3 rules to follow to achieve your goals
Great news: Marigold's fall collection will be available at Simons this month and for the rest of the season! Cool, huh? In the life of an independent Montreal designer, selling to one of the largest retailers in Quebec is a substantial accomplishment.
When Marilyne told me about this new level climbed, it made me think of the concept of setting goals. I'm a huge fan of to-do lists and having dreams, but the balance between enjoying the ride and banging on the head because we're 31 and we'll never officially make the list 30 under 30 by Forbes is very fragile.
So by revisiting two books that I adored, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck by Mark Manson and Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength by Roy Baumeister and John Tierney, and drawing inspiration from personal experiences, I put together three really good tips to help you achieve your goals efficiently and, above all, healthily.
Choose the right goals
Today's world tends to make us believe that we want something that we don't really want. “I want to be my own boss! I want to go to the gym five times a week! I want to have 100,000 followers on Instagram! I want to get up at 5:30 every morning and meditate for an hour! I want to buy a house with a yard and everything! »
That may really be what you want and that's totally okay. Go for it girl! On the other hand, we must be careful with goals that camouflage an underlying need. Do you want to have a bigger following to get validation from those around you? Do you want to hit the gym like crazy because you're losing control in other aspects of your life? Do you want to buy a house because that's "what adults do"?
Be honest with yourself first to make sure you're embarking on the right adventures.
Turn your goals into habits
"People usually don't focus on clothes because goals sound much sexier in our minds." Ah Mark Manson, I love him. In fact, the idea is rather to focus on developing certain habits that, by default, will bring us closer to our ultimate goals. An example? Instead of telling yourself “I want to have a book written in a year”, force yourself to write three hours a day instead. First of all, it sounds much less intimidating and, believe me, your book has a much better chance of seeing the light of day.
The pitfall of setting a long-term goal is that your initial motivation, your adrenaline rush to want to accomplish something, may be diluted over time. Results? Completing the tasks to reach your goal is going to be harder and harder or &mdash sorry for being the party pooper &mdash you might just give up. On the other hand, when you develop a habit, like writing every day, it becomes easier and easier because you transform a task into an automatism.
feel indebted
I don't know about you, but the first person I'm willing to let down is me! If I have 12 projects at the same time and I have to abandon one of them, it's sure that it's the one that involves me exclusively that takes the edge.
To avoid this kind of situation, I have a kind of pact with my friend Steph. We are aware of our respective objectives and we text each other from time to time to find out how the other's project is progressing. When you're the type of person who feels more indebted to others than to yourself, that's a super effective strategy.
I also suggest you have a logbook. Everything that is written has more weight; there is an unofficial commitment that is created in the act of transferring your ideas to paper. Be sure to write down your goals, your strategies for achieving them, your results, your difficulties, etc. At the end of each week or month, organize a solo meeting and re-evaluate if you are still heading in the right direction or if there are certain things that need to be corrected. A log also allows you to have a better overview of your progress and, in difficult times, to be more indulgent with yourself. Do you feel bad about taking your Friday off? But looking at your notes, you realize that you've been working for nine days in a row. A little break seems a lot more deserved now, right?
By Joëlle Paquette for MARIGOLD
About Joelle Paquette
After completing fashion design training at Lasalle College and Central Saint Martins in London, Joëlle finally landed in the world of magazines. Starting first at Loulou and Châtelaine, where she was a fashion and beauty web editor, she then lent her pen to a host of French-language publications, including La Presse, Clin d'oeil and Elle Québec. The rest of the time, she runs her fashion and beauty blog,