Do you ever find yourself with the best of intentions… and not a lot of action?
Don’t worry, you’re not alone.
This is actually more common than you think…
Or what your judgy brain tells ya. LOL
Especially when life throws ya a bunch of curveballs – like it did for me with my recent social media hack.
Sometimes you gotta totally revamp your goals and plans on the fly.
Instead of beating yourself up, let’s take a new approach.
One in which you remember that you have the control in this situation. Even when it feels like ya don’t.
The secret from feeling like you suck and the feeling of success is actually not that far apart.
Follow these three tips and see how much easier taking that first step toward actually reaching your goals becomes.
3 Hacks to Take Action on Your Intentions
Be honest with yourself.
We like to lie to ourselves.
Ouch. I know that one may hurt a little bit, but it’s true.
As humans, we hate being uncomfortable. But sometimes that uncomfortable feeling is… actually kinda comfortable.
Here’s an example you may resonate with.
During the holidays, it’s straight up “Treat Yo Self” time.
A sanctioned period of excess that we love in the moment… until the hangover kicks in.
And I’m not even talking about a real hangover. I mean the hangover from:
- Spending too much.
- Eating too much.
- Ditching workouts in favor of holiday parties.
We lie and tell ourselves it’s temporary. That there’s not enough time to do everything… so we lean into what we want to do. And let what we know we should do slide to the back burner until January.
And what happens on January 1?
That “back to normal” routine is a straight-up struggle bus.
Even if you feel heavy, sluggish, and bleh, getting back in the saddle seems to require monumental effort.
So despite feeling insanely uncomfortable in your body, it’s more comfortable than change.
So you don’t take action. Or you half-ass it… which is basically the same as no-assing it. (Is that a thing? Imma make it be a thing.)
But there’s actually something deeper going on here.
There’s something going on underneath the inaction that you gotta get clear about. Because it’s realllll easy to lie to yourself with what I call the Big 3:
- I don’t have time.
- I don’t have money.
- It won’t work anyway.
So to take the first step toward your intention/goal, you gotta bust past those three BS lies and get to the root cause of your inaction.
- What are you avoiding?
- What are you making excuses for?
- What are you wrongfully believing about yourself?
This belief one is actually super insidious.
Our ego loves to tell us we can’t do things. Because the status quo is the way to go when it comes to the ego.
OMG that rhymed. Am I a rapper now?
Anyway… if you find yourself believing that you can’t do something… that you can’t make a change…
Think of a time when you DID do that thing – or something similar.
“I can’t get rid of these 10 pounds” gets thrown out the window when you remember that you have lost that much weight before… maybe even more.
“I’ll probably hurt myself in that new exercise class” becomes laughable when you recall the time you took that aerial yoga class… and were fine. (Terrible at it, but fine. LOL)
Making progress toward your goals starts with a single step. And taking that single step can happen when you get real honest with yourself about why you haven’t yet.
From that place, you can create a plan that works for you – from where you are right now.
Give yourself a carrot.
Maybe not a literal carrot.
Unless you’re a hamster.
He’s so freaking cute, he can have allll the carrots he wants. #needhim
When you attach a reward or incentive for completing an action, it’s like dangling a carrot.
You want that carrot. You’ll do whatever it takes to get that carrot.
This “carrot” is any incentive you want (though I’ll give ya some tips here in a sec). And when you achieve it, you actually trigger the pleasure center in your brain.
Which means you’re training your brain to want to receive that pleasure again.
This concept is actually goal setting 101.
You see, we all have a rewards center in our brains. When we get rewards, we receive dopamine, the “feel good” hormone.
Dopamine is what makes us happy. It’s why we feel pleasure.
So you can hack your dopamine fix by attaching a positive reward to any intention, action, or outcome you desire.
In terms of what your “carrot” should be, I always recommend avoiding food as an incentive.
Food is fuel. It’s not a reward.
And as much as food does trigger dopamine in your brain, it’s actually not the healthiest habit to cultivate.
Instead, use experiences as your reward.
- An awesome massage.
- A day trip to the mountains.
- Buying that 10th pair of fuzzy slippers you’ve had your eye on.
Align your reward with the outcome you want.
For example, if your goal is to save $1,000, obviously don't blow a bunch of money on your incentive. That’s just gonna set you back in the long run.
Instead, maybe your incentive is a half-day hike with a girlfriend… followed by matching spicy cacao lattes. (Sounds perfect to me!)
Make time for your goals.
Time is often the first thing thrown out as the reason why we don’t follow through on our intentions. Why we don’t take action.
So, let’s end this lie once and for all.
You have all the time you need to do anything you want.
There, I said it.
Yeah, life will throw a whole bunch of crap at ya… I mean, it’s pretty much its full time job.
But you get to own how and where you spend your time.
You just have to get creative with it.
Obviously, there are only 24 hours in any given day.
So how do you consciously create time in your life for your goals?
The simple answer is… you schedule it.
Which may mean you need to revamp how you approach your time.
I can guarantee that there are areas in your day where time can be finessed to create space for your goals (AKA: intentions).
I can also guarantee you that taking action on your goals actually takes a lot less time than you think.
For example, if you were to ask Wes how long it takes to vacuum the house, he’d say something like “3 hours.”
But I’ve timed him.
20 minutes. LOL
The point is… you can create time in your day for your most important goals – whether those goals are biz or personal.
The secret is creating meaningful goals.
AKA: shiz you actually care about.
Not stuff you think you’re supposed to do.
Stuff you truly care about.
Goals that will make you happier… feel better… stress less… create a bigger impact.
Those are meaningful goals.
Way too often we forget to tie goals to meaning.
Example:
Let’s say you want to save $10,000 so you can take your fam on an awesome Disney Cruise.
You think that’s your goal.
But that’s not why it’s meaningful to you.
It’s probably meaningful to you because:
- You’ll create a lifetime of happy memories with your family.
- You’ll get some much-needed 1:1 time with your partner.
- You’ll feel an incredible sense of achievement that you decided on something… worked for it… and got it. That feeling of accomplishment is addicting.
When you attach meaning to goals, they become crazy powerful.
And you become unstoppable.
So I wanna help you create meaningful goals for yourself… plus give you the toolkit to achieve them.
Which is what my brand new Goal Setting Workshop is all about.
This is a special one-day event: Wednesday, January 26 from 10am-12pm Pacific / 1-3pm Eastern.
Don’t let another year go by holding on to the dumb (ahem, lazy) lies our brains tell us. Let this be the year you get a little bit uncomfortable… and finally achieve those intentions and big goals you’ve mapped out for yourself.
And BTW… I’d love to hear what they are. Drop me a comment below and fill me in!
XO,
Hayley