Hey Reader

Happy Quarter 3! 🥳

As someone who plans their goals on a quarterly basis, I love the fresh start feeling that comes with July.

Some of the goals I’ve set for the 3 months ahead are repeats or revamped versions of things I've already been working on, but others are completely new and giving me the novelty that my brain craves 😈

While working on a new goal (or in my case set of goals 😝) can certainly cause excitement and a boost of motivation, I know this feeling will not stick around for the entire of the next 3 months.

What feels like an exciting challenge now might just feel like a regular difficult challenge in a couple of weeks 😅

The parts of my goal planning that are most at risk of this are the routines that I'm trying to build; behaviour change is hard!

With that in mind though, I'm really trying to lean into starting things small even though I'm aiming for big progress.

Let's have a look 👀

The idea - Go small to achieve big

When we're trying to build a new habit or routine, it can be all too tempting to take the mindset of "go big or go home".

As someone who also wants to achieve big things, I can totally appreciate the ambition!

The problem is though, if we set our expectations based on our most optimistic and motivated self, this will more likely than not lead to disappointment 🥺

Sure, maybe initially we can rely on motivation to push us through and complete these new routines we're trying to build.

Eventually though, once that motivation wears off, rather than rising to the level of our big aspirations, we either:

1. Tried to "go big" from Day 1, found it way too hard, and threw in the towel, or
2. Tried to do a bunch of new routines all at once, got overwhelmed, and throw in the towel.

So much for "new quarter, new me" 🙄

We wanted consistent completion of the habits that would change our lives, but instead we got sporadic completion at best.

The solution here isn't to compromise on what we want for ourselves though.

I don't want you to minimise your goals and dreams just because current-you can't do them yet!

Instead, we need to meet ourselves where we are and set expectations accordingly.

This means redefining what success looks like at this stage and making it smaller.

This could either be:

• Starting with a smaller version of the habit we hope to build overtime, or
• Vastly cutting back the number of new things we're trying to implement.

What this looks like will depend on the habit and overall goal you're working on, but the aim is to pick a softer, more approachable version of the habit you'd like to build up to.

Rather than aiming for:

• I do a 30-minute workout daily I do 5 minutes of intentional movement daily
• I wake up at 5am every day I set my alarm 10 minutes earlier than I usually wake up
• I complete a full dental routine every night I put my toothbrush in my mouth every evening

Some of the questions you can ask to help you find the approachable version of your habit include:

The point isn't to stay at the small version for the rest of forever.

We just want to use it to build our consistency, build momentum, and build confidence in our ability.

Once we have that, we can make the habit incrementally harder 💪

But I don't want "small"!

If you're the kind of person who has big dreams, setting "smaller" or "easier" habits will probably feel not only counter-intuitive, but also really frustrating 😂

I don't want to do things small! I want to make big changes!

I hear you, I do 🙌

But consistently aiming for a target that current-us can't reach has worse consequences than just inconsistent habit completion.

When we set our habit expectations higher than what is feasible, we often end up in a cycle of frustration.

First, we're frustrated because the habit is hard to do.

Then we're frustrated at ourselves because we aren't sticking to it.

Eventually we're frustrated because we've become so inconsistent that "what is even the point?"

And then we're frustrated because we start feeling like we can't be trusted to go after our goals.

Rather than falling into that cycle again, let's try a different approach.

Starting small will let us build a track record of success that shows we can do this.

From there, we can slowly increase our expectations and make the habit incrementally more challenging.

As we get our reps in and develop our capability, eventually the habit that would have felt too hard on Day 1 will be achievable.

Instead of staying stuck in that cycle of frustration, building up from a small habit to the actual version we're hoping for helps us achieve what we want faster.

Want more goal-getting support?

If you were looking for an accountability community while you work on your Quarter 3 goals, then we'd love to have you as part of The Team (with a capital T)!

The Team is our channel membership over on YouTube. All members have access to our goal-getting and productivity-focused community server where we share and support each other as we work on the things that matter to us 💪

While the community space is the part I most wanted to let you know about, a summary of the other perks for each membership level can be found in the picture below 👌

These perks are cumulative, meaning that Tier 3 members receive all the perks listed, and members in Tier 2 also receive the perks from Tier 1.

If you'd like to join the community, or get access to any of the other perks, just hit the button below to check it out!

Let's take action

Thinking about a goal you have for Quarter 3, and a habit or a routine that will help you achieve it, ask yourself:

Make sure to be realistic with yourself here!

We aren't looking for the version that only the super motivated and high-energy you can accomplish. We want this to be doable even on those days that are outside of the "ideal".

Just because we're setting this small target doesn't mean this is all we'll achieve!

Once we have the track record to prove this small habit is something we can do consistently, then we can make it a little more challenging.

Over time, we'll increase our ability and become that version of us who can do the initially hard habit 👌

Instead of overwhelming ourselves this quarter, let's start with something smaller.

I'd love to know what small habit you'll be starting with; feel free to reply and let me know 😄

Until next time!

- Jess