From Forgotten Dreams to Daily Wins: 10 Ways to Make Your Goals Unstoppable
Podcast Episode 16
So here's the challenge: when it comes to goal setting, we love creating goals. We know exactly what we want, and yes, it's important to us. But life is busy, life is overwhelming, and that initial excitement can fade quite easily-especially when you are a busy mum. We're working, we've got family obligations, we're busy. There are a lot of things that tap into our mental energy, so we need to make sure that our goal is more important than other people's. That in some way, we're connecting to our goals so that our goal goes from being further down the list to coming up to the top. That's what this is all about.
And it's so easy-especially if you start looking at social media-all of a sudden you're looking at everybody else's goal rather than thinking about yours. Our brains are wired to focus on immediate demands rather than long-term visions, you know, things that we're looking forward to in the future. This is why we have to keep bringing our goal into our daily life. Without regular reinforcement, your goal can just start to fade.
And I think we also underestimate the real importance and impact that our environment can have on the decisions we are making, especially when we are tired. You might be feeling motivated by your goal in the morning, but if we hit 3:00 PM, we're tired, we're coming home, there's food out, there's things there. We can almost go into this kind of zombie state where all of a sudden we're not even thinking about our goal. We're just operating on autopilot, and somehow food just ends up in our mouth.
You see, you are making multiple decisions every day when it comes to food-which means we have to be connecting to our goal regularly. Just imagine: you're eating 3 to 5 times a day, and every single time you're making that choice, it's a chance to either align to your goal or move away from it. There are so many decisions you're making each day. It's not just what you eat. It's will you exercise? Are you going to do your mindset work? Should I drink water? All of these things that are going on are working you either closer towards your goal or further away, because health is something that comes up so often in our daily actions.
This is why we need to be connecting to our goal regularly. And it really is those small daily choices that make such a difference, because over time, small actions end up in really big results.
Now, I want you to also think that this critical phase of connecting to your goal is really within that first 30 to 90 days, because this is when you are trying to change those neural pathways in your brain. You're trying to create new habits. It requires quite a lot of conscious effort until those behaviors become automatic. So this is why connecting to your goal is particularly important in the beginning.
You might find that once you start to see the results of your weight loss-the first day that maybe you go and get dressed and all of a sudden, those pants that used to be tight, they're loose-you know, once you start to see physical evidence of your results, you might not need to connect to your goal quite as often, because the mere act of getting dressed is going to be getting you excited about your goal. But in the beginning, when you're in this process of establishing new habits, saying no to things that you would quite like to say yes to-when you're in this phase, connecting to your goal is really, really critical so that you stay on track.
10 Powerful Ways to Connect to Your Goal Daily
So let's look at ten powerful ways that you can start connecting to your goal really easily in your daily life. And I'll start with probably one of the most popular and easy ones to create:
1. Create a Vision Board
Nothing is better than being able to look at your goal. I've got about three vision boards for my different goals-my health goal, my business goal-and I have a lot of fun putting that together. You can use images, you might have some motivating photos, some quotes. Now you want to put it somewhere where you can see it multiple times a day: maybe in the bathroom, in your office, in your bedroom.
Imagine how powerful it is if the last thing you do before you go to sleep is to look at that vision board in your bedroom, and also when you first wake up in the morning-you won't be able to escape your goal. The more often you can look at it, the better. And of course you want to update it as well. You might find new quotes that you like-put that on there. You might find new photos, whatever it is that gets you excited.
If you want to lose weight because you're going on a holiday to Fiji, well, I'd be putting some beautiful pictures of a tropical beach on my vision board, and I would just be imagining myself sitting in my togs feeling really happy on that beach. Of course, a vision board is particularly powerful when you are a visual person, and so many of us are. So connecting to that goal in that way can be really powerful.
2. Create a Goals Photo Album on Your Phone
Now, we all probably have our phone in our hand a lot of the time during the day, so use this to your advantage. Make an album in your photo area with your goal. So call it your "Goals Album" and fill it with motivating photos-again, some quotes, whatever it is that you see that inspires you to think about your goal. Just save that photo into that folder.
And then when you're having downtime during the day, instead of scrolling social media and looking at everybody else's goal, you can look at yours. It also might be something you do if you're waiting in line, maybe when you go to the bathroom. Look, all those little moments of the day that you're having downtime-why not connect to your goal? And once again, every time you take a new photo or see something that motivates you, take a quick photo of it and save it into your goals folder.
3. Create a Private Instagram Account for Your Goal
Another cool thing you can do on your phone: if you're somebody who really likes Instagram, why not create a whole new account just for your goal? Make it really private so that no one else can see it. But this could be a cool place for you to be able to save things from Instagram that you like onto your own little Instagram account.
4. Morning Journaling Deep Dive
Number four, and this is probably my most favorite one: doing a morning journaling deep dive into your goal. When you start the day connecting to your goal like this, it's a powerful way to set yourself up with the right intention to move forward into your day.
So what you can do is write down your goal, what your goal is, why it is important to you, and then the three things you are going to do that day to make progress towards your goal. This is something I do every day and it has made such a difference. Just starting the day, reminding myself what it is that I want and why I want it-it has made all the difference for me, so I really encourage you to give it a go.
