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How do you stay focused on goals when things are in the way?

#I am a genuine nice person and good listener #personal-development

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Cara’s Answer

For short term, daily goals - it's important to begin each day with a list of 1-3 goals that you would like to accomplish for that day. Build time into your calendar to accomplish these tasks, as well as use it as a guide when you find yourself unsure of what you should do next. Put a post-it on your computer as a reminder that you have to go through this exercise every day.

So when things get in the way - revisit your list and make sure you get your TOP items accomplished. And if you identify 1 instead of 3 per day, then that is what it needs to be realistic.

For long term goals, you will still need to write down your goals, and have a periodic check-in with a buddy or mentor to help you stay on track.

It's important to be able to say "no" to some things that get in the way that aren't vital for what is important to your role, in order to free up time for what is truly important.

And finally, if personal things are getting in the way you should also apply this exercise to home. Also identify what is important and what's not. Identify 3 important things you need to accomplish for the week in order to keep things running smoothly.
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Venkat’s Answer

Hi,
Start small - pick one task at a time.
Once you have started to make it a routine, you can then go about and see if you can add more time to this activity.
Complete the task and move on to the next task.

Thank you
Venkat K
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Tonya’s Answer

Hello Denzellis,
Life will always give you twist and turns, so create a plan. Write it down. Start larger and then break it down into milestones.
• For instance, where would you like to see yourself in 5 years?
o From that vision write your plan.
o Create a daily to-do-list. Work small accomplishments at a time
o Celebrate small milestones along the way to keep you energized.
 If you completed all your daily task at the end of the week---celebrate!
o Those daily tasks turn into weekly accomplishments, weekly accomplishments turn into monthly success and monthly success leads to year over year profits and gains.
Remember, you have the power to create your path of destiny.
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Adam’s Answer

Create a list of your goals. Make it clear and to minimize the distractions. This can be an anchor to the goals.
Create a calendar blocking system for your personal or professional goals. Allocation of time is very important.
Make an agreement with yourself to stay committed to the calendar blocks you have put in place. It's too easy to get distracted.
Share your goals with someone in order to keep you accountable.
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Meggan’s Answer

I recently heard a presentation at work from the Olympic swimmer, Michael Phelps. In the discussion, he laid out his three steps to achieve his goals.
1) Dream
2) Plan
3) Reach

He noted that once you define your dream, the key to this approach is being able to recognize that there are many different plans one can take to achieve their goals. If you don't reach it on the first try, go back to step 2 and try another plan. It may take multiple attempts but if you are focused and determined, you can get there!
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Rebecca’s Answer

Hi, this is a good question. I am not sure how long you plan to achieve your goal. Is it long term or short term?
If you have some long term goal, I would suggest you break it down into some short term milestones that you can achieve in short term. Also, I suggest you put down to plan how to achieve these short term milestones. For example, you can put down in your diary how much time everyday you plan to do and what progress you plan to make. This is help you to easily keep yourself focus and keep track of the progress. Also, you have the sense of achievement and satisfaction. If you have a goal that takes a long time to achieve, you may lose your focus and motivation.
Hope it helps! Good Luck!
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Todd’s Answer

You need to create a list of your priorities. You need to set goals and create a path to achieve them. Everyone has goals but the ones that know how to prioritize them write them down and work on ways to complete them. You need to set the boundaries to control your destiny. Make sure to divide your time to prioritize your goals between your personal goals and helping other people. Finding that balance will be critical to creating the time to complete the goals you've written down! You can always help people but don't forget yourself and make sure to create the time and space to put yourself first!
Thank you comment icon Great advice! Cara Livingston
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Matei’s Answer

Hi Denzellis,

Things will always get in the way of your goals as it's the nature of life. Firstly you'll need to set yourself some concrete goals you're looking to achieve and realistically set them long term (for example 10 years) and work backwards and make smaller goals for each of the timeframes (5 years, 3 years etc.). You can use the SMART approach to creating goals.

Motivation and willpower are going to be limited therefore my recommendation is to create habits that will help you achieve your goals - for example scheduling in your calendar a weekly / monthly / quarterly review of your progress against your goals. Leverage notifications to remind yourself of the goals.

On top of this you may want to have the goals visible - I usually put them on the post-it notes on the mirror in the bathroom - which I use as my Accountability matrix.
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Brian’s Answer

That is a great question. Staying focused is hard, but doing little things to help really make a difference. For example, I use a personal calendar and to-do list so that I can stay on track with everything I need to get done no matter how crazy my day gets. My suggestion to you is to find a good routine that you like, and to stick with it and to use productivity tools like calendars and sticky notes. See what works best for you, because it took me quite a while to do that. Focusing isn't easy, and just like any class, you have to learn and practice it to get better.
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Elizabeth’s Answer

HI -

"Life" often gets in the way of our goals, making it very challenging . Here are a few tips that I have found useful. Hope they help you as well.

1. Break the goal into smaller pieces. The goal or task in it's whole may seem overwhelming. But every goal is usually accomplished by a sum of little or smaller segments. And the sum of the parts is often greater then the whole.

2. Prioritize - not always easy to do. We often need to make sacrifices. "Everytime we say 'yes' to something, we're saying 'no' to something else"
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