If you’re like me, you start to panic a little bit at this time of year. As your thoughts shift to the holidays, anxiety sets in about all the things that could (or couldn’t) happen. And then you start to come down on yourself for not even being close to your goals.
It’s important to take an optimistic approach; the proverbial glass being half full. I no longer jump into hustle mode to get things accomplished before the year ends. I congratulate myself for what I did accomplish, and give myself grace for what I didn’t. I don’t try to figure out why, because I know that God allowed me to do what I was supposed to.
There are many reasons for not completing goals, it can be narrowed down to a lack of two core things: motivation and patience.
Motivation is your desire to complete things. If you’re not motivated, you can get trapped by excuses – excuses as simple as “I don’t feel like doing that today.”
What we do know is that motivation is fleeting. Patience, on the other hand, is to help you out long-term. The goals that you are working towards aren’t usually things that can be achieved in a single day or a week. You have to have the patience that what you’re doing is helping you reach your target. If not, you’ll do something hasty and lead to failure.
Patience is something that only you can work on. There’s not really any kind of strategy, as it is more of a self-controlled aspect of ourselves.
Here’s three things to keep in mind for the last three months of the year:
REMOVE BAD HABITS
The main purpose of goals is for you to remove bad habits, but it’s worth reiterating as bad habits aren’t only focused on one area of your life. There are many overarching bad habits, such as coming up with excuses.
My suggestion is to take the time to identify your bad habits. What habits do you have that you think are bad for you? Write them out and come up with a plan to remove them from your life.
Better yet, replace these bad habits with many good habits. To do this, consider what this bad habit provides you. Every habit covers a need, whether that’s emotional support, a sense of satisfaction or accomplishment, etc. Figure out what that bad habit provides and find something similar – but better – that can satisfy the same needs.
LIMIT DISTRACTIONS
Focus on having fewer distractions in your life. Some ways that you can limit distractions are to better organize your working space. Also, consider having activities that you can do prior to work or during it to help you get into a flow state. Things like meditation or listening to calming music.
BETTER TIME MANAGEMENT
Perhaps you are someone who gets distracted by other tasks. You only have 24 hours in a day, and a portion of that is dedicated to eating and sleeping. Your time is valuable and you want to be sure that you are spending your time wisely. Keep in mind this doesn’t always mean working all the time. Make sure you strike a balance with your other needs like social and health needs too.
You want to be certain that whatever it is that you are doing at the moment is worth your time. What benefits are you getting from doing a certain activity? What benefits are you getting from talking or being around a specific person?
Remember this benefit doesn’t have to be extraordinary every time, but you want to be mindful so you’re not spending time with those dragging you down or making it too difficult to concentrate. The same applies to activities too.
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