Becky emailed in and asked me this great question which I think can apply to so many areas of our lives — especially our blogs and our businesses:
I have your book Say Goodbye to Survival Mode and I love it. I have noticed lately that I want to and do start everything, but can’t seem to finish anything! It seems I can only wholeheartedly focus on one thing at a time, but I want to do so much!
Just a couple examples would be: I got a planner and used it for a few months then lost interest; I lost 15 pounds but gained 10 pounds back; I started to declutter my house and detailed it on a blog, which lasted for a whole 2 months; I coupon in spurts then stop; I spent 3 months reading a few books a month, and now I can’t seem to finish one.
I could go on and on, and this is all just in the last 9 months! I don’t know why I have all these ideas that I want to do, but can’t seem to find the motivation to finish anything! Do you have any ideas? I’d love to know what advice you would have. -Becky
I think this is a very common problem for many of us. So know that you are not alone.
And I definitely don’t have it all figured out. In fact, I feel like I’m constantly in a battle between my inner disciplinarian and my inner squirrel.
“Focus, Focus, Focus…oh, shiny things!“
I want so badly to be disciplined. But I also have this sort of free spirit inside of me that pops out and wants to do it’s own thing from time to time, which is why I’ve struggled to be a person who follows through with things.
If you were around in the beginning of my blog, MoneySavingMom.com, you would know that I was the queen of starting blog series, making ambitious goals for things I was going to do on a daily or weekly basis, and then never actually finishing or following through with what I’d started.
I get really excited about ideas, start on them, but then get excited about something else and move on. I guess you can say it’s my nature to be a really great starter, but actually following through and finishing things requires a lot more effort.
I don’t have this all figured out, but I have gotten much better at it! For example, last year I started a sort-of book club community on my other blog. The old me would have blogged about it and said, “This is something we will be doing every week for the next year, and here’s the list of all 52 books we’ll be reading!”
The older and wiser me said, “This is fun. Let’s try this out and see how it goes. I’m really enjoying it.”
Many of you hopped on board and it was a blast, but it was nice to know I didn’t make a promise or commitment to my readers that I might not be able to keep later on down the road. And I ended up only running my sort-of book club for a few months, and then I moved on to other ideas — without feeling guilt! Because I had finished what I set out to do: host a book club for my readers on a few different book titles.
So yes, I’ve gotten smarter about the expectations I set for myself, my blog, and my business. I’ve also discovered 4 strategies that help me actually finish the goals I set:
1. Set ONE goal.
So much of the time we set ourselves up for failure by making a huge list of different blogging and business goals. We feel like we are failing or just not doing enough, so we decide to overhaul our blogs and businesses overnight.
But the truth is: it’s not possible to overhaul your blog or your business (or your life!) overnight. Oh you can try, but you’ll quickly crash and burn.
Instead of attempting to change everything all at once, decide to focus on one thing — and one thing only — for the next 2-3 months. Yes, you’ll have other basic daily tasks and responsibilities you need to complete, too, but focus on this one particular area that you want to see a significant change in, one area of your business that you want to grow, or one part of your blogging that you want to improve in.
Not sure what one thing you should choose to focus on? I recommend picking the one that you think will make the biggest difference overall. Maybe that is adding an email newsletter, learning how to effectively do live video, writing more posts on particular topics, writing an ebook, or creating a digital product.
Once you’ve decided on your one goal that you will focus on, be sure to set a concrete time frame for that goal. Start with a time frame that feels manageable. This will look different for everyone, but I always say 3 weeks is a good starting place. It’s long enough to make some real headway, but it’s also short enough that you will be able to stick to it without falling off the bandwagon.
At the end of the 3 weeks, decide if focusing on this goal is making an impact on your business. Do you need to tweak it, redo it, or keep going with it for another 3 weeks if you’re happy with the direction it’s going? It’s important to constantly re-evaluate where you’re at with your goal and what kind of impact it’s making. There’s no point to invest a lot of time and effort into something that is giving you no return.
