Sep
24
Guaranteed Goal Achievement: Your Daily, No-Excuses Target
Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Ali Hale, of Aliventures.
I don’t know you, but I’m willing to bet that you have some project that you’d love to get completed.
Maybe it’s that back-of-an-envelope idea for a business that you spent an evening discussing with mates in the pub … and that you think you just might be able to “make it” with.
Or that new direction for your current business, that you need to research and plan for … and which you’re still no closer to than when you first thought of it.
Or perhaps it’s a skill you want to learn, which will require twenty or forty hours of study.
Whatever it is, all you need is a few clear days, perhaps a week or two, and you could do it. You know that. You’ve known that for months, maybe years.
Trouble is, you never get those few clear days. And you also know, somewhere in the back of your mind, that you never will.
There’s never going to be a perfect time to start a business/write a book/change your career/learn a new skill. Life keeps happening. But you can achieve your goals – much more easily than you think.
Here’s what you need (and as Naomi would say, cue big ass red text):
A daily, no-excuses target.
So what the hell is that?
It’s DAILY. That means you do it every single day. Seriously. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
If you absolutely only work on weekdays, and this is absolutely only related to your business, you can do it on weekdays only. But it’s easier to make it stick if you do it every day, without fail. Without excuses.
Start crossing off days on the calendar. You’ll be loath to break the success-chain.
It’s NO-EXCUSES. That means you need to decide on an absolute minimum target. Something that you can do when you’re busy, stressed, feeling (as we say here in the UK) that you “can’t be arsed”.
Make it something you can do in half an hour. You have a spare half hour every day. If you really, truly don’t, get up earlier. Eat faster. Make someone else do the washing up.
It’s a TARGET. By that, I mean it’s something you can count.
If your goal is “a completed ebook”, your target might be “five hundred words per day”. If your goal is “learn PHP”, your target might be “read one chapter of this book and try out the exercises”.
For some goals, you’ll have to stick with “spend half an hour working on Project X”.
It’s as simple as that.
If you’re reading this and thinking that an itty bitty, no-excuses target won’t let you progress fast enough – ask yourself this. Are you any nearer your big goal now than you were a month ago? How much closer could you be if you’d spent fifteen solid hours working towards it?
Exactly.
And just to prove it works – here’s what happened for me.
I’m writing a novel. I wrote about 6,000 words of it between October and December last year, mostly when I had one of those rare free afternoons.
From January 1st, I set a target of 500 words, minimum, per day. I write fast, so this is a “no-excuses” level . I’m kidding myself if I can’t find time and energy for 500 words.
So where am I now? In forty five days, I’ve written 34,000 words. Bit of an increase, I think you’ll agree.
What’s your big goal? What “daily, no-excuses target” can you set to ensure that you reach it?
Ali is a freelance writer, specializing in online articles, blogging and website copy (see www.aliventures.com if you’re interested). When her early ambition to rule the world started to look unlikely, she began writing fiction, where she not only gets to rule a world, she gets to create it too. She gets over-excited about her projects and other people’s. If you need a hand with something wordy and webby, drop her an email (ali@aliventures.com).
This was exactly what I needed to hear today. It’s not exactly new to me, but I’ve become mired this last while, and I’ve lost sight of the fact that small incremental progress is still progress, damn it. Which is better than no progress, and has the free extra bonus feature of making me feel good about what I’m doing.
Thank you.
Great post, and reinforces a method that I’ve been working with for several months now. In my case, the time increment is 15 minutes, but it really does work, in making you *feel* accomplished if nothing else. It does involve a major shift in thinking, if you’ve always been in the mode of trying to tackle a whole big job at once, but it’s worth the effort to acquire the habit. And it never ceases to amaze me what I can get accomplished in 15 minutes!
So agree! Whenever I set a manageable, non-threatening target that plays up my strengths, I get to the finish line much quicker.
