5 useful tricks that will help you not to abandon everything on the way to your goal

A big project is another test. But there are ways to make it easier

If you’ve ever made New Year’s resolutions to yourself, you already know that keeping them will not be easy. Statistics show that the tasks set before the New Year reaches Just 8% of People Achieve Their New Year’s Resolutions. Here’s How They Do It.only 8% of people. And all because the path to a big and ambitious goal is not an easy walk, but a real marathon, during which it is easy to lose strength, motivation and self-confidence. Here are a few tricks that will help you cope with difficulties and fulfill your desires.

1. Don’t take on too much

Some people like to think big and are guided by the motto “if to be, then be the best.” Losing 5 kilos or writing a story is too small. It’s better to win a bikini fitness competition right away or get the Booker Prize. To certainly have something to be proud of and brag about.

But this approach – to set high, almost unattainable goals – is not suitable for anyone. Maybe only super-gifted and super-productive people who obviously don’t need to read this article. Well, fictional movie characters who win in the ring in two hours of screen time, go to Harvard or become world famous. And all this with uplifting music.

A difficult or unattainable goal can be demotivating and debilitating.

Why do something, why try for a month, a year or two, if the result remains almost as far away as it was at the very beginning of the path? To avoid such thoughts, when setting goals, it is important to take into account a number of points:

1. Start with small goals. That is, with those that you can definitely achieve in the foreseeable future. Not “to learn English so that they would confuse me with a native speaker”, but “to raise my knowledge of the language by one level”. Not “enter the Forbes list”, but “create a company that will make a profit.”

2. Break down long-term goals into milestones. “Build muscle” sounds very vague and complicated. It is much more convenient if you have a multi-stage plan: “Check with the doctor if I can do strength training. Learn information about exercise and nutrition. Find a fitness club and a trainer, draw up a training program. Pick up recipes for tasty and healthy food, start going to the gym three times a week.” This is one of the principles of time management: “eat elephants in pieces.”

3. Adequately evaluate your resources. Let’s say you want to write a book . Think about what you need for this: time, knowledge, assistants, a good laptop, and so on. Make a complete list. If you don’t have something from this list, think about how to solve the problem. For example, look for a nanny who will entertain the child twice a week while you write. Or contact an editor who will help you refine the text.

2. Keep your goals in front of your eyes

It would be great if everyone had a person who sat next to him and constantly said: “Come on! You can! You are doing great!” Or simply reminded: “Look, here is a photograph of an Australian beach. To go there and have a good time, you need to improve your English. Do not be lazy”.

The good news is that we can provide ourselves with both support and reminders.

Hang your dream photo over your desk. Write down a motivational quote in your diary . Order yourself a T-shirt or mug with a funny phrase related to your work. In a word, surround yourself with kind and funny reminders and update them more often. This will help keep the goal in mind, but at the same time not perceive it as a disgusting routine.

3. Reward yourself

This is how we are arranged: we are not interested in doing something just like that. For every little bit difficult action, we want to receive a reward. And if no one gives it away for a long time, the mood deteriorates, I want to quit all these difficult things and go where we are guaranteed to get at least some pleasure. For example, on social media. Or the nearest candy store.

All this is due to dopamine, which you have probably heard a lot about. In short, it is a neurotransmitter that causes us to feel the anticipation of pleasure and thus makes Dopamine, Smartphones & You: A battle for your times to strive for quick and simple pleasures: food, sex, YouTube videos.

The dopamine system can be tricked into thinking up a reward for yourself. For example, if you go to the store after a workout and buy yourself something cute, the brain will think that sports are not so hard, and before the next class it will spur you on with a dose of dopamine. But here, of course, regularity is important. And proportionality of action and reward.

If you eat chocolates after training, you can negate the entire effect of the sport.

Think about what can please you and at the same time will not harm your health and wallet. Here are some ways you can reward yourself after completing a difficult task:

• Drink a glass of delicious coffee.
• Read a book or listen to some new songs.
• Buy some nice little thing – a beautiful notebook or stickers for a laptop.
• Soak in a bubble bath.
• Write in your diary and praise yourself.
• Put a bold tick in the diary (it is the pleasure of this process that underlies the habit trackers).

4. Study yourself

Someone works great in the early morning, and someone nods at least until lunch. Some need silence, like in a library, while others like to play music or nature sounds in the background. There are those who love paper diaries and those who have been keeping a to-do list only on their phone for many years.

There is no universal recipe for productivity. To find the right ingredients and make the right proportion, you will have to study your own characteristics and try to take them into account.

You can, for example, keep a mood diary: three times a day, record in a notebook how you feel and how much energy you have. And after a couple of weeks, based on these records, determine the ideal time for work, study, sports or other activities. Experiment with different productivity techniques and see what works for you.

5. Wait for the first results

Few people abandon a project in which there are only a couple of finishing touches left. Back to New Year’s resolutions, most of us forgets New Year’s resolutions last exactly this long about them before the end of January. That is, most often people stop at the very beginning of the path (until there is no experience, nothing is really clear, and the work does not bring any joy). Without visible results and positive feedback, it is very difficult to believe that we will cope with the task and this goal is worth the time and effort invested in it.

But when you start to succeed, moving on will become easier.

If it’s very difficult for you and you want to quit everything, promise yourself that you will wait for the first result of your labors. And even then, if the first dropped kilograms, earned money or learned dance moves do not please you at all, you can stop with a clear conscience and choose another goal for yourself.