Success is not complicated. Achievement is not the secret that marketers would try to sell you. Setting daily goals — and then actually doing them on daily basis — is the best way to get to where you want to go.
The mystery is more about why more people don’t achieve their dreams, when the solution to success is simple. There are of course, many explanations as to why people stop before they reach their goals… or dream but never start.
One of the main reasons is an absence of belief in oneself. One of the simplest ways to eradicate disbelief and absence of clarity around your vision is by working on your dreams daily, through visioning, planning and daily actions.
Another reason is an inclination to overcomplicate things and make it harder than it needs to be.
The Path to Success is Simple
Daily steps in the direction of your dreams is a proven path to success.
~LeAura Alderson, writer, editor, creator iCreateDaily.com®
Table of Contents
- Audio Article – Setting Daily Goals
- The Shiny Object Syndrome
- The Pyramid of Progress
- Daily Goals
- How Do You Prioritize Goals?
- Setting Simple Goals
The Surest Way to Success
Success is not a mystery, or a secret known by the few. The surest way to succeed is to set goals and work them daily.
~LeAura Alderson, writer, editor, creator iCreateDaily.com®
Can you guess which aspect of the creative process most creators find challenging? When we polled our creator community, we found the answer. It turns out that the hardest part for most creators is finishing.
Chances are you also have more than one project started… but not finished, right? This is why we talk so much about daily goal setting.
But we totally get it. We’re also creator ideators with more ideas than time.
Ideas are ephemeral creatures that disappear as quickly as they come if we don’t heed them, seize them and bring them to life through daily effort. The key here is that we must bring the most viable ones to life through consistent effort over time to completion.
The more ideas we bring to life the more ideas we have.
~iCreateDaily.com®
Audio Article – Setting Daily Goals:
The Shiny Object Syndrome
The Shiny Object Syndrome is a common challenge for the prolific creative mind, and even more so where there’s ADD/ADHD involved.
New ideas are fresh and intriguing and—like persistent children (or the dog determined to be let outside)—they demand our attention.
New ideas come with new and fresh energy. Existing projects require us to bring the fuel of perseverance even when we’re tired of working on something. New ideas demand our attention, but we can’t neglect our other “children“… our work-in-progress.
Shiny Object Syndrome is the enemy of progress. Give way to it only if you’re not yet certain or serious about which direction to pursue for you. In that case, it’s advisable to explore before settling on the course that compels you.
Shiny Object Syndrome is the enemy of progress. Your goal is a destination. Once you know where you want to go, if you keep changing directions, you will never arrive at one.
~LeAura Alderson, writer, editor, creator iCreateDaily.com®
The Path of Progress
To manifest ideas and bring them to fruition is to learn how to prioritize and focus on the most important projects first. Ideas are wonderful and swimming in the see of ideas is exhilarating. But ideas evaporate like stardust if we don’t anchor them in matter.
Plant the seeds of your dreams in the soil of daily doing.
~LeAura Alderson, writer, editor, creator, iCreateDaily.com®
The most effective way of setting daily goals is to start with the big picture, then break it down.
Begin at the End
- By the end of this week, I want to have (done, achieved, experienced…) __________________.
- By the end of today, I will have (done, achieved, experienced…) __________________.
This same strategy works for life planning as well. Sound complicated? Not one day, one week at a time! Sound ominous? Not as ominous as leaving your life entirely to chance.
You don’t have to have it all figured out to begin mapping your journey to your next goal.
It is in the journey that the way becomes more clear.
~LeAura Alderson, writer, editor, creator, iCreateDaily.com®
Annual Planning that Works
Beginning with a yearly long term goal, break it down from there to quarterly goals and then to the monthly, weekly and daily short term goals. Remember, you can begin at the end, by asking yourself:
- What do I want to achieve (have done, achieved, experienced…) by the end of this year?
- What needs to be done to achieve that goal/s? Make a list, then:
- Identify what must come first.
- That becomes your first quarter plan.
- Loosely divvy up the rest into which 90 day period you think it will fall.
- Don’t overanalyze. This will be adjusted and refined once you’re in the daily and weekly journey.
Once you’ve identified the four key quarterly goals for accomplishing your annual goal, you can then break that down into monthly, weekly and daily tasks.
Remember, If you’re new to goal setting keep it simple. If starting with a larger goal of a yearly or quarterly goal feels overwhelming, then start with your monthly or weekly goals and br