I even do this with craft projects, which for most people are totally enjoyable hobbies. Since I’m not a crafter by natural passion, I have to set up targets. When I do complete a project or parts of it, I feel like a million dollars.
As I’ve just started…or more accurately, Re-started my business, this is a very realistic method or continuously driving forward everyday. Realistic and achievable goals with no room for excuses. Well done.
I used to do this and got out of the habit. I think I should get back into the habit.
Thanks Ali!
Thanks for the comments, all!
@Lean – Yes, progress is progress – and small incremental progress is FAR better than one single huge burst which leaves you too knackered/discouraged to do anything else for months…
(And I agree, feeling good about what you’re doing is pretty darn important, too.)
@Nancy – 15 minutes is a great time interval, and one I’ve often used when I feel like I’m really pressed for time. You’re right, it’s surprising what you can get done when you focus for just a few minutes.
@Lydia – Fantastic tip on craft projects … I have a large cross-stitch kit languishing in a drawer because even STARTING the thing seems daunting. Will have to give the daily-few-mins a try with that!
@Mike – Best of luck with your business restart!
@Sonia – I slip in and out of good habits (and sometimes one habit will work at one time, only for a different habit to work at a different time). The Daily, No-Excuses Target isn’t the only way … but I find it works more often than the rest!
I will echo that I really needed to hear this today! I have so many things going on at the same time and so many ideas perculating, I can sometimes feel like I am not getting anything finished. I like the idea of setting a small easy to reach goal to keep the forward motion going.
You’re right: I do have a project that I’d love to get completed. I’ve even known for years that all it would take is regular progress on it, and it would eventually get done. I’ve also been very aware of the power of fifteen minutes, thanks to FlyLady’s teachings and my own experiences using a timer to keep myself on track.
But I still haven’t actually stepped forward on it in a consistent way. Except consistently putting it off, because, y’know, maybe tomorrow would be a better day to start, especially if I focus on first to get it out of the way…
Yes, I can even say that I know better… I just don’t DO better. I need something to keep me going, it seems. Recently I used the fact that “it takes 21 days to form a habit” (sorta like a 30-day trial, but 21 is supposedly all it takes, and I was in a hurry to celebrate success) to keep my Inbox at Zero, and I’m ready for a new 21-day habit change. This time, it has to be about working on this project, because I need it done and gone.
Unfortunately, I got stuck on how to define the regular work sessions I wanted to turn into habit. Fortunately, this article has helped me figure out what I need to do! I just need to determine my No-Excuses threshold, and then hold myself to it. Seems simple enough to actually be effective! Thanks!
Now, if only this notion could be acronymized… how about “Daily Excuse-Proof Target”: DEPT! Ew, no. “Daily Excuse-Free Target”: DEFT! Ooo…
Oops, silly me forgot that angled-brackets would not work here. The second paragraph should end with “especially if I focus on [insert unrelated task here] first to get it out of the way…”
Good luck, Qrystal! I think it’s really tricky figuring out exactly what to do on some of these big tasks — that’s why I like a no-excuses target (I have one for exercising, too).
If you figure out a great acronym – I couldn’t! – then let me know… ;-)
And I’m also prone to “getting X out the way first…” before working on what I really want to get done. It doesn’t tend to help!
Hey – whats up. Thanks a bunch for the info. I’ve been digging around for info, but there is so much out there. Yahoo lead me here – good for you i suppose! Keep up the great information. I will be coming back in a few days to see if there is updated posts.
I must admit this is the fourth time I have visited your blog and Im lovin it! I added your blog to my rss reader. Cant wait to see more updates!
I just got notification that someone else posted a comment here… and realized that I could update my status on this notion of a Daily Excuse Free Target (DEFT)!
I actually chose, as my New Year’s Resolution this year, to DEFTly select three Most Important Tasks to do each day, and then do them. This means I really have to ask myself, every day, what is most important that needs to be done. It also means that, when I’m feeling crappy, I can select fairly easy things as my most important things: so there’s no excuse not to do this!