Welcome to week 2 of the Get Shit Done Challenge, where we are talking all things tracking.
Last week you set a super specific goal for August. Whether it was to write a course, or build a website, or write your own book… or whatever that thing might be.
(You can watch last weeks episode here)
So, part 2, is all about tracking.
You see, a lot of people really don’t track their goals. They say “I’m going to make 10k this month” and they write it down and stick it on the wall, and at the end of the month they look back up and realise that they didn’t make it.
You know why? It might be because they didn’t push for it, but often it is simply because they didn’t track it.
So this week, I want you to find a way to track your progress towards your goal.
That’s easy if your goal is a number of clients or amount of money, because it is easy to track.
Grab a bit of paper, and each day write down the number you are up to so far. Add to the list each time you make a new sale or get a new client.
It is a little harder if your goal is to build a website or create a course, but you still need to find a way to track your progress.
You might keep track of the number of pages or words you have written, or certain steps along the way you have achieved.
If your goal is to create a course, you can track when you recorded the video for module 1, when you create each PDF, and when you build each page.
Today:
Take that big goal you have set, and break it down into tiny little steps.
Record these steps so that you can track your progress.
I’m a pen and paper kinda girl, so I like to make a paper based list and tick things off as I go, but if you are a tech based fan, you can create an excel spreadsheet, or use an app like Asana.
The next step:
Set yourself little rewards along the way.
The thing about a big goal, is that you either hit it, or you don’t. I see lots of people get disappointed with themselves because they didn’t hit their goal.
I was talking to a friend of mine last month, and she was disappointed in herself because she was 2 clients off meeting her target for the financial year. I understand, being that close is frustrating. She only needed 2 more sales, and she was really down on herself.
I took a moment to remind her of just how close she came. Celebrate being so close to your goal, you were JUST 2 off, meeting a really a big target and that is impressive.
But we don’t do that, we don’t celebrate our almost goals… we tend to be all, or nothing.
So, on your tracking form, mark a point at about half way. If you want to make 10k this month, mark a point at 5k.
Also find what is about ¼ of the way through your goal, and about ¾ of the way through your goal. Now, I want you to allocate yourself a reward for reaching each of those points.
I don’t want you just to reward yourself if you get to your goal. If you’ve put in the hard work, and get half way or ¾ of the way through, then you deserve to reward yourself. You put in the effort and you deserve a pat on the back.
I don’t care what the reward is, make it something that you will enjoy. Maybe it is a trip to the movies or dinner out, at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter. Just go for something that you will genuinely enjoy, but don’t normally treat yourself to.
The last step is to make sure that you do it. It is easy to say that you will reward yourself, but do you ever actually take the time off to do it? Make sure you honour the agreement you made with yourself and give yourself that reward when you reach those milestones towards your goal.
So, let’s wrap up your action tasks:
– Set a clear goal
If you haven’t done so already, go back to check out last weeks posts, and set yourself a really clear goal.
– On a tracking tool of some sort (paper or tech based) list down the tiny steps you need to take to reach that goal. Break it down into little pieces, like the number of videos you need to record, or PDFs you need to make.
– Check in on a regular basis and track how you are going. Tick off things as they are completed so that you can see your progress.
– Create points along the way where you are going to reward yourself… and make sure you honour those rewards
Make sure you come and join us in the #RealLifeBiz group where we can support your progress along the way.