Journaling takes literally 5 to 10 minutes of your time. It's completely free, and I would say that it's the most powerful thing you can do for your mindset.
5. Set Your Phone Lock Screen
Number five: coming back to our phones, why not put an image on your phone lock screen so that every time your phone loads up again, you are seeing that powerful image that's going to instantly connect you to your purpose? You might have that image as the background image on your phone so that once again, every time you're looking at it, you're reminded of your goal.
It might be a number. It might be a picture of that tropical beach. Look, whatever it is-if you're looking at that every single time your phone turns on, I know it's going to help you strengthen that motivation muscle.
6. Create a Charm Bracelet Progress Tracker
Number six is having a charm bracelet. Now, this is a cool strategy that I saw when I first started working as a nutritionist. And there was a lady at that consultancy who lost a large amount of weight-it was 40 kilos. And what she did was she had a charm bracelet. Every single time she lost five kilos, she would buy a new charm for her bracelet.
So you can imagine, by the time she'd lost 40 kilos, she had a beautiful looking bracelet. And what a neat thing to keep her motivated, because of course, every single time she looked at her wrist, she was reminded about what an amazing job that she had done. So I loved that idea, and I've shared it with a lot of my clients.
And in fact, I got a wonderful email a few months ago from one of the ladies in my program who had lost ten kilos, and she'd bought a couple of little bracelets and sent me a photo. And she said that idea had really resonated with her. I mean, who doesn't love a bit of jewelry, right?
But what I also really love about that idea is that it's our hand that is so often reaching for the food. So if you can have some sort of tangible reminder on your body, that's a really, really great way to connect to your goal because it's something that you're going to be looking at every single time you are eating and making these food decisions.
7. Strategic Post-It Notes
Okay, number seven: what about some good old strategic post-it notes? You want to grab those post-it notes, write down the number that you want to achieve or the quote-whatever it is-and then put those post-its in places that you are going to see them regularly. It might be on your bathroom mirror, in the coffee maker, on your car dashboard, on your computer monitor. Look, wherever it is, it's just that way to connect to your goal really quickly in a way that is just going to keep reminding you of your purpose.
I'm a big fan of post-it notes, and I actually really love putting some affirmations on mine-affirmations that just make me feel really positive. One of my favorites is: "Every day I'm showing up for myself in the best way that I can." Every time I read that, it just gives me a little burst of energy.
8. Create a Goal Shrine
Okay, so number eight: create a little space in your house where you are going to make almost a little shrine to your goal. Now it might be the corner of a room. It could be a shelf-just somewhere that you can see and put on there some little photos, some ornaments. Look, whatever it is that really reminds you of your goal, and it's somewhere where you can just go and look at to get that instant reconnection to your goal.
9. Use Technology Reminders
Now, number nine: let's use technology in our favor. Why not? If you use an electronic calendar, bring up a daily notification. You might have a notification that's going to pop up on your calendar a couple of times each day with a motivational message for you. What about the alarm on your phone? You might be able to time it so that a couple of times each day you get a little notification and it's reminding you about your goal.
We use technology so much in our everyday life, so why not use it to give our mindset a little boost as well?
10. Find an Accountability Partner
And the last one I've got for you is number ten, which is: get an accountability partnership system. Find a goal buddy-someone who's also got a goal, who understands what you're going through. You might want to check in with each other every day. Have a little WhatsApp group. You might leave messages for each other, something like that.
If you can share the journey, talk about what's working, talk about your obstacles, help boost each other on those more challenging days and celebrate together-it is really, really powerful. So much more motivating than doing this on your own.
The Secret to Turning Goals into Reality
So there you have it. That is ten ways that you can start really connecting to your goal every single day. And that is going to be the secret that turns your goal into a driving force that you simply cannot forget about. This is the part of goal setting which is so often overlooked, and yet that really is the magic that you need in a weight loss goal. Because we are making so many decisions every single day, the more often you connect to your goal, the more likely you are to achieve it.
This isn't motivational fluff. It really is based on how our brains work and how habits are formed. Now remember, you might not have to do this forever, but it's going to be really helpful for that first 30 to 90 days while you are changing habits so that you can do what's required. It's not easy. It's not easy making change. So the more often you're connecting to your goal, the better.
Your Next Steps
So let's look at what you can do if you're ready to get started now. And what I would love you to choose is three of these ideas and bring them into your goal setting routine right now. So just pick three of the things that I've talked about and get started. Make that folder on your phone. Create a little vision board. Look, whatever resonates the most with you. You're soon going to see what a difference it makes to your decision making. I know it's going to help you nail your goal so much faster.
Now, next week, I'm going to do a deep dive into one of these actions that I've talked about today. It's one that I believe is just so powerful, which is the morning journaling. And I'm going to talk about how you can set yourself up for massive success each day by really nailing that morning routine. When you master the morning, you will master the day.
Thanks so much for listening, and if you want support on your weight loss journey, I would love to help. You'll see the links in the show notes for my socials, as well as my fab freebie-a five day low carb meal plan and five delicious dinner recipes. You'll also see the link for my four week Foundations of Fat Loss program. This is the program I've designed specifically for the fat burning needs of women over 35.
Remember, the only thing that's going to stop you reaching your goal is if you quit. Never, ever give up.
