Happy new year! Welcome to 2021. Over the last few weeks we’ve been looking at setting our one big goal for 2021, and exploring how we can achieve it. Following on from that, and with today being Blue Monday, now is a fitting time to think about ways we can stay motivated in achieving our goals. Here are some ideas to help you keep going.

8 ways to stay motivated in achieving your one big goal in 2021

1. Focus on your big picture

Your big picture is your vision of what you, and your life, will be like when you achieve your one big goal. It helps to keep your mind focused on why you’re doing this and why this is important to you. To make it feel more real, close your eyes and imagine every vivid detail of your big picture. Then when you encounter challenges, setbacks or dips in your motivation you can flash this image up in your mind and use it to recommit to achieving your goal.

2. Break up your one big goal into smaller milestones

A big goal can feel overwhelming because where you are today may be very far away from where you want to be when you complete your goal. But remember, the journey of a thousand miles started with a single step. To make your goal feel more achievable (which will give you faith that you can do it), break it down into bitesize steps. What are the first, second and third things you need to do? Itemise the tasks and create a timeline of what needs to happen and when. Then all you need to do is to take it one step at a time as you move through your plan.

3. Celebrate the little wins

Holding out until you’ve achieved your goal before you celebrate can make the journey feel very punishing and joyless. And that’s not motivating. So once you’ve got your smaller milestones mapped (see previous point), be sure to celebrate the little victories every time you hit one of them.

4. Make it fun

We are all much better, and more successful, at doing the things that we enjoy and that we find fun, than we are at doing things that are boring and painful. But there are ways we can make even those endeavours that we’re not particularly excited about — like saving money — fun. For instance, you might make it a game, and challenge yourself or your friends. Or you might look for tools that will help you to make achieving your goals easier, like Loqbox.

5. Don’t be too hard on yourself when slip ups happen

It’s a fact of life that slip ups and setbacks will happen. The important thing to do here to prevent them from completely derailing your efforts to achieve your goal is to not beat yourself up too much. And that way you can get back on track quickly. Try not to take the failure too seriously, it happens. But you can win tomorrow, and the next day. Be kind to yourself, you’re only human.

6. Find someone to buddy up with

Working towards goals with other people can really help with motivation. It gives you someone by your side through the more challenging times, and someone to celebrate with when you win. Going for a run with a friend makes it more fun, and the same goes for pursuing your goals together.

7. It’s okay to take a break

Big goals take time. And that’s why people struggle to reach the finish line. It’s a long journey and it takes a lot of commitment. But you can make it easier for yourself by giving yourself a break every now and then. This will also reduce the likelihood of slip ups happening by making it easier for you to sustain your efforts. Those little rests can help you go a lot further than trying to plough through in one go.

8. Believe in yourself

Believe you can do it and you’re halfway there! Everything will feel easier to achieve. For tips on building self belief check out this blog from Lifehacks.

Keep going you’ve got this! To find out how Loqbox can help you achieve your one big goal in 2021 by making it easy to build your financial health and your savings — for free — visit our website here.

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