Building up momentum during the pursuit of your goals is important. It helps you rush toward that finish line faster than you ever thought possible. But have you wondered what you’d do after you reached your goal? Keeping your goal in focus is crucial to achieving it, but we often forget that the work isn’t over once our goal is accomplished. In fact, the work only builds in frequency and intensity. So, when you’ve met that goal and your momentum is about to plateau, it’s vital to have a plan that will keep it from crashing.
You met a goal, but don’t slow your roll.
To avoid slowly (or quickly) losing your momentum after meeting a goal, keep that goal at the forefront of your mind. Just because you reached your target doesn’t mean it’s no longer an achievement. You can still be proud of yourself for making it this far, and you should be! However, quickly start thinking about what you want to accomplish next. It’s helpful to have multiple goals prioritized. And it’s worth writing them down by priority level so you can follow up the completion of one goal with the beginning of another.
If you’ve already met your goal and are now realizing that you don’t have another goal queued up, it’s time to set one. And make sure to set it before the post-achievement blues settle in. (Yes, they’re a thing.)
Raise the bar and your game.
When you complete a milestone, don’t shift down, shift up! You should be psyched and ready to go higher. On a hike, when you reach the top only to find it’s not the top, you don’t turn around and go home (hopefully). You see that next peak and push even harder to get there before the sun goes down. When you finally reach that peak, you admire the view, head home, rest up, and prepare for the next adventure. You should be doing the same thing with your dreams and goals. Finish one goal and plan for another, more challenging one.
Increase the expectations of your goals, then bring yourself up to meet and surpass those expectations. Repeat that process, and you will always strive to be the best version of yourself. Imagine yourself a year ago … are you mentally tougher than your former self? If so, then you’re doing something right and should expect to have that same answer a year from now.
Take what you learn and use it to earn.
Once you’ve met one goal, you already know what is required to achieve another. So, crushing your next goal should be easy, right? Wrong. Allowing yourself to think like that is how you lose your edge and precious momentum. Instead, ask yourself, “Is this goal hard enough to reach?” Accomplishing dreams should be challenging. Sure, now that you know how to motivate yourself, you’ll have an easier time staying consistent and keeping yourself on track. But that doesn’t mean the journey itself will be less difficult.
You’re still going to face obstacles. You’ll cross paths with doubters. You may even fail a few times. But you can use whatever you learned during the pursuit of your previous goal to come closer to attaining your new goal.
Guide others to chase their dreams.
Another way to solidify the things you’ve learned and keep that momentum is to show others how it’s done. After you reach a goal, you may have people asking you how they can do it, too. Don’t be shy, show them. Aiding others in the quest to their goals also gives you a chance to give back to the community, just as you were supported in your journey. If you’re someone who values helping others and seeing them succeed, passing along your experience will help you stay true to those values and even get some enjoyment from it.
As you walk them through your process, you might find inspiration that leads you to a new objective. For example, while you’re helping people accomplish what you were able to do, you may notice that many of them have faced a similar struggle—lack of confidence. You might think, “I should find a way to alleviate that struggle,” then proceed to make that your mission. You could suggest to your team that practicing their people skills on friends will help you gain confidence. Or advise them to find common ground with their potential customers. Either way, you’re on your way to accomplishing another goal.
While helping people, you may realize that you really enjoyed showing them the ropes and want to continue developing your coaching skills. If your new goal is to become a better coach, consider improving upon these six qualities that’ll put you on course for becoming an exceptional mentor.
Whatever direction you decide to go, make sure you use your momentum to help you along the way. After all, if you don’t use it, you’ll lose it.
