visionboard – Rachel Eyo

Why Goal Setting Matters + 5 Tips for Effective Goal Setting in 2020

“Our Dreams become Reality, when we first, give ourselves permission to Dream, wildly and without limits. Then we turn those dreams into Goals, which is the bridge between the world, imagination and the reality we create for ourselves.”
Nara Lee

Who else is bubbling with excitement at the thought of 2019 coming to an end?

This year has really been something, if I do say so myself. No matter how crazy it has gotten, I am still grateful for being able to see its end. I am also excited about what 2020 holds because I am certain it’s going to be a great year for everyone reading this!

So, if you’ve been doing some deep reflection about how 2019 went and you have started thinking of setting goals for 2020, then you’ve come to the right place!

Me at a vision board party I attended recently.

You may currently have decided on some goals you want to achieve in 2020, but may have decided to just “wing it” and “see what happens”. Quite a number of people in recent times have hopped on the “no new year resolutions” and “just gonna go with the flow” trains. While there may be nothing wrong with this, setting your goals and putting pen to paper might just be the best thing you decide to do for your 2020.

Here’s why…

Goal setting is really important because it gives you long-term vision and short-term motivation. It focuses your acquisition of knowledge, and helps you to organise your time and resources so that you can make the most of your life.

When you have a goal written down, you have a destination, a standard, a sort of benchmark. You are conscious of achieving this goal and are constantly reminded of same. The goal means a lot to you so most of what you do during the year, months and days are intricately tied to achieving this goal.

Furthermore, when you set goals, you develop effective action plans that will help motivate and guide you towards them. You are therefore able to navigate life keeping your goals in mind and can return to your why when you find yourself in a demotivation pit.

So here are 5 helpful tips for effective goal setting in 2020:

1. Write them down!

Now,

This is the part where I emphasise how important it is to actually write down your goals for 2020 and not just make a mental note of what you hope to achieve. While I am not writing mental notes off, I believe (and this has been backed by years of scientific research) that written goals are more likely to be achieved than those not written. The physical act of writing down a goal makes it real and tangible so it is hard to forget.

“By recording your dreams and goals on paper, you set in motion the process of becoming the person you most want to be. Put your future in good hands—your own.”
—Mark Victor Hansen

Let’s do a little exercise that requires honesty: Think of the goals you set at the beginning of 2019. Now, take a slow but careful look back on how the year went in terms of your goals. How many were achieved and how many were not? How many of the goals not achieved were because you genuinely forgot or felt you could not “keep up”? No need to beat yourself up if you feel you fell short this year, there’s always next year. Besides, you are not your goals!

Your answers should motivate you to write down your goals going forward. You actually stand to lose nothing if you write down these goals.

2. Set goals that align with your purpose

It is very important to set goals that align with your purpose and calling in life.

A number of us get caught up in setting goals based on what we think we should be doing or accomplishing (saving up for a new car when it’s not needed or getting a higher paying job in an industry you hate) rather than based on what our purpose is.

While these goals may be achievable, you’ll find that they are much easier to drop during the year because they are not aligned with your purposed and/or calling. You may set them because you feel you need to, but if you dig deep, you’ll find that you are not passionate about these goals and/or they are not in sync with your deepest dreams and desires.

“So, when you set your goals, go for your deepest dreams, desires, passions and calling. Don’t let the voice inside your head tell you “it’s impossible”, “it’s too complicated”, etc – because if you don’t set that goal, you will never do, what you were put on earth to do.”

You may be wondering “well, what exactly is my purpose and/or calling?” To that, I say, you already have your first assignment of 2020. Now get to it.

3. Set SMART GOALS

SMART stands for Specific., Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time Bound.

Specific: Do not be vague. Ask yourself exactly what you want. Write it down. Do not be scared to be specific about when, how, how long and even how much you want?
Measurable: Quantify your goal. How will you know if you have achieved it or not? Set simple milestones and celebrate little victories.
Attainable: Be honest with yourself about what you can reasonably accomplish at this point in your life while taking into consideration your current responsibilities. Ask yourself “Is this goal attainable?”
Realistic: It’s got to be doable, real and practical. Do not get overwhelmed by people’s input of what their version of reality is. You may also be tempted to, out of fear, rule certain goals out as “unrealistic”. Do not let fear rule your goal setting for 2020.
Time: Associate a time frame with each goal. When should you complete the goal? It is advisable to have short time frames for smaller goals within the bigger goals rather to prevent getting discouraged or demotivated.

