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How to achieve our goals in five steps
Psychology
If we start with a very ambitious purpose and do not think about the path we have to achieve it, discouragement and frustration may come quickly.
We cannot deny that, taking this stage better or worse with the Covid-19 settled in our lives, there are many broken dreams that have remained along the way. The distance has us away from many of our loved ones, we have had to postpone dozens of plans and we are, in most cases, unable to continue with the routines that we had established before the coronavirus. Because this virus, in addition to taking millions of lives ahead, has also taken away the desire to fight by according to what goals …
But, fortunately, it is not like that in everything or in all … If you look back, you will surely see yourself exercising at home when before you did not even think you could have space. And what about everything you cooked? There is no doubt that the crisis caused by the pandemic in its beginnings caused many people to become active and acquire a different routine that kept them continuously busy. We returned more original, simple and humble, and in that state of uncertainty there were many of us who, with a great deal of motivation, survived this strange situation.
Short term
However, a point has now been reached where motivation has waned and many of these people have come face to face with frustration and guilt, among others. Why? Because maintaining an enthusiastic routine over time during the situation you are experiencing is not realistic. Laura Rodríguez, a psychologist at Cepsim Madrid, says that in many cases it has caused that, at a certain point, people are tired, cannot finish what they had proposed and feel guilty for not being so productive. But that desire to achieve what we propose during this situation does not cost so much …
“The key is to find a balance. If the objectives we set ourselves are not realistic in the short term or the routine we force ourselves to carry out cannot be maintained over time, we will end up facing ourselves with frustration and guilt. If on the contrary, we adjust our expectations and we make changes progressively to achieve long-term goals, we will increase our confidence in ourselves and the feeling of self-efficacy “, says the expert.
There are many strategies that can help us organize ourselves to achieve our goals, the main thing is that we think about what steps we have to take to achieve them. It can help us think in the short term and in the long term. For example, if I have a long-term goal to finish a university degree, I can ask myself the steps I have to follow: obtain a grade of 8 in the selectivity, review what I have seen in class, study for the final exam a month in advance and pass the exams, among many others. «Each of these steps will be subdivided into others and thus, little by little, we will be able to reach the final goal. If we start with a very ambitious purpose and we do not think about the path we have to achieve it, possibly discouragement and frustration come quickly “, the psychologist warns.
There are also some tricks that can help us stop procrastinating on a day-to-day basis to achieve our goals. These are some examples that Laura Rodríguez gives:
— Be realistic about your goals. In this task, it can help us to write down everything we are going to do and group it by objectives. Also ask ourselves if it is possible to reach everything by noting the time we dedicate to each thing.
— prioritizing. When we try to cover everything we can become blocked and end up in the loop of guilt and procrastination. To break with this it is important to order the tasks according to their importance.
— Enjoy leisure and maintain self-care. It is often believed that leisure and self-care are a waste of time, when they are really an essential part of our day to day and allow us to focus on our long-term goals.
— Delegate if what we propose is overwhelming or we need someone to contribute to our long-term goal.
— Remember the meaning of the task– If the task is tedious, remembering what it is going to do in the long run will increase motivation.
Tell your goal to others
In many cases, as Laura Rodríguez explains, talking about the projects one has in mind increases the degree of commitment and actively involves the person who develops them in them. Talking about what one wants involves the development of an approach, which in many cases implies the design of an action plan to carry it out. The problem appears, according to the specialist, when this plan is judged or criticized by people who are relevant to us or the expectations that are placed on it are high and there is a risk of being wrong or failing in the attempt.