4 Steps to Revive your Goals

Now that 2020 is more than halfway over, have you unwillingly put your goals aside?

With so many unpredictable changes, it is completely understandable why most of us have done so.

In this article, we are going to outline a few steps you can take to revive those goals and reach for the stars at an achievable pace!

Astronauts would not be able to reach Mars if their spaceship has the capacity to only fly to the Moon.

Likewise, we need to evaluate our goals to ensure that they are effective. If you have no idea whether your goals are effective or not, don’t fret! There is a useful acronym that could help you and that is SMART.

Try to be specific with your goals. If your goal is to publish an article in an academic journal, you can specify which field you would like to do that for.

For example, you want to write it for a philosophy journal, and that alone has made your path more specific!

You’d also need to ensure that your goal is measurable - for example, you could measure the success of your goal as publishing your article in a renowned journal, and set a measurable goal for each month.

For example, in January, you might like to read a total of 30 articles, and in the next month you might want to draft the first two sections of your article.

You would then need to ensure that the goal is achievable. For example, do you have prior knowledge of philosophy?

If you have not, perhaps you can start reading up on the field so as to eventually write something of your own.

Not only that, you should think about whether this field is relevant to you and your interests.

If not, you can set a goal but not find the right motivation to follow through with it! So make sure you are aligned with your goal before executing it.

Lastly, make sure to set a time limit for yourself to keep track of your progress and also keep yourself accountable.

In this case, perhaps your philosophy article should be done in three years. With that, you can plan out your schedule to make sure that can happen!

Your goal might seem daunting at first glance- after all, it takes a lot of effort and time to achieve them!

Therefore, to make it more feasible for you, try to break your goal down into smaller, more manageable sections and create your action plan from there.

For example, if you are currently working a day job and have the goal of publishing the journal article, you can break down the goal into sections like:

• Reading up research papers for two hours per day

• Draft your paper every weekend

• Approach your mentor to discuss the topic biweekly

From there, you can create your action plans - be sure to plan ahead of time so you can gauge how much time you have for each action plan.

Now that we have our goals and action plans, the next hurdle to overcome is staying accountable and committed to your goal.

Consistency is paramount when it comes to long term goals and especially the case for writing an academic paper!

If you are concerned about whether you’d be able to follow through with your goals, find an accountability partner so that they would be able to monitor your progress and encourage you to get back on track.

You can also utilise our Planner's Habit Tracker, where you can jot down whether you have met your goals for the day or month as well.

It may be difficult at first but with time, everything you do will become a habit and be a breeze eventually.

“Change is the only constant.”- Heraclitus

Situations change and thus, it makes complete sense for us to edit our plans accordingly.

Therefore, it is important for us to reflect on our progress frequently and evaluate if there is a need to adapt according to our circumstances.

For instance, if you realise that your mentor is only available in the month of October instead of September, when you are planning to write your paper.

Perhaps it would be beneficial for you to readjust your plans to do more research in September and draft your paper in October.

Feel free to use our Habit Tracker and Reflection pages to track your progress and pen down any changes or thoughts you have.

Reviving your goals may seem like a difficult feat at first, but as long as you take it one step at a time, you will eventually reach the stars.

Do keep in mind that life is not a race, and all of us are travelling at our own pace. What matters most is the destination but the journey.

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What are your tips to reach the stars? Let us know by commenting below or tagging us on Instagram @mosseryco

Thank you to @cosuffeeshi and @elliholi for the lovely visuals!