4. Use unconditional love as the starting point

“When you use unconditional self-love as the starting point when setting any goal, you remain aware that perfection is not tied to the end result, but rather the reality of the present moment.You were perfect at the onset and you are perfect now; you are perfect throughout. You are aware the entire time that the end result won’t define you. It is through the practice of awareness that you are able to see the perfection that exists in yourself, which also lets you see perfection in the world around you and in each being in it.”

This is so so so so important because you need to remember that you are setting goals because you want to, you desire to, and not because you need to. You need to remember that you are not the goals you set, neither are you the accomplishment or otherwise of these goals.

When setting your goals for 2020, use unconditional love for yourself as a starting point. By doing this, you understand that you are already perfect and complete in God as you are. These goals (be it getting married, moving to a better apartment, having kids, getting a better job, getting into school etc) are amazing bonuses that do not define you at your core.

You are already perfection. Never forget that.

5. Develop an Action Plan

This step is often missed in the process of goal setting. I must admit that even I have missed this step a lot of times in setting goals. I would just write down my goals and try to keep it moving.

However, it is important to develop an action plan which entails a breakdown of all the steps needed to achieve the goals along the way. By writing out the individual steps, and then crossing each one off as you complete it, you’ll realize that you are making progress towards your ultimate goal. This is especially important if your goal is big and demanding, or long-term.

I recently attended a vision board party hosted by VisionBoardsNigeria and it was an amazing time for me reflecting on my goals for 2019 and which ones I was able to accomplish. I was able to reflect on those I was yet to accomplish and why.

It was a defining moment for me when I realised that although I did not accomplish some goals I had set out, I did not feel any less about myself. Instead, I was spurred to try again in 2020.

Remember…

“Goal setting is much more than simply saying you want something to happen. Unless you clearly define exactly what you want and understand why you want it the first place, your odds of success are considerably reduced.”

Here’s to a productive and goal-smashing 2020 filled with unconditional self-love. 🥂

Love and Light,

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5 Tips To Become Consistent; How To Get Things Done When You Don’t Feel Like It.

“Without commitment, you’ll never start. Without consistency, you’ll never finish.”

One of the major lessons I am currently learning is the important role consistency plays in the achievement of goals.

Consistency in daily living cannot be overemphasised as it is almost always related to success. The latter cannot exist without the former. Want to become good at a certain skill or master it? become consistent. Want to accomplish a set-out goal over time? Practice consistency. With enough consistency, over time, you become an expert in whatever skill you set out to master.

The same goes for the achievement of goals and life generally. Consistency is a great characteristic to build and implement in one’s life. However, I will be the first to admit that being consistent every single day is easier said than done! One of the major struggles with consistency is getting things done all the time especially when you do not feel like it. Because, let’s be honest, who is super pumped to get things done ALL the time?

For the longest time, I battled with inconsistency and consciously (or maybe not so consciously) I kept experimenting with different techniques to help me overcome inconsistency. However, most of my “techniques” failed as I could not even be consistent in practicing the techniques. I found myself being very hot and excited one minute about some goals then super cold and uninterested the next.

You may have tried countless times to stay focused and consistent in certain aspects of your life but have found yourself throwing in the towel and diagnosing yourself with a steady lack of consistency which seems incurable.

HOWEVERRRRR… I am here to let you know that you CAN become more consistent! With continuous practice and determination, you can become consistently consistent at whatever goals you currently aspire to achieve. Some useful tips which I started implementing that are working for me so far include:

Make a conscious decision to be consistent

The first step to being consistent is seemingly the simplest yet the most difficult to follow through on. All you need to do is DECIDE. Make a conscious decision that you are going to be consistent in whatever area of your life that requires consistency. You may be reading this and subconsciously recollecting the number of times you have decided or promised yourself that you will be consistent on an area you’re currently slacking on.

However, the work is not in the decision but in the follow through as we will see in the next few steps, but you have to decide; put your foot down. To help with making the conscious decision, you can write it down, stick a little reminder on your mirror or talk to someone about this conscious decision you want to make and implement.

The truth is, making a decision to be consistent is like making a vow. There’s really no point in making it if you do not intend to follow through on it. So, before you make a hasty decision, seeing as it may appear simple to do, remember that you will be required to follow through to see results.

Create specific and realistic goals

The second thing you want to do to achieve a satisfactory level of consistency is to create specific and realistic goals. Now, I am not discouraging you from dreaming big or having goals that are seemingly “out of this world”. What I am simply saying is when you break those huge goals down, your sub-goals – as it were- should be specific and realistic. This would help you better outline practical solutions to being consistent.