As you think of other things you want to change in your business/areas you want to work on/projects and ideas you want to tackle, write these down and keep a running list of future goal ideas, but only focus on one at a time. This simplifies things and allows you to really focus and turn that goal into a lifestyle — not just a short-lived ambitious idea.
2. Find accountability for your goal.
This is one of the most important parts of goal-setting. You must have accountability. We were made for community, and it is tough to stick to a goal on your own without someone keeping you accountable for it.
Figure out what kind of accountability you need. Maybe it’s another blogger checking in with you every day or every week, a chart on your fridge (it might sound cheesy, but it really works for some people), a spreadsheet, an app that you check each day, or even just posting publicly on Facebook. You could even ask a friend to call you each day at a certain time to ask if you followed through with your goal for the day.
For me, blogging about my goals has been huge accountability for me.Putting all of my goals out there for my readers to see motivates me to follow through with them. I also find that sharing my goals with a few friends who will help me keep accountable. If I know someone is going to be checking in on me regularly, I am more likely to actually follow through with a goal.
3. Reward yourself regularly.
You have to reward yourself in order to stay the course. If you go, go, go and never take time to celebrate your success, you’ll end up exhausted.
Figure out some sort of small reward that will keep you highly motivated, and put that in place. Maybe at the end of 3 weeks, you’ll have coffee with a friend, buy yourself a new book, hire a baby sitter for a couple of hours, go shopping, or indulge in a treat. Pick something that you love, and give yourself permission to do it once you’ve reached your goal.
The reward doesn’t even have to be something you buy or go do at the very end of reaching your goal. It can be something you do along the way that motivates you daily. Maybe just tracking your progress motivates you internally and keeps you on course.
And be sure to make the reward match the goal in size. If it’s a smaller baby step, make it a smaller reward. If it’s a huge monumental success, have a huge celebration when you reach the finish line! Life is too short to not take time to celebrate your wins and successes!
4. Give yourself grace.
Don’t be a total goal-setting slave driver. Don’t be your worst critic and fill yourself with wrong, shameful messaging if you get off course or are going slower than you’d hoped. Beating yourself up because you haven’t hit all of your marks is not going to inspire you to stay the course.
Instead, give yourself grace. Understand that life will happen and there will be hiccups along the way. There will probably be certain circumstances that make it okay for you to set your goal aside for a day. For example, you might skip doing a Facebook Live one day if you have a child who was up sick all night long.
That said, don’t give yourself too much grace to the point that you fall off the bandwagon. However, it’s very important that you don’t exhaust yourself and burn yourself out by relentlessly chasing goal-setting success at the expense of your health, family, and sanity.
Have you ever struggled with following though with blogging goals you’ve set? What has helped you to stay motivated and actually accomplish your goals?
(Note: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links, and we will be compensated when you make a purchase by clicking through our links. Thank you for helping to support this blog!)
Thank you for directing me to Amy’s blog with great directions on how to set up Google Analytics. That’s something I’ve been putting off because it sounded very complicated. But after reading your blog post, I’ve made this my blogging goal for today!
Yay!!! I’m so glad! And way to go!
Hi Crystal,
Fab advice, a great reminder to give ourselves grace and not beat ourselves up – working on that one here. Love the link back to all your series, looking forward to re-reading some of those.
Funny how overwhelm can lead us to forget that there are so many useful strategies we could implement, if only we could remember them!
I have found time-blocking and setting a timer to be really great motivators. Yet earlier when my day was running away from me, I didn’t think of them at all. Well, there’s always tomorrow…
Great suggestions! Thank you so much for sharing and for your kind encouragement!
It takes great force of will for me to finish things too often, especially if it involves something new that I have to learn first. I’m so tech challenged! I do use the reward system…when you finish this, you can have or do that. But really it just comes down to making myself do it
One thing that has helped lately is that if I’m in the flow writing blog posts, I’ll keep writing. I’ve been able to get 2 or 3 done at a time when I’m in the groove.
Wow! 2-3 posts at a time!! That’s amazing! I can rarely do more than one post in a day. That’s incredible!
