PRACTICAL TIPS FOR ACHIEVING YOUR DAILY GOALS _ Sharing what has worked for me.

Setting goals is one thing and achieving them is another. While most of us set goals, very few of us manage to achieve the goals we set for ourselves etc. In our last week's post, we mentioned that it was important to set both long-term goals as well as short-term goals. We advised our readers to set (for each long-term goal) annual goals, monthly goals, weekly goals and more importantly daily goals. We also stressed that, meeting your daily goals should be your priority as this is the first step towards achieving all the other goals.

If you did not read our post on setting goals, it can be accessed under the link below (just copy and paste it on your browser):

https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/cremes-research-mentorship-program_careers-mentorship-training-activity-6908323619513204736-B395?

WHAT HAS WORKED FOR ME WHEN IT COMES TO ACHIEVING MY DAILY GOALS

Last week, I promised that I would share what has worked for me when it comes to achieving daily goals. Five things have proven very effective for me in meeting my daily goals, which I would summarize as SGSBV with 'S' for 'Schedule', 'G' for 'Goals', 'S' for 'Stopwatch', 'B' for 'Breaks', and 'V' for 'Varieties'.

1) S = SCHEDULE

Having a schedule is the first step towards achieving your daily goals. Especially, for those of you who are self-employed like myself, having a daily schedule, depicting activities that should be undertaken each day, may be very helpful in keeping you disciplined when it comes to spending your time wisely. You may have a separate schedule for out-of-work activities (e.g., your home activities) but here I am talking about a schedule for work-related activities. My schedule starts by indicating the time I should arrive at the office, followed by all other activities that I would normally do throughout the day, and ending with the time for leaving the office. Below is a snapshot of my daily schedule:

7.15 - 7.30 am: Arrive at the office / 7.30 - 8.30 am: Daily morning routines (which includes, among other things, reading a book chapter etc.) / 8.30 - 8.45 am: Setting / revising daily goals / 08.45 - 09.30 am: Supporting team visibility activities (e.g., wiring articles, revising or approving social media posts etc.) / 09.30am - 1. 00 pm: Working on daily goals / 1.00 - 2.00 pm: Lunch followed by a short break / 02.00 - 2.30: taking an online course / 2.30 - 5.00 pm: Continue working on daily goals / 05.00 - 6.30 pm: Working on CREMES research mentorship program / 6:30 pm: Leave office.

Setting arrival time has helped me a lot in getting to the office on time, while specifying what should be done throughout the day has significantly helped me to be disciplined regarding how I spent my time at work. I gave my schedule as an example, but this may not work for everyone, hence, set your schedule based on your context. For example, my house is only 15min drive from my office. Hence, I can leave my house at 7.00 or 7.15am and still be able to meet my goal of getting at the office at 7.30am. Similarly, by leaving my workplace at 6.30pm, I get home before 7.00pm. If you leave far from your office, these timings may not be feasible for you. Hence, set times based on your situation and context. The most important thing is for you to have a schedule that shows how you should spend your day.

2) G = GOALS

As already discussed, setting daily goals is critical. Personally, setting daily goals has helped me to achieve my weekly, monthly and all other goals. I usually set ambitious goals each day and push myself to meet them. If I don't manage to meet them, I shift them to the next day. Setting ambitious daily goals has helped me to achieve more during the day. If setting ambitious goals may work negatively for you e.g., by discouraging you or making you get used to not meeting your goals (which shouldn't happen), then better have a few daily goals that you can manage. In any case, setting goals will help you get things done.

3) S = STOPWATCH

This may surprise you but believe me, it worked like miracle to me towards tackling my biggest barriers to achieving my daily goals, which were procrastination and perfection. I used to be highly distracted between tasks by doing other things like looking at my phone, going online, reading emails etc. (we call this procrastination) and it ended taking me too long to get something done. My other weakness was that, I would take too long to finish one task as I would spend a lot of time trying to perfect it, sometimes going back and forth and even ending with previous versions, and this highly affected my efficiency.

To tackle above two poor practices, I decided to start timing myself for every task I undertook. I start by deciding how long the task should take me to accomplish, and then I time myself (using a stop watch) with a goal to accomplish the task within allocated time. This has worked miraculously in terms of preventing me from doing other things in between or unnecessarily re-doing what is already done. A simple example is, in the past it would take me 2-3 hours (if not half a day) to write this article. However, today I decided I would write it in 30min (though I ended up using 45 min, which still wasn't bad at all). Timing myself has helped me to care less about perfection as long as my main message is communicated.

Remember that improvement in anything happens with practice, hence, the more articles / reports / books that you write, the better you become. Don't aim for perfection the first time, just aim for good results.

4) B = BREAKS

I learned from an online course that I once undertook, that, taking short breaks after every 30-60 minutes of working on a given task, keeps one active and motivated. I used to sit for long hours working without taking breaks (which is also not advised health-wise), and as a result I used to be exhausted in the afternoons. However, after I started taking short breaks e.g., by going for a 5-10 min walk or even just doing simple stretches for 5min, it made a huge difference in the way that I felt throughout the day. If your work involves long hours of sitting, please practice this technique and let me know how it works for you.

5) V = VARIATIES

The last tip on how I manage to achieve my daily goals is by working on different tasks throughout the day. This is another tip that I learned from an online program I also once undertook. I used to work on the same task the whole day with a goal of getting it done before moving to the next task. However, this used to make me feel bored as time passed due to having to work on the same thing over and over again, and as expected I was less efficient. However, the moment I started breaking tasks over several days and working on different tasks each day, this kept my work interesting throughout the day and I became more efficient. For example, instead of working on the same report throughout the day, I would just work on one section and move to a different task (which I would also do a portion of it) and move to the next. Try this and let me know how it works for you.

ADDITIONAL TIPS

Keep your mobile phone away (if possible in another room) to avoid texting between tasks - unless it rings, schedule times to look at your phone for texts e.g., I look at mine 3 times a day

It is my hope that you found these tips helpful. Please drop me a line in the comments section below and tell me what you think of them.