3 Actionable Tactics To Save 2019
-Keith R. Sbiral
Do you have plans to grill or enjoy the sun during the long July 4th weekend?
I’m going to be entertaining guests from out of town for the opening of my first solo photography exhibit. Having a gallery show has been a goal that has literally been on my list for years. But when it opens July 5, at The Rangefinder Gallery in the River North Design District in Chicago (that was a subtle plug wasn’t it?) I will check the goal achieved. It isn’t a business or career related goal but an avocational goal, and one that I have struggled to achieve. I decided that 2019 would be the year I was going to finally achieve this goal and I’m less than 10 days from doing just that.
Of course there are at least ten additional items on a deep bench of goals jockeying to be the replacement. So after the burgers and fireworks are over, I still have work to do on my 2019 goals.
How is your 2019?
Are you achieving goals and going to the bench for your replacement goals, or are your goals stagnating and taking root on the 2019 goal list?
July, and Q3, are right around the corner. Can you believe we are half way through 2019? Have you checked off half your goals? Have you completed more than 50% of the progress you need to achieve your 2019 goals? If the answer is yes, congratulations. Keep up the work, the payoff is worth it.
If you are struggling, you aren’t alone. More than 82% of goals have been cast aside by this point in the year. Often we don’t even remember the work plan, goal list, or approach we decided to take at the beginning of the year.
You are in good company, whether life has thrown a curve ball, new projects have gotten in the way, the procrastination monster has taken over, or you just haven’t been able to make forward progress, I am going to offer three actionable tactics you can use before the end of the July 4th weekend to get back on track and have an insanely productive second half of 2019.
3 Tactics to Save 2019
Tactic 1. BUY A BOOK: It is important that you really work through your goals and why you want to achieve them. If you are behind and haven’t accomplished what you want this year, take time to review your list of goals again. Over time our goals often become mismatched with our ultimate “why.” It’s not uncommon for a client to have a goal and when asked why they seek to achieve that goal, they either don’t have an answer or realize that the goal is either no longer relevant in their life or is more relevant for someone else in their life. Even though it is July and not January, buy the book Your Best Year Ever: A 5-Step Plan for Achieving Your Most Important Goals, by Michael Hyatt. This is a quick read and will (hopefully over the July 4th weekend) provide you with a simple framework to refocus on what goals are important and start to create a plan to make the next six months much more productive than the last six months.
Tactic 2. TAKE ONE STEP IN 30 MINUTES: Ok, my goal here is to make sure you take more than one step, but this is an exercise that will help kick start your progress. Take your list of goals and write down the next smallest steps that need to happen as you work through the goals. You should write down really small steps like:
a. Set up a meeting with Jim
b. Order the book mentioned in Tactic 1
c. Organize the pile of receipts
d. Send two emails requesting information
The goal here is to have simple small items that will give you a kick start on each goal. Take 15 minutes to write down simple next steps for each goal you are working on.
Now here is the part that gets your goal moving: Take the next 15 minutes to check off as many of the items you listed as you can. The goal is to get the most action items completed as possible. Once you do this you will have made considerable forward progress and put future progress in motion. Each time you feel “stuck” you can rework this process and continue to make incremental forward progress on your goals.
Tactic 3. DO NOTHING: That’s right. Do nothing. If you haven’t come close to achieving your goals in 2019, chances are there are many other domains of your life that are hectic and chaotic. Taking time to recharge and refuel are essential to increasing our overall productivity and effectiveness.
So do nothing. Or do something that allows you to recharge. Use the long weekend to have a picnic, go for a walk or a run, or even visit a local art gallery (ok that one was obvious and you probably saw it coming, right?). Stop beating yourself up for what happened last month or last week. You have six months to save 2019.
So there you have it. Buy a book, take one step, and do nothing. Your keys to making the second half of 2019 better than the first. It may sound gimmicky, but reading one book, working on your goals for 30 minutes, and taking some time to recharge will put you in an incredibly strong position to achieve more than you thought possible.
I’ll let you know how it feels to check off my big goal on July 5.
It is completely normal to seek assistance to create a more fulfilling approach to your goals, career, and life. If you desire a bit more assistance, or would like to explore coaching with Apochromatik, email us and we will be happy to chat with you about options to help you become the most successful, best version of you so you can reach your goals in the second half of 2019 and beyond.