How to Overcome Distractions & Stay Focused on Your Goals

So you just committed to a brand new goal. Congratulations! Now, how do you stay FOCUSED until you achieve it?

Whether it’s a healthy diet, exercise or new routine, I encourage you to FIRST spend a moment celebrating your big move and positive intentions.

Making any kind of REAL change in our lives is no small feat.

So after you’ve thoroughly patted yourself on the back, its time to create a game plan for overcoming all the obstacles you’re probably going to face.

Because you know what the truth is?

Obstacles are inevitable.

As Steven Pressfield says in his bestselling book The War of Art:

“The more fear we feel about a specific enterprise, the more certain we can be that that enterprise is important to us and to the growth of our soul. That’s why we feel so much Resistance. If it meant nothing to us, there’d be no Resistance.” 

In other words, every time you do something BIG with your life, you WILL face resistance (aka obstacles and distractions). 

It’s just a part of the equation.

So instead of getting frustrated when unforeseen events interrupt your super healthy routine, let’s take a moment to prepare instead. 

How to Stay Focused On Your Goals (2 Minute Video)

Got all that?

To recap, here is my number one way to power through any goal, regardless of any obstacles that get in your way:

Step #1: Set Your Anchor

What’s an “anchor” again?

An ANCHOR is your heavy-hitting reminder of WHY you’re doing what you’re doing.

It can be a quote, a photograph, a song lyric, or a picture of a place you’d like to travel…

Whatever it is, It has to be REAL.

It has to be SPECIFIC.

It has to be PERSONAL.

And it has to hit you right in the gut.

 It has to be connected to your Emotionally Charged Why 

What’s your Emotionally Charged WHY? (Well, that’s a different blog post. Click here to read it!)

But, a quick example:

If you’ve chosen to sign up for a month-long healthy eating program, your WHY is not just “I want to be healthier.”

That’s not specific enough.

To discover your WHY, you have to get real, get specific, and get in touch with your deep truth.

For Anne (name changed) for example, her WHY is that a certain diet-related disease runs in her family, and she wants to do everything she can to make sure she increases her chances of avoiding it. Her anchor was a photograph of her daughter.

For Bette (name changed), she knew that she wanted to find love again. But she knew that she had to practice loving herself first. She wanted to eat healthier in order to feel stronger, more energized, and sexier in her skin. Her anchor was a dress that she loved and wanted to fit into again. 

Whatever it is for you, find an object that can serve as your ANCHOR, and then proceed to the ACTION STEP below. 

Action Step:

Find a prominent place in your bedroom, car, or kitchen (somewhere you’ll see every day) to place your ANCHOR. Make sure you spend at least a few seconds every day reconnecting with the feeling it gives you. 

In the face of obstacles and distractions, you can think about your ANCHOR, and ask yourself:

“Am I making the best choice for myself in this moment? Is this choice getting me closer to my goal?”