For example, you have a goal to read a certain number of books in a year. You can start by breaking that goal down into sub-goals into the number of books you can read per month, then further down into the number of pages of a book you can read in a day. There’s really no point setting a goal to read 200 pages a day when you have not started reading 50 or even 20 pages in a day.

When you set unrealistic goals, you find that if you fail, you tend to give up your attempts at being consistent, get discouraged and feel like a failure in that aspect or just lose interest all together.

Have a to-do list/reminders

This is also another important practical tip to aid with being consistent. Many of us tend to prefer making “mental notes” of things rather than writing them down because, let’s just face it, it’s easier to say “oh I’ve made a mental note of this” But really, how many mental notes do we remember especially during the hustle and bustle of the day?

You may have a goal to improve your writing and have set a sub-goal to write for 30 minutes daily first thing in the morning, during your lunch break or when you come home from work. What you find is that if you do not have some sort of reminder that will repeatedly prompt you until you get it done, you will most likely not get it done.

Make a to-do list daily and keep reminders in strategic places in your home, office space, school or wherever you spend the most time. By doing this, you will be reminded of what needs to be done daily and what areas of your life you need to be consistent.

One way I am able to remind myself of goals or aspects of my life I want to be consistent in is by using a vision board and looking at it every day.

Compartmentalise

This is an important way to achieve consistency. I published a post on finding and maintaining the much- needed balance in life so other parts of your life can thrive while one part may not be doing well. You can check that out here.

By compartmentalising, you ensure that certain parts of your life do not interfere with others. You therefore maintain consistency in the aspects of your life that require it even though other aspect may not motivate you to be consistent. If you want to achieve consistence jogging every Saturday morning for example, you ensure you’re not out late on Friday partying or if you are, you beat yourself up and get up to jog no matter how Friday night went.

It is also very important to do one thing at a time and to understand that there is a place and time for everything. As tough as this may be to implement, it is very necessary for consistency.

Accountability

Find a trusted person or partner with whom you can share your struggles with consistency and what aspects of your life require consistency. When you make a decision to be consistent either with punctuality or healthy eating or reading books or taking morning walks, whatever the goal may be, find someone who you can share these with who can ask you often how your journey is going.

Most importantly, be accountable to yourself. Accountability means you stay true to your word, that you can be counted on. You say what you’re going to do, and you do it, holding yourself answerable. Follow up on yourself to review how consistent you have been. This could be done on a daily or weekly basis.

Keep going!

Because consistency requires that you show up and show out every day, through the rosy days and through the stormy days alike. Consistency does not require that you give whatever goal you have set your A-game, 24/7, 365 days in a year. Consistency just requires that you show up in whatever way or form you can.

And so, you keep going because consistency develops routines and builds momentum. It forms habits that become almost second nature. You keep moving because as John Maxwell said: “Small disciplines repeated with consistency every day lead to great achievements gained slowly over time.”.

I am learning that being consistent really is the difference between failure and success. The late Jim Rohn, entrepreneur and author, said: “Success is neither magical nor mysterious. Success is the natural consequence of consistently applying basic fundamentals.”

Make out what you may of that quote.

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston Churchill

How Using a Vision Board is Changing My Life + 3 Benefits of Creating One

Have a vision. It is the ability to see the invisible. If you can see the invisible, you can achieve the impossible.
– Shiv Khera

I never really saw the need to create and/or use a vision board. In fact, all I was used to doing was simply putting down my goals on paper in a book that I could always put aside whenever I felt like it and did not particularly want to feel bad for having not achieved said goals.

I would (and still do) write my dreams and goals in a notepad and refer to it whenever I pleased as I found that I was more in control of when I reminded myself of outstanding goals. So while I would admire those who had the time and patience or even the creativity to put a vision board together, I never found myself creating or using one.

I also did not happily welcome change to this sphere of my life where I was just content with doing things the way I had been doing for the past few years. I figured “please it’s good enough that I write these goals down anyway, what is really the point of having a vision board anyway?”

However, all of this changed quite recently when my colleague introduced the idea of creating and using a vision board. Admittedly, I only listened at first to cheer her on, seeing as she successfully launched a business selling vision boards (Vision Boards Nigeria) to people and speaking about the importance of having a vision board (more on that later).

Nevertheless, as time went on, I found that my interest in vision boards sparked. Oh, I did buy the vision board from my colleague because it was too fantastic an offer to give up (seeing all the goodies that were in the vision board package) and I wanted to try something new. However, (and this is the best time to admit it), I did not set it up for the longest time. I stashed it under my table at home and would glare at it some days wishing I had the strength to create my vision board, while lazying on my bed like a donkey.

