All of us have dreams we’d love to make reality, and stretch goals
that we’d love to accomplish. I have a friend who wants to learn how to
play piano, proficiently, at the age of 55. Another is just dying to
find some time off a grueling schedule to backpack China for a month.
These dreams and goals are of course challenging exactly because they
are stretches. Our life’s routine, and more tricky, our habits, tend to
get in the way of actually achieving them.
Here are five things you can do to actually increase the likelihood of reaching your dreams and stretch goals.
1. Collect, Collect, Collect
You should have a central place where you track and manage those
goals you have that are not for today. This can be in a notepad, in an
Evernote notebook, or in a project in your ToDo list manager. Are you
seeking to enrich yourself and find stretch goals? Look at popular
websites like StumbleUpon, Pick the Brain, Guy Finley, Lifehacker, and
our own TaskCurrent. When you come across something that inspires you–a
goal or dream you wish to implement–make sure to write it down.
2. Out of Sight is Unfortunately Out of Mind
For your dreams and goals to be taken seriously, you must schedule a
monthly review of your list. Try and keep the items on your list
organized by how badly you really want to do them. Each month weigh the
goals. Consider them. You will probably find that many of them are not
actually top priority. Those that consistently float to the top of your
list are the keepers, and it’s those we want to focus on turning into a
reality. Over time, toss the dregs, and start highlighting the cream
that’s floating on the top.
3. Make an Actual Plan
After a few months of keeping and reviewing your dream and stretch
goal list, sit down with your calendar (and significant other if
relevant) and start cobbling together an actual plan. If your dream is
travel, set aside a piggy bank for some extra savings, and book time in a
year. If you have a stretch goal–i.e., waking up and writing three
mornings a week–start thinking about what it will take to actually
achieve that goal. Importantly though, pick only one or two items to
work on at a time.
4. Automate
To accomplish one of your dreams or stretch goals you’re going to
need some help. Once you’ve decided on the item you want to pursue, and
sketched a basic plan, use a reminder service like Remember the Milk, or
even Google Calendar to keep it front and present. Remmeber, out of
sight is out of mind. For fun, you can set a Monkey on Your Back [
http://monkeyon.com/], which will nudge you until you do it.
5. Get Even More Help
Sometimes you need outside pressure to achieve a goal. Research shows
that phone calls from real people are very powerful motivators.
Therefore, ask a friend or family member to work with you to actually
deliver on your goals. Moreover, ask them to be tough with you –
reminding you regularly and pushing you to deliver on the commitments
you’ve made to yourself. If you like, ask them if you can put a monkey
on their back to help them remember. Most importantly, don’t get annoyed
if they’re reminding you to do something that’s hard. That’s what you
want!
You can accomplish dreams and stretch goals, but it’s not easy.
Remember though, if you will it, it is no dream, and if you do it, then
it will happen! The discipline above will help position you to be more
successful in pursuing dreams and stretch goals. Let me know how it goes
so that I can send a big congratulations to anyone who uses this to
make a dream come true.
