This post, 5 Tips for Staying Motivated to Reach Your Goals, is sponsored by Ashworth College. All opinions are mine.
I recently read an article that stated 40% of Americans make New Year’s resolutions, but only about 8% actually reach their goals. 8%! That number just sounds so low…
How about you, did you make any new goals or resolutions for 2017?
If you’re among the 92% that might need a bit of help or encouragement to keep on track, I’ve got five great 5 Tips for Staying Motivated to Reach Your Goals, plus a free weekly and monthly goal planner printable!
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We all choose our goals for different reasons. Maybe you want to get healthier, lose weight, spend more time with family, find a new career or to just make more money.
When it comes to career goals, many times, continuing education is the best way to achieve these goals. As busy adults, the issue with going back to school is often time and lack of flexibility with our family’s needs with our schedules. Fortunately, we live in an age with excellent online (and affordable) education opportunities.
If you think continuing your education is right for you, Ashworth College might just be the solution you need. From earning your Associate’s to Master’s Degree, or getting additional career training and certification, an education from Ashworth College teaches you practical skills that employers want. Plus, Ashworth wants us to meet our education and career goals without the burden of student loan debt. (Ashworth College’s tuition rates are approximately five times less than other online institutions.) Ashworth’s 125 online learning programs (healthcare, business, criminal justice, creative services, education, and trade skills) are designed to fit into our lives, allowing students to progress at a pace that balances work, family and education.
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No matter what your goals may be, the path to reaching those goals is very similar! Here are a few tips to help keep you motivated and on track to be successful in reaching your goals:
5 Tips for Staying Motivated to Reach Your Goals
1. Write down your goals and commit.
Naming a specific goal you want to be able to achieve (like getting an additional certification or a degree in your field) will make it easier stay motivated, rather than aiming for an abstract goal like “make more money.”
Often, just talking to others about your goals will make you feel more excited and committed to achieving what you set out to do!
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2. Break goals into smaller tasks and set up a plan or schedule.
What are your goals? Where would you like to be in the next 12 months? Break down the year into months and create action steps fro each week. Then to keep from getting discouraged or overwhelmed, focus on the immediate tasks. Accomplish your task for today and look at only the week ahead of you. We will often feel overwhelmed at the beginning when we see we are at step1 and sill have 500 steps to go!
3. Get organized and keep your goals in front of you.
A goal setting worksheet or notebook is a smart way to keep your goals in front of you. Start with making a daily/weekly/monthly to-do list. Getting in the habit of creating to-do lists is an effective way to stay motivated towards achieving your goals. Personally, I love to-do lists and goal worksheets. So often, we get distracted and forget about what we’re working towards. To help with this, I use fun and colorful lists that I keep on my desk and magnet board above my computer. Place your goal sheets in front of you, whenever you can!
Do you need a great printable to-do list? I’ve made one for myself that I love to use and have uploaded it to this post as a free printable for anyone who wants to use it. I use both a weekly and monthly sheet to track my progress. I have created two versions for you to download. (One uses a bit less ink than the other.)
Download the goal sheets here ==> Daily/monthly goals ink friendly/full color.
4. Remind yourself why you set the goal.
Schedule a weekly check in with yourself. Evaluate what’s working and what’s not. If a particular task is not working, ask yourself, “Is this task necessary to my goal?”
Are you having a bad or unsuccessful week? Take a few moments to remind yourself why you set these goals in the first place. Remembering the reasons why you want to achieve your goals can be a great motivator.
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5. Reward yourself.
Celebrate your milestones. We all know, meeting milestones and benchmarks is no easy task. Rewards can be a powerful tool in motivating yourself to keep going. Choose appropriate benchmarks and reward levels for your particular goal. Be sure to take a moment to reward yourself for every success, even the small ones.
Save these printables for later ==>> 
Now it’s your turn. Do you have a big goal in sight or do you have any tips on staying motivated to share? Sound off in the comment below!
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Ashworth College . The opinions and text are all mine.
Jai Want says
Thanking you for a great post. This is really helpful for me and now I can manage my routines accordingly that how can I fix my goals and fulfill them………..
christine says
So far so good on my resolution. This is a great way to stay on track.
[email protected] says
I really need to get better about setting monthly goals and then holding myself accountable for them.
Amber says
I need to reward myself more! Im good at writing down my goals but rewards help stay motivated.
Michelle says
I used to be so good about New Year’s Resolutions! I actually did them. Somewhere along the way I stopped making them. I do need to get back to goal setting though! A goal planner definitely could help!
Jessica Cross says
I’m definitely part of that 92% 😉 I love that you have printables to help people along the way. Thanks for the great tips and I have to say that my favorite one was the reward step. Now that is something I could handle!
Charbel says
These are some great ideas! It can definitely be hard to stay motivated. Thanks for sharing
Nicole says
Great post!! I think I’m doing good so far on my resolution of keeping my house cleaner. I have a weekly list of things to get done. It breaks down the cleaning to a few small things each day. It’s definitely doable and is working for me!
Synne says
Thank you so much for this – great article and the most helpful printables ever! xx