I think I needed this post today. I want to start a blog, but I am totally the kind of person that sets too many unrealistic goals. This post helped me realize how to set goals and expectations. Thanks Crystal!
You are so welcome!
Yes. I definitely do this. Thankfully, I have miraculously managed to stick to my Real Army Wives series, detailing my journey through the early days after 9/11 as an Army wife. This is the very first time I’ve even attempted a weekly commitment on the blog. So far so good! But yes, only one commitment at a time for now, though I’m enjoying the predictability so much.
Way to go for sticking with a weekly series. That’s fantastic!!
Your post reminded me of Dug from the movie Up! We can be focused on our most important goals, but then, all of a sudden, Squirrel! 😉
😉
LOL! Loved the disciplinarian-squirrel analogy! So me too!
Thanks for another friendly reminder for all of us enthusiastic ADHD’ers to slow down and make one small goal at a time! Just what I needed to hear as my first blog launch draws closer and the tasks pile up!
Thanks for always offering practical advice with a dollop of humor!
I’m cheering for you in your first blog launch!!! Way to go!!
Thanks so much, Crystal! Your cheerleading is so helpful!
Diving into the deep fast… first blog launch and first She Speaks Conference… HERE I COME!
Thanks again for all you do. It is really making a difference! Can’t wait for Blogging 101 in July!
Thank you so much for this, Crystal. I needed to hear that it’s not just me. I get overwhelmed with information and great ideas and I forget to just stick to ONE! Ahhhhhh! (pulls hair out)
Your encouragement is helping me stay on track and continue to write what I’m good at instead of what I think people want me to talk about.
Yes! Write what you’re good at instead of what you think you should in order to make other people happy!
I love the idea of a 3 week goal. It seems very manageable. I can break down my huge goal into chunks, and 3 weeks gives me some wiggle room to not work on it every day.
Thank you
You are so welcome! I’m so glad that you found that to be helpful!
I am so glad to hear that I am not the only one with this issue!! Being very new to creating a blogging site,( I had started previously and stopped due to the technical items to learn) I am taking your advice on several things, such as creating content first. As I was researching other bloggers in the field of my blogging interest, I was instantly hit with feelings of comparing myself – how I was not going to measure up to these seasoned bloggers,?Why did I think I could be successful at this?
But I remembered your words of encouragement and I am learning to take it slow and not lose focus on my vision. For now, I am creating one post a week and learning WordPress. This past week, I created a quiet place upstairs I can work in. Next week, I am going to create a vision board, etc.
Several people have told me that I am a good writer and should write a book – enter blogging! LOL
I do work full-time and am 53 years old. My goal is to create something I can work at home from as I ease into retirement and I know this is going to take time. Thank you for your inspiration as it keeps me going and helps my blogging confidence.
I’m SO proud of you for jumping into blogging and I love your goals. Way to go on breaking them down into bite-size, doable pieces! I’m cheering for you!
I love the squirrel analogy, it’s so true! The other thing that I would recommend is when setting the one goal (which is great advice) is to think about the long term impact (building the foundation for what you want to do) and how it can cascade into other improvements. I find that I always want to do the fun, big goals first but sometimes getting into the rythym with smaller, less “glamorous” tasks or habits help build that foundation for long term success.
That’s such a great tip! Thank you for sharing!!
Thank you so much for sharing this! I’m horrible with following through and finishing projects and series. It’s so easy to for me to tell myself that “successful bloggers” are just more driven than I am, so I’m doomed to keep on failing at making all my grand ideas happen. But to hear that you struggle with the same thing gives me hope that I don’t have to stay stuck in a loop of unfinished projects and abandoned ideas. There’s not some magical personality trait that separates the successful bloggers from the rest of the pack – it’s about discipline and taking action to make it happen! No more excuses!
“There’s not some magical personality trait that separates the successful bloggers from the rest of the pack – it’s about discipline and taking action to make it happen!”
