The New Year is a great time to begin thinking about learning a new skill or taking on a special project that you have been keeping on the back burner.
Yet, the idea of adding more to your daily schedule may just push you over the edge of being motivated enough to take on something new. Often when we think about learning a new skill or doing a project we do not take into consideration all that we have on our plate to figure out realistically how we can find the time to do what it is that we really would like to do.
The issue is not being realistic with what time you have to accomplish doing something extra and we jump in with unrealistic expectations, which can lead to failure.
The key for success is careful planning and it will be different depending on your time, personality, drive, motivation, and difficulty of skill or project that you are trying to complete. The following three steps have been instrumental in successfully completing goals for myself.
Three Steps:
You need to define what it is that you want to do in detail. You realistically need to figure out how much time you have to devote to it and what are the detailed steps that you will need to take.
What will it take to accomplish your new skill or project? Are there educational tools or classes will you need to take? How much money will it take? How devoted are you to accomplishing this skill? Once you have written down the answers to the questions above you will be ready to move onto the third step.
Break down your steps above into bite-size-pieces: Be realistic about this because this is where most people bite off more than they can chew. Unless you are under a deadline from your job to accomplish your new skill or project you can take your time to complete it without pressure, and you will most likely enjoy it more without pressure.
Set goal dates and what you want to accomplish by each of them. I personally go with smaller goals because when I reach them I am more motivated and if I reach them early, I can exceed them, which really feels good.
The real key to accomplish a new skill or project is being realistic with yourself, do not make it hard, make it easy and enjoyable.
What have you been thinking of doing in 2015?
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