Does achieving your goals feel like you're climbing a mountain?

The end of the year is fast approaching. How have you progressed in ticking off your list of goals for this year?

Many companies are now busily planning for the coming year. For me, it is a time of reflection before I consider my plans for next year.

Before I rush into planning for the new year, I like to firstly acknowledge what I have achieved this year. Checking my major business goals for the year, I am pleased to say that the following ones have been achieved:

• Developing and publishing an online business writing program
• Publishing the paperback and ebook versions of my book, Success Talks: Conversations with Everyday Leaders
• Giving the Infinite Growth website a 'facelift'

In addition to the above, I also began a Daily Tips service with a new tip each day on speaking, writing or communicating. This wasn't a goal that I had when the year began but I decided that I would add it during the year (and I am pleased that I did).

These goals have all been major business goals for me … which explains why I'm feeling tired at this time of the year but it's a good feeling of 'tired'. The goals were in addition to working with my wonderful clients. Just like everyone else, I couldn't spend one hundred percent of my time solely on my goals.

By summarising my goals into the above list, they may not seem like large goals. However, each was a major goal with a great many sub-goals that needed to be achieved to get to that endpoint. Each took many hours of my time.

Climbing a mountain

Working on goals can feel like you're trying to climb a mountain. The end can seem so far away. Here are three strategies that have helped me achieve my goals this year.

#1 – Focus on one goal at a time

The act of focusing on achieving one goal reduced the feeling of overwhelm that can be experienced by juggling too many tasks.

Even though I work in my business on a daily basis, having one goal to work toward was easier than trying to achieve multiple goals. Once this goal was achieved, I could then move on to the next goal.

#2 – Create sub-goals

Some goals are too big to try to complete at once. By creating smaller goals within the large one, the larger goal became more manageable to achieve.

The sense of achievement when a sub-goal was achieved was a motivator in itself to move on to the next stage of that large goal, ensuring that the goal was more likely to be achieved rather than placed in the 'too hard basket'.

#3 – Celebrate achievements

To maintain the energy to complete the larger goal, it is important to celebrate milestones achieved.

Once a 'major' goal was achieved, I recognised that it was necessary to stop and acknowledge the achievement. This gave me time to recharge before I focused on the next major goal.

Finally, enjoy the process…

Goal setting and then achieving those goals is great for both your professional advancement and the achievement of organisational goals. However, to remain motivated and focused it is important to enjoy the process too. By keeping in mind these three strategies, there is a greater chance that you will be able to achieve your goals any time of the year and climbing that mountain will become an amazing adventure.

What strategies do you use to achieve your goals?