#truth
This was was a perfect blog post for me to read today. Since I started my blog the wrong way (at least according to many other blogs I’ve read) and haven’t been totally conventional in how I’ve done things, I have a tendency to get discouraged, then make a to-do list that would intimidate Godzilla and wear myself out trying to get ALL of it done NOW NOW NOW. I need to remember that successful things don’t happen overnight. There are multiple paths to success and just because I didn’t take the one you did doesn’t mean mine won’t get me there – just via the scenic route! I also need to remember that doing one thing at a time will not only let me enjoy the scenery, but also get good at what I’m doing! Thanks for reminding me of that!
YES! There are definitely multiple paths to success and I think oftentimes the journey is more important than the destination. So you might as well enjoy the process!
Thank you, Crystal! I appreciate your encouragement and mentorship so much. I definitely struggle focusing. Blogging is overwhelming and there are SO many things to be done. I’ve tried (as of late) to only allow myself to seek out guidance from bloggers I trust (those I’ve read for years) verses spend my time reading tips from someone with similar experience as myself. It’s so easy to get caught up in spending money to get the “latest” information then later learn it’s the same information that can be found with a simple google search. Thanks again for your authenticity and providing services that are truly helpful!
Thank you so much for your kind encouragement! I’m so grateful that you’re finding help and inspiration here!
Thank you for this! I am a shiny button follower so much of the time and I’ve been trying to be more focused. I love your advice about not promising too much or projecting too far into the future! And I also love the idea of focusing on one thing for a period of time. Thanks, Crystal!
You are so welcome! I’m glad that it encouraged you!
I really needed to read this post today! I definitely have an inner squirrel. I make a list at the beginning of the day, and I truly have good intentions. However, I easily get side-tracked.
I am new at blogging, and many times I am overwhelmed by what I need to learn, how to get more readers, and everything else that goes into creating a successful blog.
Giving yourself grace is definitely something that I need to remember. I often expect too much from myself and feel defeated when I can’t live up to it.
Thank you for your great insight and wisdom!
I’m so glad that this post encouraged you! Thank you for letting me know!
Crystal, I want to let you know how very much I appreciate this site where bloggers can exchange ideas and support each other.
Earlier today I was searching for blogs in a niche similar to mine, and I was stunned to see that a good 75% of them no longer exist. Either they’ve been taken down, or they haven’t been updated in many months.
Some of them were what I consider excellent blogs, so it saddens me to see that their authors gave up on them. Of course, I have no idea what the reasons might be.
I believe that with a site like yours, Crystal, we’ll be better equipped to hang on through the inevitable ups and downs of blogging and continue to write for many years to come.
Thank you so much for your encouragement! This comment really blessed me! I’m so grateful to have this community here!
I never would have guessed that you were a person who had a hard time following through with things! You have had so many successful series and projects on your blog – I’m constantly amazed at all the things you can have going at once!
But I definitely needed the advice to focus on one goal at a time. I have so many things that I want to do, and feel I *should* do, and I end up doing a lot of things halfway. It also makes me feel scattered and overwhelmed. I have learned that keeping a brain dump is absolutely vital for me – that way I can stay focused on the task/goal at hand, but I don’t have to worry about forgetting that good idea!
I also wholeheartedly agree with the power of accountability! I have an ongoing series on my blog with monthly mini-goals (that I started at the beginning of the year as an alternative to New Year’s resolutions), and knowing that I will have to ‘fess up at the end of the month totally keeps me on track with my goals! It has been great!
OMG I love this! This is SOOO ME. Especially the part about focus, focus, focus….OOOO SHINY THINGS! LOL! I recently gave my blog a complete overhaul and actually took the time to stop and focus on one thing at a time, the first thing I did was learn how to write my own html code with the help of a blogging friend. Once I accomplished that, I moved on to other aspects of my blog. This has really helped me in life too as far as staying more focused and not chasing after all the shiney things!
I’m so glad that you’ve found some great tips for staying more focused!
Hi Crystal! Thank you for making me feel that I am not alone in this journey. There are times that you really need to remind yourself to focus more, especially the holidays are almost here and it’s about to get busy at home!