Want to Get Closer to Your Goals Today? Do This.

By Steve p Brady

How often have you set a goal for yourself only to see that dream whither on the vine? You wanted to gain 500+ followers on LinkedIn, learn a new career skill, start a personal branding blog, or change jobs altogether, and six months later you are right where you started? 

I’m guessing the above scenario is pretty familiar. We all have done this. But it doesn’t have to be this way. We just need a new vantage point. The main thing that holds us back from achieving our goals is a lack of momentum. So the key therefore is to create instant momentum.

Here is what you need: the half and double rule. The idea is to cut your goal in half and double the amount of time you budget for it.

At first this seems counter-productive, but trust me, it works.

The way this technique works is that it forces you to minimize your goals down into small and manageable steps. When the task is easily doable you’re less likely to put it off. Put a few days of small successes together and all of a sudden you have momentum going for you.

For instance, let’s say you were looking to change careers this year and one strategy was to increase your presence on LinkedIn. Your goal was to add 100 LinkedIn connections over the next six months. LinkedIn is an important tool in any jobseeker or career builder’s tool box, and there are many common mistakes people make on there. One of which is having generic contacts, rather than actual legitimate people who are active in your field. Having the right type of contacts is just as important as having a properly written profile. According to the half and double rule your new goal would be to add 50 legitimate connections over the next 90 days.

This is really doable, right? However, a goal with that distant of a deadline won’t keep you motivated, so you need to create monthly check-ins. The obvious one here would be the goal of finding three new connections every week. 

Anyone can find three new contacts a week, right? You can probably accomplish this goal without much effort at all. But the thing is, once you start looking for people and cultivating connections you will find yourself adding much more than your predetermined goal. The half and double rule is all about putting you in the right frame of mind to achieve the goal.

Start moving towards your goal, let momentum do the hard work and before you know six months from now you’ll be looking back on a successfully achieved goal.

Steve P Brady has over 10 years experience as an Executive Resume Writer. He publishes a monthly newsletter for those looking to grow in their careers.