Temi Olajide: How to Take Action on Your Mum Goals

It’s almost the end of the year, and everyone has started to talk about next year’s goals. For some of us who are mothers, we haven’t even achieved all the goals we set for ourselves for a number of reasons. Being a mum is goals on its own.

Achieving one’s goals as a mum can be tough many times, because there are so many things competing for your attention. So to really make progress in life, we need to set goals that are achievable.

These strategies will give you actionable steps in helping you achieve your goals as a mum:

Know what you really want to achieve for yourself, family, career /business

Success begins with dreaming big, but setting small achievable goals will go along way to accomplishing those big goals.

As a mum, your life can be pretty demanding and busy, such that you forget about your goals and you always end up in the same place at the end of the year. Identifying what you really want, will help you create a road map or a schedule that will guide you in achieving your goals within the shortest possible time.

Write your goals down; you can write and put it in a place where you’re able to see it regularly. Set daily, weekly or monthly timelines and make sure you follow up at each stage.

What I suggest is: have a diary or a book for this and check through your timelines during the day. At the end of each day, note what you’re able to achieve and the steps you’ve taken in the cause of the day towards your end goal. Most importantly, learn to celebrate your daily achievements when you hit your goals.

Be accountable to someone that supports your dream and will help you achieve it

As a mum, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and distracted. Taking care of your kids alone can make you lose track of time. This is why I suggest having someone you’re accountable to, this will help you achieve your goals quicker. This person can be a friend you share common goals with as some friends can make you lose focus. This person can also be a mentor or coach.

You can also sign into accountability programs or masterminds. These are usually paid programs that help one achieve their goals in the shortest time.

Accountability groups have been of immense help to me. I’ve been able to achieve what will ordinarily take me a year or more in a month. Trust me, when money is involved, you will do all you can to make it work.

Procrastination! It only kills your dreams

Procrastination not only kills your dreams, it also keeps you in the same spot you’ve always been and you will remain there if you don’t take immediate actions towards your dreams. Quit deceiving yourself by giving all sorts of excuses for procrastinating and not taking steps in achieving your goals.

Let me burst your bubble: there are a million mums doing amazing things and achieving their goals. I have also procrastinated a number of times, but I just made up my mind one day to ditch all my excuses because I wasn’t making the desired progress in life. The truth is that the day you stop moving forward, you start moving backward. I wasn’t ready to go backwards, so progress it is. Being a mum is a blessing and not a curse and it’s definitely not an excuse for underachievement.

If you procrastinate a lot and you want to crush your goals next year as a mum, you should join accountability programs.

Remember that staying accountable to someone helps you take actions on your goals quicker than thinking you can do it on your own. Yes, you can if you don’t procrastinate, but it’s still better to have someone you are accountable to.

Improve your time management skills, time is life!

Time isn’t only money; time is life! If you don’t manage your time well, you’re not managing your life well too. Set time limits on your goals and stick to it. This helps you develop into being a good time manager and things become easier for you to achieve.

For example, if you want to increase sales and make 500k in your business as a mumpreneur in a month(goal), set time limits on what you need to do to achieve that. For example, you can:

• Go out every day to talk to at least two new people about your business.
• Reach out to two of your existing customers each day.
• Reach out to two people online every day and tell them about your product/service.
• Educate people on your social media page about your product/service at least once a week.
• Sell at least five of your products each day and so on.

If you want to be a certified Human resource consultant, you can do the following:

• Determine when you want to be certified (e.g by March 2020)
• Research and Identify the school you will register with (online /offline)
• Reach out and register.
• Identify how much time you’re ready to commit to.
• Set daily time to study ( e.g 1 – 2 hrs daily when the kids are in bed)
• Study and sit for exams and so on.

You can model these examples to fit into any of your goals.

Be specific with your time limits and take daily actions by following through and you are on your way to crushing your goals.

Develop a positive mindset, remain optimistic

Always have the ‘I can do this’ mindset, it propels you more. I know as a mum, there are some challenges that will make you question so many things. Like, why is this happening today? Why will your child fall ill today? Why will this accident happen? Why is your husband not being understanding? You feel alone and overwhelmed.

In all this, take a deep breath, reassure yourself all will be fine and remind yourself of why you need to achieve your goals and then go for it. Always remain calm and positive in every situation.

Finally, achieving your goals as a mum makes you happier, more productive, gives you a great sense of fulfillment and encourages your kids to do the same too. Remember that a happier and fulfilled mum is a happier family.

So what are you waiting for? Go crush your goals, the New Year is here already!