2 Tips to Keep Your Goals on Track

How do you keep goals on track?

You have put effort and care into creating your goals. Now, in this 3-minute video, I'll share two proven tips for keeping those goals on track.

HINT: It's all about developing these 2 goal-supporting habits that will keep you accountable as you travel the path to personal significance.

Full Transcript of video

Hello, I’m Josh Duncan with SCBTV News bringing you this edition of Financial Freedom. The purpose of Financial Freedom is to provide tips to help you achieve financial freedom for personal significance.

Welcome to the fourth episode in our series about goals and how they can help you achieve personal significance. Last time we discussed how to make your goals SMART. Today we are going to discuss tracking your goals.

How you created your goals

As we begin discussing goal tracking it’s important to reflect on the steps you have taken to get here. You had to first decide to write goals in the first place. Then, think through the goals you would use to move you closer to your business or personal vision. Finally, you took the time to write down your SMART goals.

The plan for keeping your goals on track

Now it’s time to begin working toward your goals. Let’s begin by laying out a plan for tracking. First, decide if you will use paper or electronic tracking. Either way will work so go with your preference. If you choose to use electronic tracking, be sure you can access your goals when you are away from your computer.

As creatures of habit, let’s consider how a habit is created. First, some information causes you to make a choice. Next, a craving is initiated. You then respond to the craving to gain the prize.

Here is an example. When you arrive to work each day, you find many of your coworkers in the coffee area. You quickly make the decision to join them since you like coffee and some conversation. During that time in conversation, you obtain your prize of feeling connected, valued and energized. You then head back to your desk. This has become your daily habit.

Creating new habits helps you achieve your goals

Now, it’s time to create a new habit to track your goals. Enter a 15-minute meeting at the beginning of each day. This is the time when you will review your goals. Repeating this step daily will train your mind to develop a new habit. Your goals will be fresh in your mind and your desire to succeed will begin to work in your favor.

Enlist a trusted friend or colleague to support your goals

To ensure the highest level of accountability, you will need to go one step further by asking a trusted friend or colleague to help. Reach out to this person and let them know you would like some help achieving your goals over the next year. When they agree, share your goals with them. Then, agree to a quarterly lunch schedule to help you review your progress and help with any course corrections.

Now your goals are on track

Here is what you have done. First, you have committed yourself to succeed by reviewing your goals daily. This will allow you to continuously track your progress and next actions. Second, you have created outside accountability by asking a friend or colleague to help you. You will want to achieve your, now public, goals and your friend or colleague will be thinking about how to help you succeed.

You will be surprised what you can achieve!

As we wrap up, reflect on the amount of effort and work you have put forth to achieve your goals. Now is the time to move forward and start achieving these goals. Create a new habit of reviewing your goals daily and ask a trusted friend or colleague to hold you accountable. You will be surprised by what you can achieve.

Thank you for joining me for Financial Freedom. I'm Josh Duncan with F5 Financial Planning, helping you achieve financial freedom for personal significance. Please click here to send topics you would like me to cover. See you next time.

Recent video blog posts in this series:

• 5 Reasons to Set Goals
• 3 Steps to Accomplish Any Goal
• 5 Keys for Making Goals SMART