Is it your list or your priorities?
“I KNOW WHAT I NEED TO DO,” SHE SAYS TO ME. “I DO. IT’S JUST HARD.”
She’s laid out some pretty significant goals.
- Find a new job
- Finish her yoga certification training (200 hour course)
- Lose 10-15 lbs
- Train for a half marathon
- Dedicate at least one night a week to “girlfriend time” – no spouse, no kids
And she’d like to do all this in six months.
“Is this do-able?” she asks me.
Well, that depends, I tell her.Where do you want to start?
“Start? What do you mean? I want to do all of it. Now.”
The thing is, these items had been her goal for the past six months., and she didn’t accomplish them. So I get why she’s wondering if it’s even achievable.
But her answer to my question also tells me why she didn’t succeed. Not yet.(But that’s what she has me for, now).
Because we have to consider her journey.
- She has been at the same job for the past 12 years. She’s not been job hunting on LinkedIn or through Indeed before, and she’s only passingly familiar with Glassdoor.
- She signed up for several yoga certification-meeting workshops in the past six months but didn’t attend them. Something always came up.
- The weight-loss goal is actually going on year three.
- She hasn’t run a 5k in over a year, much less a half marathon.
- She has two young kids, a spouse, and we live in the time of Covid.
I don’t list this because her goals are unreasonable or unattainable. They absolutely are.
But how many times have you tried to start a diet, an exercise program, a new certification, a new social routine AND the soul-sucking efforts of job hunting all at the same time?
Even trying to start half those things all on the same day is daunting. And a gorgeous recipe for failure.
It’s not a matter of, can we succeed and can it be done in her six month time frame.
It’s a matter of, how do we prioritize what she wants to accomplish, and then tackle in small, snackable bites that build the right habits for success.
Small changes, turning into repeatable, positive habits, are the building blocks for achieving big change.
It takes discipline, yes. It takes focus, yes.
It also takes one small, successful step at a time.
Will some of these projects be worked on simultaneously?
Definitely.
But do they all need to be started at the same day, at the same time, for her to reach success?
Not at all.
I’m curious, if this was YOUR list of goals for next six months, in what order would you prioritize getting those projects started?
