Waking up at noon, eating some food, spending time on social media, napping again, scrolling more on social media, dinner time, and finally binging on late-night snacks & Netflix until the crack of dawn. Then you sleep, wake up, and repeat. You set some goals for the day, but somehow time flies and before you know it, the day is over with all these unfinished impending tasks. Does that sound any bit familiar to you?
If you said yes, then let me assure you, we are on the same boat! I, myself, am a victim of this enticing trap called procrastination. I recall having numerous goals and dreams that I wanted to accomplish, yet years of my life flashed by with me in the same place as where I started. I often brushed it off by saying “I was too busy” or “it was just impossible”. But in hindsight, all those goals, visions, and dreams were undoubtedly able to be accomplished. While I had the right motivation and plan to justify my goals, I lacked the most critical step of the process: planning and implementing. You can have all the clarity and determination in the world to achieve the end results, but without the vision of how to achieve the goal, whatever it may, and the ability to implement changes, you will never unleash your full potential.
Now, I am no expert to be advising how to overcome this. But, having learned it the hard way of seeing no progress in certain goals I set, I was fortunate to be able to derive some hacks and tips that have helped me manifest more recently. Had I implemented some of these changes earlier in my life, perhaps I would’ve seen different results but it’s never too early or too late to make some changes, so I urge you all to try some of these out and see if you feel a change!
1) Get a GIANT calendar to hang up in your room and write ALL your tasks down at the start of the month. Of course, you can always add more as time goes on, but the value of taking a few minutes to assort your commitments gives you the liberty to always be prepared to allocate time well. For those of you who are more tech-savvy, try out apps that cater to your style like google calendar!
2) Get a goal-organizing journal! There are a wide range of journals to invest in from your local bookstores or online, and I promise you that getting your hands on one will be life-changing! When we think of goals, we have a tendency to store it mentally, but studies show that taking the time to physically write and plan out how to accomplish them are significantly more likely to do so. Having a tangible object to represent our planning and investment subconsciously inclines us towards our goal-oriented mindset and can also serve as a reference of motivation when you feel you may be losing it!
3) Make a to-do list first thing in the morning. It can initially seem intimidating when outlining all the steps needed to manifest our goals. Take a deep breath, and break it down piece by piece. Don’t jump the steps, take the first step and set simple tasks to accomplish for that day. Be careful to keep your goals small and gradually increase them as you are able to handle it! I used to be overambitious and set unrealistic goals that I wasn’t able to accomplish which led me into a spiral of doubting myself. But it’s better to set small accomplishable goals and progress, as it’s psychologically proven that the reward basis has a positive influence on our minds.
4) Last but not least, track your progress at the end of each day. Great if you accomplished your day’s goals, challenge yourself the next day! If you weren’t able to accomplish your day’s tasks, that’s also okay! Take some time to reflect on what changes need to be made and IMPLEMENT them the next day, rather than being discouraged.
These tips may seem simple enough and cliche to many, but ask yourself “am I really doing all this”? Growing up I’ve always been taught to adhere to these lifestyle changes that I took for granted when my parents taught me. But in hindsight, I see how rerouting some small habits influence the ability to manifest in the bigger picture. Hopefully some of these tips may have helped and be sure to share some of your hacks too!
