It’s frustrating and disheartening to put time and energy into setting personal, career, or business goals only to abandon them later. If you’re like me, you feel doomed to fail. But there’s hope! This strategy will help you cut through internal resistance and find success. Learn how to meet your goals every time!
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UPDATED January 2019!
How to Meet Your Goals Every Time
Meeting your goals every time sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it?
It’s not, I promise.
This strategy is simple to implement and helps you to cut through your internal resistance. And, if you’re like me, that’s one of the biggest struggles keeping you from making progress on, let alone achieving, your goals.
Let’s jump in and learn how to meet your goals every time!
How I Got Started Meeting My Goals Every Time
It all started at the beginning of 2015 when I read a post from Amy Lynn Andrews’ newsletter, The Useletter (I highly recommend Amy’s website and a free subscription to her Useletter for anyone interested in blogging). She was sharing some really depressing statistics on keeping resolutions and goals, i.e. 90% of resolutions aren’t kept.
Yikes!
That statistic included me, and I was tired of it.
There are a lot of positive changes I want to make in my life, but I couldn’t seem to make ANY progress.
I felt a flare of hope as Amy went on to talk about the book Mini Habits: Smaller Habits, Bigger Results* by Stephen Guise. (*affiliate link)
The Breakthrough
I was so excited that I bought the book immediately and started reading. I was done with it by the next day.
The sub-title says it all: Smaller Habits, Bigger Results.
Mr. Guise talks about Mini Habits and how setting smaller, more realistic (even laughable) goals is the key to success. For example, setting a goal of doing 1 push up each day.
At first, I resisted the Mini Habits approach. I’m a perfectionist, which means I’m completely unrealistic about pretty much everything. I’m also really, really hard on myself.
I decided to try an experiment.
One of the Mini Habits with which Mr. Guise experienced far-reaching and positive consequences was to read 2 pages in a book every day.
So, I started reading 2 pages every day….
The Results
And I had the most amazing results!
In 2014, I read two books. And I don’t think I finished one of them.
*face palm*
In the first ten weeks of 2015 I read 8 books! I even lost several weeks in February because of an illness that made its way through my entire family. During those first ten weeks of 2015 I read over 1,900 pages! And more importantly, I rediscovered my deep love of reading.
And all it took was 2 pages per day….
A New Challenge
At the beginning of 2017 I decided to set a more difficult overall goal of reading one book per week for a total of 52 books in 2017. However, I kept my daily goal of reading 3 pages every. single. day.
On October 19th I hit my goal of 52 books!
Many days I read more than 3 pages. In fact, some days I read hundreds of pages, because I simply can’t put a book down. But there were plenty of days when I was tired, busy, or overbooked, so I simply read my 3 pages. I even missed days and didn’t get my 3 pages in at all.
And I still read 52 books between January 1st and October 19th!
The power of Mini Habits is truly amazing!
In 2016, I read even more books! Although, I didn’t keep very good records in 2016 (or in the final 42 weeks of 2015), so I don’t have an exact number. Oops!
In 2018, I again hit my goal of 52 books!
I wasn’t reading quite as voraciously in 2019, but I still read 38 books. That’s far and above the measly two books I read in 2014!
And my daily goal hasn’t changed: I still try to read 3 pages every day.
Mini Habits for the Win
Since that first fateful experiment in 2015, I’ve used Mini Habits and the Mini Habits approach to:
- Create a daily exercise program (my goal is 5 squats).
- Start decluttering and organizing my basement after 7 years of neglect (my goal is to put away or purge for 15 minutes per day).
- Better manage our finances by completing a daily one-minute money check-in.
- Increase the amount of sleep I get by going to bed 10 minutes earlier each month.
- Finish big work projects by doing one small task each day to move me closer to completion.
- Create the habit of eating breakfast at the table every weekday (this one was a little trickier, but we started by finding one quick and easy recipe each day for 5 days).
This is an amazing experience, and I’m so excited about the big wins and small steps forward I’ve made and those coming in the future!
I have more habits and goals I’d like to accomplish this year and in the future: getting my kids to clean up their rooms and keep them clean (I’ve tried EVERYTHING!), spending more quality time with my kids and husband, and walking my miniature dachshunds more regularly.
Now I have hope that I can actually accomplish my goals (by starting stupidly small) and make my life and the lives of my family members happier!
Get Your Copy of Mini Habits TODAY
The information I shared in this post is just a small fraction of what Stephen Guise shares in his book. If you’re serious about applying the Mini Habits technique and meeting your goals every time, you’ll want to pick up a copy today!
Simply click here* or on the book cover below to get your copy (*affiliate link).
Related Posts You Might Enjoy
If you enjoyed today’s post, you might also find these related posts helpful!
- 5 Must-Read Books for Home Business Owners
- 5 Things I Learned by Making Over My Mornings
- How to Write a Better To-Do List and Actually Get Your To-Do’s Done
Pin It
And make sure you pin this post, so that you can always find it when you need it!
Now, you know how to meet your goals every time so set a stupid simple goal and start making progress today!
If you give the Mini Habits technique a try, I’d love to hear about your experiences. Just leave a comment below.
Thanks for joining me today!
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Ok, that book sounds really interesting! I’m a perfectionist by nature myself. The fact that reading just 2 pages of book lead you to reading 8 books so far is CRAZY impressive! Thanks for sharing Tiffany! 🙂
Aww, thanks, Megan! I was just so excited to have some success with my goals after a looong dry spell. The perfectionist thing has a been a challenge. Can you, as a fellow perfectionist, imagine setting a goal of one sit-up per day? It doesn’t feel like “enough.” But I keep reminding myself that I can always do more, and that seems to help. Next month I’m tackling my pit of a basement. Hope I come out of there alive! #bigspiders Thanks so much for stopping by!
Great post Tiffany!
Sounds like the book is similar to The Slight Edge, in regards to taking small steps every day so your efforts grow exponentially. I love the first story in the Slight Edge with the father and the 2 sons, great life lesson. And of course you need to ensure your steps are in the right direction and heading towards the things you want to achieve in life 🙂
Hi, Felicity ~ Thanks so much! I’m adding The Slight Edge to my reading list. It sounds like a book I’d enjoy. And yes, checking in regularly so you make sure you’re heading in the right direction is key! Great to “see” you today! :0)
Goals- yes. Ahem. Perhaps I need to read the book. Will just reading this review count? ;0
Melinda ~ I’m right there with you! Setting {and striving toward} goals is hard. In fact, right now, I’m struggling with my exercise goal, and I did awesome my first month! Argghh! I think reading the review is a great start, but the book was so good and super easy to read. Maybe give it a try?! :0) Thank you for joining the conversation and good luck with your goals!!
I soooooo need this book Tiffany! Thx for posting it. I’ve been trying to get our website going for a year… or two… uh… ok. I need to read this book! ha! We have our contact page up… now for the rest of the site. Breaking this all down into steps makes it manage-able. Thx for the inspiration!
Hi, Vivian ~ Getting a website going is a ton of work! I feel for you, sister! :0) But I think breaking it down into small steps and taking it step-by-step will not only help you feel like you’re making progress, but you’ll have your website up and going before you know it! This book really helped me get motivated to launch this blog. I hope it helps you, too! Keep me posted on the progress of the site. I want to be there to offer you congrats when you achieve this hefty goal! Good luck and thank you for stopping by!
Thx for your support! That helps me stay motivated!
You’re very welcome! Good luck! :0)