Fast forward to some weeks later when I started collecting photos off the internet of people who inspire me or whose impact I resonate with and I found that my spark came alive. I was forced to reflect deeply about my goals and what exactly I wanted to achieve in life as I did not want to have random things on my vision board. So deeply reflected I did. I found that in doing that, I also questioned quite a number of goals that I had and even people I look up to.

The day I successfully created my vision board using the package I bought from Vision Boards Nigeria, I felt a wave of emotions course through me. I was happy and content because looking back at me were photos or words that would, in time to come, serve as a daily reminder of why I am here and what I need to do before I leave this beautiful earth.

Every time I wake up and look at my vision board, I feel a fresh wave of emotions; I am inspired and motivated in some way. Imagine staring at the words “I Am Consistent” every single day and they stare back at you. I promise, after a while, you believe that you are even when you do not feel consistent. I value consistency so much but have struggled with it in the past (and still do on some days) as I shared here, but I am always looking for new ways to be more consistent, however crazy they may be.

Granted, some days, when I am feeling lazy and not just in the mood, I want to hide the vision board so I do not have to be reminded every single day of my goals (some days, adulting just gets a tad bit too much). However, when I feel down and out, I may just come across something on my vision board that I resonate with and provides the much-needed motivation to accomplish my goals for that day.

So, why should you create and use a vision board? Well, briefly, here are three amazing benefits which you may have gotten from my personal experience above:

Provides Clarity

Creating a vision board provides the much needed clarity to actually know what you want out of life. It can be weird how you think you want things and make them goals in your head (perhaps things you may have seen on social media or expectations from society which have subconsciously become your personal goals), but the minute you start creating and using a vision board, you are forced to think deeply about what you want and why you want them in the first place.

Serves as a Daily Reminder

It has been scientifically proven (please don’t ask me from where. It just sounds cool to say this and I saw this online) that people who use vision boards on a day to day basis are more likely to reach their ideal goal in the time frame that has been set out than people who do not. Why does this happen you may ask? Well, the answer is not so far-fetched. Vision boards serve as a daily reminder of your goals and what you truly want from life.

Naturally, when you see something that inspires you on a daily basis, you stay on track and are more focused. Even when you face setbacks, feel lost or are just downright not motivated, your vision board will be there ready to motivate you all over again. All it takes is looking at it…but first, you have to create your vision board!

The power of a vision board comes in its ability to motivate you to do the work that is required to make the things you put on it a reality.

Encourages constant visualisation and boosts imagination:

Creating and using a vision board allows you to exercise your imagination regularly as it helps you create a more vivid vision of your ideal life as you grow and evolve. Visualisation is one of the most popular and effective mind workouts that you can do. The good but not-so-good news is that visualisation and imagination alone do not accomplish goals, so you need to get to work!

The reason vision boards work so great is because you visually see them every day. Your imagination is inspired to think of the seemingly impossible or that which has not been done.

So what should you put on your vision board?

Absolutely anything that inspires and motivates you. Remember that there is no hard and fast rule to creating and using a vision board. Think about what your goals are in these aspects of your life: relationships, career and finances, home, travel, personal growth (including spirituality, social life, education) and health and put up whatever inspires and motivates you to achieve any of these goals.

Remember: The major purpose of your vision board is to bring everything on it to life.

You have to make sure that you constantly engage with your vision board and use it to guide your actions as you progress toward making your goals a reality.

Simply making a vision board and storing it away or only looking at it briefly every few weeks or months, would not get you or your goals anywhere. You have to put in the work, and with most things in life, you get out what you put in.

P.S. If you have all the great ideas to create a vision board but do not know how to make one or have the time to source for materials to make an amazing vision board, you should check out Vision Boards Nigeria (on instagram here and place an order by sending a message or you can call/text 08050560781.

The package they sell is super amazing and when I bought it I just had to get my photos (which you can get from the internet or magazines) and quotes and I was ready to go!

Also, I will be attending Vision Boards NG’s Vision Board Party this Saturday on the 29th June 2019 and I am super excited and looking forward to that! The main purpose of a vision board party is to set and define your goals and learn amazing ways to maximise my vision board that would help me achieve all my goals! You get to connect intimately with other goal setters and achievers and draw some much-needed inspiration on how to turn those goals to reality! Hopefully, I’ll share my experience afterward.

So if you are in Abuja and you are interested in attending (it would be pretty intimate and exciting) you can send a message to the link above and/or call/send a text to the number above to register and get more details.

I hope this has been super helpful and it has in some way or the other, caused the necessary spark needed to take the accomplishment of your goals to a higher level.