{"id":868,"date":"2017-03-15T15:20:00","date_gmt":"2017-03-15T15:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/commarts.pleather.us\/2017\/03\/15\/7-simple-strategies-to-help-you-tackle-your-goals\/"},"modified":"2017-03-15T15:20:00","modified_gmt":"2017-03-15T15:20:00","slug":"7-simple-strategies-to-help-you-tackle-your-goals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/m2\/2017\/03\/15\/7-simple-strategies-to-help-you-tackle-your-goals\/","title":{"rendered":"7 Simple Strategies To Help You Tackle Your Goals"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post was originally featured on\u00a0Column Five<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a new year. Whether or not you\u2019re the resolutions type, we\u2019re guessing you have some goals you\u2019d like to achieve\u2014and making them happen isn\u2019t always easy. Time, energy, willpower\u2014there are a million things that make it difficult. But with a little more structure and discipline, you can achieve your goals. The key to getting that structure? Habits.<\/p>\n

Lately, we\u2019ve been intrigued by the work of Gretchen Rubin, author of Better Than Before<\/a>. <\/em>Her\u00a0<\/em>excellent\u00a0book teaches you how to form habits based on your personality type, a huge factor in making them stick.\u00a0Whether you want to lose weight or build a website, the more you build related habits into your life, the more likely you are to succeed.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re total converts to Rubin\u2019s methods, and we\u2019ve found a few of her strategies particularly useful. Since we love them so much, we wanted to share 7 strategies to help you work more efficiently, build more structure, and live a happier life.\u00a0Depending on your personality type, some may be more attractive to you than others. But they can all help in some way. Enjoy.<\/p>\n

1) MONITORING<\/b><\/h3>\n

Before you try to change a behavior, monitor, measure, or track it. This will give you accurate data to measure your progress against.<\/p>\n

Example: If you want to stop smoking, track not just how many cigarettes you smoke a week but the frequency and times of day.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

2) STRATEGY OF CONVENIENCE<\/b><\/h3>\n

Make it easier to do positive things and harder to do negative things.<\/p>\n

Example: If want to avoid sweets, keep them out of your pantry sightline\u2014or decide not to keep them in the house at all. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

3) PAIRING<\/b><\/h3>\n

Staple one activity to another so that you only allow yourself to do one thing when you do the other.<\/p>\n

Example: If you want to exercise more, decide that you can only watch Netflix when you\u2019re on the treadmill.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

4) ACCOUNTABILITY<\/b><\/h3>\n

Find someone to participate in or report your progress to\u2014even better, assign a consequence for not following through.<\/p>\n

Example: If you want to swear less, take a note from your mother and charge yourself for every slip-up.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

5) SCHEDULING<\/b><\/h3>\n

Schedule events in your calendar to carve out dedicated time\u2014no matter how minimal.<\/p>\n

Example: If you want to volunteer more, designate the first Saturday of each month as your volunteer day.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

6) DISTRACTION<\/b><\/h3>\n

Research shows cravings diminish after 15 minutes. Redirect your focus via a menial task or mental exercise to bide your time.<\/p>\n

Example: Instead of drinking a glass of wine, create a quick flower arrangement.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

7) CLARITY OF ACTION<\/b><\/h3>\n

Break your goal down into specific, concrete actions. The more specific you are, the easier it is to track. (Call back to tip #1: Monitoring!)<\/p>\n

Example: If you want to eat healthier, decide to bring a home-cooked meal to work 3 days a week.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We hope some of these strategies help you make progress in the areas you want, and we wish you luck on your journey. If you want more, check out Rubin\u2019s book to learn about all 21 strategies. And if you \u2018ve found any useful productivity hacks of your own, we\u2019d love to hear about them.<\/p>\n

Source: Visual News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post was originally featured on\u00a0Column Five. It\u2019s a new year. Whether or not you\u2019re the resolutions type, we\u2019re guessing you…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":245,"featured_media":869,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[45],"class_list":["post-868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-careering"],"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/m2\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/107\/2017\/03\/01_cigs-1-700x700.gif","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paqOTj-e0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/m2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/m2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/m2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/m2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/245"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/m2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/m2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/m2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/m2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/m2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/m2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}