3 Steps to Actually Reaching Your Goals in 2022

Do you make New Year’s Resolutions? If you do, here are some statistics you should probably know about…

Of those who make a New Year’s resolution, after 1 week 75% are still successful in keeping it. After two weeks, the number drops to 71%. After 1 month, the number drops again to 64%. After 6 months, 46% of people who make a resolution are still successful in keeping it. In comparison, of those people who have similar goals but do not set a resolution, only 4% are still successful after 6 months.

Don’t let yourself become a statistic and instead, follow these 5 steps to actually reaching your goals in 2022…

Step 1: Focus only on the first step.

So many people spend weeks, months, and even years simply planning out their goals without taking any action. They need to get the plan completely perfect before they feel confident enough to make moves. 

Don't kid yourself into thinking you need this crazy elaborate plan to even get started. All you need to do is just focus on the first step. 

Once you have clarity on your big moving target goal, you don’t need to figure out every single step you need to take to reach it before you get started. All you need to do is take the first step and then figure out the next steps as you go. Your goal is a moving target, which means all you need to do is get yourself moving in the general direction. After you accomplish the first step, the second step will be clear. 

Step 2: Utilize the Compound Effect.

The compound effect is the simple principle of reaping huge rewards from a series of small, smart choices. These small little things you do on this path to where you want to be, sometimes feel almost so insignificant that they may not even worth it. But here’s the thing: Done over a long period of time, six months, or one year, or even three years, these small habits compound and will lead you to reaching your goals.

You may not notice them compounding, and other people may also not notice. You need to realize that just because they don’t have immediate impact doesn’t mean they won’t have a significant impact. 

For example, let’s say you decide to cut 120 calories from your diet daily. This doesn’t seem like a lot and quite easy to do, right? It’s just 120 calories! Over the course of 6 months, that’s equal to cutting 21,600 calories and losing 6 pounds. Over the course of 2 years, that’s 87,500 calories and 25 pounds! 

See how the small change of cutting 120 calories compounded into a significant result of losing 25 pounds? 

If you want to learn more about this principle, check out the book, “The Compound Effect” by Darren Hardy. 

Step 3: Write down your goals.

Did you know you are 42 percent more likely to achieve your goals if you write them down? It not only forces you to get more clear on what exactly you want to accomplish, but doing so plays a part in motivating you to complete the tasks necessary for your success.
The process of putting your goals on paper will force you to strategize, to ask questions about your current progress, and to brainstorm your plan of attack. More importantly, it makes it feel so much more real by forcing you to go through the thought process of how the heck do you actually do this?!
If you’re dedicated to reaching your goals in 2022, we share two more steps in this episode of the Dialed Health Podcast:

102: ✔️ How to Set Goals and Actually Reach Them + The Compound Effect