Have a strategy and take action

"The start is the most important part of the journey."

Plato

It is already clear where we can start from. We already set our goals in each area of our lives, quantified them, set a deadline, and prioritized them.

Now that you know which are the objectives that motivate you the most and which are more immediate, I suggest a strategy to start taking action and achieving them.

To achieve our goals, it is not enough to write them down and have a strategy. You need to take action. It is easier said than done. Our nature (our brain) presents resistance to change, always seeking to remain in a state of security and low risk: the so-called “comfort zone”.

We live in a world in which we want everything quickly and with the least possible effort: losing weight and becoming muscular, regaining health, being successful and rich … We forget that what leads us to be what we want to be, or achieve what we want to achieve is the path: the experience and the process we go through leading us towards our goals. It is what shapes us as a person. And we forget that the only time we can build our future is in the present. The now.

There are several ways to take action.

It might happen that you try to take a big step, you are very lucky, and immediately achieve what you want. But this is very difficult, and in the long term it is also difficult to maintain it if you do not have good fundamentals.

Another situation is that one experiences a wake-up call (for example a serious illness), which takes to the option of either changing how he lives, or suffer the consequences. There are people who change their lives drastically in situations like this, but many do not do it because it is not easy.

In addition, our instincts make us go back and stay in the comfort zone. We can take the big step, jump into the water, but when we realize that it is necessary to make an effort (and maintain it over time), we end up returning to the same place we started from.

After looking for options on how to help myself and my patients, the strategy that has served me the most is taking small steps. Little habits. Micro-habits. Steps so small that they seem stupid, but in the end they are the ones that make the difference. They are a way to take action with little effort and creating habits. They are a way of “hacking” the brain out of its comfort zone, which of course is to keep things as they are. I propose a model to create your strategy including micro-habits to start implementing it immediately. From the first 24 hours! Focus on your goals, and take action by taking the first steps.

Motivation is important, but it progressively diminishes, and the result is that we often give up. Hence the importance of strategy. If you start with very small and easy steps you will feel proud of doing something to make your dreams come true. And the steps are so small that there are no excuses not to act. Strategy and action are the key.

Instructions:

The model is “the pyramidal strategy.” You can find a sheet to do your pyramidal strategy in the bonus material. You can print it (it’s free!) Or write your information on a blank sheet of paper. Whatever is more comfortable for you.

If we imagine a pyramid, the tip would correspond to our final goal (The big goal). Write it at the top of the page. Imagine breaking down that large goal into several slightly smaller ones, and writing them under the large goal (It would be the slightly wider part under the top of the pyramid). Then do the same for each of these sub-goals: divide or fraction them into smaller goals. Follow the process until you reach the smallest possible goals, so small they seem absurd. Now think about how much it would cost you to achieve that micro-goal you reached. If it makes you laugh at how small it is, it's a good sign, it's a good place to start taking action.

I give an example. Among my health goals, one is to eat at least 5 servings of fruit and / or vegetables every day. When I wrote my starting points I realized that many times I did not eat a single fruit or vegetable a day. The goal that would go under “at least 5 servings of fruit and / or vegetables a day” would be “eat at least 4 servings of fruit-vegetables a day.” The next one would be “eat at least 3 servings of fruit-vegetables a day.” The next one would be “eat at least 2 servings of fruit-vegetables a day.” The next one would be “eat at least 1 serving of fruit-vegetables a day.” The next one would be “eat at least 1 serving of fruit-vegetables every 2 days.” The latter was my first step. Currently I don’t eat 5 servings every day, but I do eat at least 3. And some days I get to 5 or more.I have had an improvement, but I still have not completely reached my final goal. I’m still working on my process.

In the bonus material you will find another free downloadable sheet, the “Goals and Habits Diary”. Write down the smallest goals you start taking action on and put a tick on the box when they are met. If you do more than what you had planned it is EXTRA, and you write another tick. But the most important thing is to meet the smallest goal. Sometimes when we think about doing more we can become demotivated when we do not meet the objectives. And we do not want that. Let’s take one small step at a time. You’ll be surprised!

Keep the sheets for each week in your journal or in a folder. They are your evidence. You will be able to see how you fulfil yourself, so that you do not forget those small triumphs. So that you SEE your commitment and your success.

In another Newsletter I will give other examples with exercise, reading, etc. It can be done with whatever you want. And I will also explain how to measure your results among other things.

¡Take action now!

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Quote suggested by reader:

“To big goals, small steps.”

MA Hernandez