So here we are, 90 Days Later. I set some goals, designed to change my life. I purposely wanted to make a public declaration of my “90 Challenge” because that’s what I do for one…and the reason is I want to have accountability in my life. Making goals or at least the intention of achieving goals (as in my case) puts some pressure on you. People will wonder whether you did what you said you would do. This kind of pressure can be used to good affect…or not.
Well I had several goals, and I’m here to report to you that I only accomplished one of them. I launched my website www.klhbeats.com. It was a big one, but it was only one. On a certain level I feel proud of myself because I know that most people don’t have the skill to do what I did. Most people could never visualize, follow through, and build what I did. Had it not been for my setting the goal to have it launched by July 4th, I might still be caught up in the trap of perpetual tweaking. But the goal of having it done by a date certain, provoked me to have an end game.
To be honest, on another level I’m disappointed. I felt like if I really applied myself, and focused, I really could accomplish everthing on my list…but I didn’t. I even had my cable TV temporarily turned off, to get rid of a huge time killer. Even that wasn’t enough. I still managed to find ways to do things other than what I had written down as goals. So yes, I’m disappointed. However, I did learn something from this experience.
Even though I’ve always had this intuition in my head about a 90 day goal challenge…it became clear to me that 90 days is too long a period, at least for me it was. I’ve talked in the past about breaking big goals down into small chunks. The benefit of this is, it makes the goal more feasible…more attainable. The shorter the gap is between where you are and where you want to be, the greater your chance is to get to where you want to be. A lot of people would love to be a millionaire, I know I would. But if you are currently only making $35k per year the gap between the two is so big, that it makes the goal seemingly unattainable. If you want to loose 80 lbs. you have a much better shot at success if you focus on 2 or 3 lbs. at a time.
I knew that breaking goals down was very important, and I think that my impatience moved me to jump into my 90 day challenge without properly preparing for it. Had I taken the first 2 or 3 days to plan my activities, and to set up small incremental goals, I think my end result would have, or could have been different…Lesson learned.
This won’t be the end of goal setting challenges for me, it’s really just one step in my journey…that strikes me as corny, but it’s true. I learned that I really could get by watching a lot less TV, that I can accomplish a goal, and that it’s always better to break bigger goals down into smaller more manageable chunks. So I’m gonna look back on my 90 Day Challenge as a success. Not quite the success I envisioned but a success nonetheless.
Stay Fly and Fly High!
KLH
Something accomplished is better than nothing accomplished. Launching your site is something to celebrate. Thanks for putting yourself out there. We can all learn something from what you share. On to the next goal! Go get it!
I make a living showing people the importance of creating a strategic plan and strongly believe in having one. It applies in every aspect of our lives and once one realizes that a plan is only a map and that the challenge comes from following the steps listed on that map/plan, then they can and will achieve each and every one of those things on their plan!!
You have not failed in the least. Maybe sidetracked but failed, never that! Re-visit your map/plan and approach it will a little bit more realistic input now. You can put a check mark near 1 on that list of yours, now REALISTICALLY define what it will take to achieve the next one that is most important to you and focus on that one only. In fact, start with maybe re-writing that plan according to priorities and not just a random ‘I want to do this and that’ approach, not that that is what you have done. You may even end up with ‘sub’ steps but if you break each step down with a breakdown of what steps it will take to achieve that main step, you will see how your brain is a connector to making those plans realistic. For instance you wanted to achieve putting your site up but it probably had about 50 mini-steps to make that one task a reality. Everyone is different but without a map/plan, you will not be making any steps towards any of your goal(s).
Quality is much more important than quantity! If you are happy with the quality of your achieved step, then you have succeeded!! Now onto the next one and on your way, don’t expect the unrealistic for YOU but relish the accomplishment more than the unfinished business you have. Embrace the fact that you have made a plan/map and remember, time is not our friend but it is on our side when you approach things wisely and realistically my friend:)
So another heartfelt…simple…and VERY applicable post! I can relate to this! Goal setting and achieving is one of those things that I struggle with as well at times. I think it is extremely telling of your level of comittment that you would go as far as identifying a very dangerous distraction (TV) and then taking actions to eliminate it form your life!! It takes great will to eliminate a potential weakness! I would say that alone is a HUGE success.
You know Ken, I read a very brilliant book “The 4 Hour Workweek” that talked about a similar concept, that of breaking down goals into smaller chunks, but that author basically went on to say that in his experience most people thrive on two goals a day. That we should never have more than two things on our “to do list” because that way we set ourselves up emotionally to feel positive and empowered, optomistic that we can accomplish just two things. It feels doable. That creates this momentum and oftentimes we end up achieving more! It kind of reminds me of what you mention in your post, small incremental steps. I think what you need to consider is that although it appears like you “only” accomplished “one” goal…that one goal was comprised of MANY MANY details, smaller tasks and concentrated efforts in order to bring it to life, so I see that you have not accomplished “ONE” goal you’ve actually accomplished MANY. I applaud you!