your habit tracker.

Step 6: Don’t focus on the outcome. It is a system and a lifestyle change, not a temporary goal.

When writing it on your to-do list for the month, remember that this is not something that you will stop after a certain period. It is a lifestyle change. If you plan to exercise once a week, it is something you may want to do for the rest of your life. So enjoy the journey when you exercise every time and don’t necessarily focus on the outcome.

Step 7: Consistency.

The last step is extremely important. You need to pick yourself up in the days where you feel like to break out of that ‘dream identity’. Embody that ‘dream identity’ every day and whenever you don’t feel like going and doing something, ask yourself what your ‘dream identity’ would be doing. Don’t make it a dream anymore, make it a reality, Be consistent.

Those were some of the ways that you can fulfill your goals. Follow this step-by-step guide and this may help you to really achieve your goals and make it a reality in 2021.

What is your number 1 goal for 2021? Comment down below.

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Thank you for reading, and have a lovely day!

Well, there is no need to sulk because, in today’s article of the month, I will be sharing ten things that you can do before the New Year to have that refreshing feeling, but hopefully also one step closer to achieving your goals. 

These tips are subjective and it is your choice on whether to follow them or not :). 

Plan your New Year’s Resolutions

Okay, I know that some people are probably fed up of setting themselves New Year’s Resolutions and failing to complete them within the first week of the new year. However, remember to never give up and keep going. A great example of this is my sister who despite having gone through most of this year, she still managed to lose weight on the last few months which was one of her goals. 

One tip is to give yourself small achievable goals for each big resolution and set yourself up to three or four resolutions.

Organise your room

If your room is looking a bit like an old bird’s nest, it is time for you to clean up.

Cleaning helps to not only make you feel fresh and organised for the year, but it also helps to declutter your room.

What’s more, you can also add some new room decor to give a new vibe to your room.

Spend time with your family

Throughout the year, you may have been quite busy with ongoing tasks. Now that the year is ending, I think it is the best time to reflect on your year and rejuvenate by having a good old chat with your family about anything and everything.

Ask for forgiveness

Starting a new year is like planting a brand new farm ready to grow new trees of memories. If you don’t want that old weed to be stuck in your farm, I would recommend that you forgive people who have wronged you to get that feeling out of your chest and ask for forgiveness to start the new year with healthy good relationships.

You could also eliminate toxic people from your life to begin a year of positivity.

Do one random act of kindness

Being kind gives peace to your soul.

Therefore, do as many random acts of kindness to have that feeling of warmth and happiness in your soul from remembering the person’s smile that you helped. Trust me when I say that it will make you feel good inside.

Set up a planning system that works for you 

Realised that you were quite disorganised this year and drowning in cramming or last-minute work stress?

Not to fear, maybe the solution is to plan efficiently and write to-do lists. Set up a planning system where you will keep track of your activities and write to-do lists. Some examples are bullet journaling, a pre-made academic diary, a simple notebook or even a digital app. Set it up to be motivated to start using it.

Envision yourself in a year

Imagine yourself in a year. Even if there isn’t a drastic difference, you should want to improve yourself as a person internally and externally. Set a few goals of who you want to be and keep them realistic. You could also make a vision board or make a word of the year.

Complete any unfinished projects

If you had any ongoing projects throughout the year, then it is possibly time for you to complete them. For example, maybe you were saving for a bag and after you saved, you never got around to buying the bag. You can now complete that task. 

Reflect on this year

As well as preparing for this year, you must also reflect on this year. What were the positives and negatives? How can you improve? As I always say, there is always room for improvement.

Write a letter to yourself to read for next year at that same time 

This is like a time capsule. Write a personal letter to yourself to read next year. For example, if you write about the whole year on 31st December, keep that letter and don’t read it until next year’s 31st December. It is exciting, personal and fun!

These were ten things that I think everyone should do before the new year. It is your choice if you want to follow these or not and if this list looks a bit overwhelming, don’t worry, it is actually fun! Make sure to share this article with your family and friends if you enjoyed and please check out my other articles:

P.S I just wanted to say that I am so grateful and happy for anyone who has even taken a moment to click on these articles. I believe I have written over 50 articles on this website this year and I have enjoyed doing so. I feel blessed to have gone to so many new places and discovered so much this year as well as having fun!

Thanks to everyone!! 

Thank you for reading, have a lovely day and Happy New Year!