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Isn’t it amazing how an otherwise minor event in one’s life can lead to many learning experiences?

That’s been the case with Mission Sofa Shopping from my post ‘How to Influence People with Authentic Persuasion’ that led to reflections on staying motivated to complete the bigger goals that we set for ourselves.

I’d love to say there was a happy ending with the shop fulfilling its promise to deliver in 10 days of placing the order but it took us over 3 weeks to get the new sofa set.

Suddenly a simple purchase acquired the status of a goal to get the sofa set as soon as possible because I had a buyer for the old one (which happened very quickly, I must say).

I needed to make sure all the moving parts were in sync because 1 slip up would have upset the entire apple cart. A SMART Goal was established and I got to work.

Mission Sofa Shopping now transformed into Project Sofa Delivery got me thinking about Goal Achievement and the role of rest to maintain and motivation to achieve the goal.

Here’s what happened.

Last week Wednesday I cornered the shop where we had placed the order for the new sofa set and reminded them they were 2 weeks overdue. To my surprise, they said we could come to inspect it the next day and lo behold the set was ready.

They were ready to send it that evening itself but I had to first go to the bank and get the balance of money out because they wanted a cash payment and also arrange with the buyer of the old sofa set to take it before the new one came home.

All went according to plan – money withdrawn on Thursday afternoon and old sofa set given a wistful and sentimental adieu on Friday and then the wait for the new one to arrive at 6 pm.

Thank God my Mom decided to check with the sofa maker at 4 pm if they had loaded the new set only to be told they would send it the next day because they forgot the delivery was due that day!

To cut a long story short, my Mom talked to them the way only a Mom can talk and the time was rescheduled for 9 pm that evening because of traffic rules about trucks being off the road during rush hour.

Then the poor delivery man got lost! The furniture arrived by 9.30 pm and by 10 pm, we had a new sofa set and a very upset dog in the house.

Miss Coco is almost 11 years old and the activity of strange people coming into the house and removing sofa sets and then even stranger people coming late at night during her walk time to replace it with something new was not fun.

By Saturday morning, the only thing I wanted to do was drink coffee and generally rest.

I listed my weekend To Do List Tasks and plugged them into my Ken Blanchard’s Quadrant. That approach is similar to the Covey Quadrant which many people are more familiar with. Let’s say nothing there fell in the Covey style Urgent and Important or Not Urgent and Important slots.

I decided I needed a break.

I mean, if I made it a point not to work on weekends during my corporate world years unless there was a deadline that required all hands on deck, then why couldn’t I, the boss of Karmic Ally Coaching do the same?

After all, our employers did give us compensatory time off to rest and rejuvenate.

Especially since I had achieved a major goal? Did I dare to take the same advice that I give my stressed out clients?

Couldn’t I defer all the other goals I had? Especially if my life didn’t depend on them?

In fact, taking a short break between goal completions is important.

The Motivation Factor in the Realm of Goals

Keeping yourself motivated when you have a list of goals can certainly be a challenge. Imagine having a to-do list of pressures that you’ve put on yourself – that’s basically what a list of goals is.

If you’re not motivated to get them done, you can soon find yourself giving up and never making any goals again.

Focus on what is important to you, and let everything else go. Scan all areas of your life and clear out the internal and external clutter, and you’ll experience remarkable transformation.

Rest and rejuvenate. Do what matters and release the rest.

Simple as it might sound, these principles apply even when we’re dealing with long term big picture goals.

Here are 5 quick ways to make sure you stay on track and motivated to meet your goals.

Give yourself incentives

You should be thinking about this when you’re making the goals. How will you benefit once the goal is completed? Will you get more than just a sense of achievement?

Goals focused on qualifications and exams, for example, are beneficial to you since you will have a qualification for the rest of your life if you pass.

For goals which are less incentivized and require an extra push, promise yourself a new wardrobe or a new pair of shoes or even a premium perfume if you complete it within your desired time frame.

These rewards will also remind you of previous achievements when you start to feel stuck in new goal completions.

Bonus Tip: Learn to celebrate your small Successes.

Talk to others

Discuss your goals with other people if you feel comfortable doing so. Thousands of people make goals every year, so you’re bound to know somebody you could talk to about them.

It could give you inspiration, and you could get some useful tips off them on how they manage to complete their goals or how they maintain motivation.

