How to Stick to Your Hubbing Goals

Very few people establish New Year’s Resolutions that they actually stick to, which is a shame.

Though year-long goals can be intimidating and hard to hang on to through life’s twists and turns, there are still simple things one can do to significantly increase one’s chances of actually following through on one’s objectives, be they big or small.

When transitioning from 2012 to 2013, be sure to…

Make goals you care about

Many people make the mistake of establishing goals they don’t actually care about. I might hear, for example, that it is a good idea to “be healthy”, and so when people ask me what I will be striving for in 2013, I may just say “Oh, I want to live a healthier life”, but unless health is a particularly urgent concern in my life or a subject about which I am particularly passionate, I will not have the motivation I need to keep going when achieving this goal becomes even slightly inconvenient.

It is far better to establish goals that revolve around your passions, obsessions, and urgent desires. Things that will pull you through a long night or a hard day and almost always overcome that small “I can do this later” voice that so commonly drags goals into an untimely grave.

Make achievable goals

Another problem with a goal like “be healthy” is that it is too vague to really be achievable. How do I know when I have become healthy? What is “healthy”, anyway?

Goals that we can actually follow through on are discrete and attainable (though it is fine for them to be a challenge as well). The achievable version of a goal to get “healthy” might be “complete a marathon this year” or “lower my blood pressure to X amount” or “be able to jog for 90 minutes without stopping for rest”.

Break things down

Studies have found that breaking goals down into VERY SMALL pieces and turning them into habits can make them more attainable. Should you make a goal of writing eight Hubs every month, you might craft a regular Hubbing habit by starting with small goals and moving up.

An example of how you might start and progress:

• After returning home from work, sit in front of your computer, open HubPages, and log into your account.
• After returning from the gym write five sentences that can be used in a Hub
• After finishing dinner, write three Text Capsules’ worth of information as a draft
• After putting the kids to bed on Tuesdays and Thursdays, sit in front of your computer and publish a Hub

Get help

Nothing can help us stick to our goals like a good group of friends. Be sure to leverage your online and offline networks by…

• Telling your friends and family about your goals
• Asking for a close friend to check in with you periodically to track your progress
• Starting a Hub Challenge and getting help from the HubPages community

[Image by geralt, Public Domain, via pixabay]