5 WAYS TO REACH YOUR GOALS USING FOCUSED CONSISTENCY

Here’s my question for you. 

Do you find it hard to stay consistent with your goals?   

I know that I do. I get super excited about something and for about a week I am killing it and then... not so much. 

Here’s just a few things I’ve gotten super excited about in the past.

• Starting my own social media network. 

• Competing in a Triathlon. 

• Making a feature film. 

• Waking up at 4 AM 

• Investing in the stock market. 

• Intermittent fasting. 

And the list goes on and on…

Before we go on, these things are all pretty awesome! I’m glad I tried, and some of them like producing movies are still long term goals. But, what I’ve learned over the years is that it’s not enough to be excited about something at the start. 

I believe I could have achieved any “one” of the above dreams/goals if I had stayed focused on that “one” goal and applied myself consistently over a long period of time. 

The problem, as you might guess, is that I didn’t do that. I allowed myself to become distracted/unfocused and eventually I stopped applying consistent effort towards my goal. 

I’ve been honest with some of my failures because our Wise Letter Community is a place where we can be real with one another. This is still something I am working on to this very moment. 

That said, I've learned a lot along the way; 

HERE ARE 5 WAYS WE CAN ALL REACH OUR GOALS USING: FOCUSED CONSISTENCY. 

1. Be selective

Productivity experts such as Michael Hyatt suggest not setting more than about 5 to 10 goals a year, max. In my experience the fewer goals the better. 

This seems counterintuitive. Setting less goals to achieve more? But the reason it works so well, is that it leaves more energy and attention to be applied consistently to those top priority goals. 

It’s better to achieve 1-3 goals, than set 10 goals and fail at all of them. 

2. Be specific 

This is another lesson I learned from Hyatt. Instead of setting a vague goal, “I want to build savings.” Be specific and say something like, “I want to save $100, $500, $1,000 a month until I reach my goal.”  

By being specific you are building a very clear destination you want to reach, which in turn makes building a road map to your goal that much clearer, if not easier. 

3. Be patient

I’d have to say that one of my greatest enemies when it comes to applying focused consistency, is impatience. Can you relate? 

At the start it all just looks so promising, I can see the finish line and it looks so good. Then after just a bit of time, when I’m not yet seeing the results I want, I get discouraged and start looking for a “faster way” to reach my goal. 

I’ve learned, the “faster way” is rarely ever faster. The beloved author and thinker C.S. Lews once wrote, 

The longest way round is the shortest way home.

I have found this to be true, shortcuts rarely work out. Instead they simply distract us from applying the focused and consistent effort required to reach our goal. 

4. Be up early

My new year’s resolution this year was to wake up without hitting the snooze button and a sub goal has been getting up between 4:30-5:30 AM. 

My goal is to be up a minimum of 2 hours before I need to be somewhere.

This guarantees at least a little time first thing in the morning for me to apply focused and consistent effort towards my goal(s). 

You don’t have to follow my schedule, it’s still a work in progress anyways, but if you want to reach your goals, consider waking up early and seizing that uninterrupted time to reach your goals. 

Does your alarm clock not work until 8 AM? Keep reading. 

5. Be up late(ish)

Not everyone is going to wake up early, our goal with this blog is to help you succeed, not feel bad. 

If the early morning doesn’t work for you, for whatever reason, instead of working on your goals from 6-9 AM you could work on them from 6-9 PM. 

The same principle applies to night owls, (or wanna-be night owls), as those early birds. 

Use the time in the evening when there are less demands on your time, (besides Netflix), to achieve your biggest goals. Remember; 

You can’t do everything, but you can do almost anything with focus. 

I hope you are encouraged by today’s blog, thanks for reading. 

Geno Schmelzer,