If people in your circle haven’t faced your particular challenge, look around in your social media groups and raise a discussion.

You’d be surprised at the amount of knowledge and experience is available within the community.

I’ve seen discussions ranging from selling a house and purchasing a new one, cataract surgeries and lately even one on root canal treatments!

Don’t see your goals in isolation

Those who view their goals in isolation are often less likely to meet them. Rather than viewing your goal as just a number or another goal, think about other goals you have and ways it ties into them.

For example, you may have your sights set on a particular role at work or on a promotion that you will be eligible for in 2 years’ time.

Achieving the Key Performance Indices set by your boss in a systematic manner by remembering that each of the goals in your annual performance plan will help you meet your targets and even motivate you to raise your game and do more to demonstrate you have what it takes.

Adopt a favorite stress management technique to help you keep your mind calm and focused

My all-time favorite is Transcendental Meditation (TM) that I have been practicing since my internship days in London.

I found it helped me cope with the pressures of a full day’s work at my employers and still have the energy and required focus to study for my Chartered Accountant exams in the evening- my big picture goal at the time as I knew the qualification would open doors for my desired career.

TM is a simple technique practiced 20 minutes twice each day while sitting comfortably with the eyes closed.

Unlike other forms of meditation, this practice involves no concentration, no control of the mind, no contemplation, no monitoring of thoughts. It automatically allows the active thinking mind to settle down to a state of inner calm.

In addition to calming the mind and improving focus, a new study by investigators from The Center for Wellness and Achievement in Education (CWAE) discovered school district staff in California who practiced TM for four months had significant improvements in emotional intelligence and perceived stress.

Another good tool is Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) or Tapping. This technique involves tapping on meridian points while articulating the problem and then reframing it to shift the mindset to one of solution orientation.

And my favourite!

Give yourself a break

Life shouldn’t be all about targets and meeting your goals, whether they are personal or work-related. Take some time to give yourself a break every now and then.

When you go on vacation, for example, try not to think about your goals as much and use the time to reflect.

Many people take one day a week to relax from fitness goals, or an entire weekend to stop thinking about work.

After Project Sofa Delivery, I took the entire weekend off with no social media, no client work and nothing that required exertion in order to recoup my energy and start the next week on a fresh note and focus on other important goals that had been deferred.

Final thoughts on big picture goals

It’s easy to think of and set big picture goals and we might believe that Goal setting is an intuitive process that results in achievement.

But there are a few specific rules to goal setting that make the process much more efficient, and effective!

Set Yourself Up for Success from the Beginning

Huge, lofty goals are the best goals – and everyone should have big goals! The end goal, the big one, can be as big as you’d like, but make sure that’s not the only goal you set.

Smaller interim goals are necessary to ensure your road to success is a smooth one. It becomes too overwhelming to set one goal even if it is a great end goal.

For example in my book Money Success Secret: Alchemy of Mindset and Management, I approach Finance Goals and Money Management from the perspective of having big goals and byte size goals that lead up to our ultimate end goal.

Set Realistic Goals

Be realistic with your goals. For example, if purchasing a new car in the next year just isn’t going to happen, don’t set yourself a goal that big, or you’ll only be setting yourself up for failure from the very get-go. Instead, set more realistic goals that you actually have the chance to achieve.

There are usually many smaller goals that make up large goals, and there’s nothing wrong with setting a pace for yourself so that you stay on track. This is definitely preferable to getting overwhelmed and ending up endlessly negatively analyzing your every move.

If it is a transformation goal, be kind to yourself and accept it might take longer to manifest.

Setting realistic goals will make sure that you achieve them!

Visualize and Believe

The goals you set become so much more concrete in your mind when you can also visualize them and believe that you’ll reach them.

The first step in effective visualization is to pull all your senses into the process. If your goal is a new sedan, imagine how it feels to drive in that car, the amount of leg space, the new features compared to your current car. Visualize taking your family for a long drive in it and how happy everyone is.

Utilizing the senses in this way when you visualize will help secure this goal within your subconscious mind, and effectively make it easier to take the actions you need to take to work towards your goals. Your actions will follow your thoughts, so make visualization a part of your daily routine.

I’ve described the process in my post on creative visualization if you want to learn the exact method. It helped me manifest a new laptop in record time!

How will you stay motivated to achieve your long term goals?