141: Mid-Year Goal Check: Assess Your Progress and Set Micro-Habits for Success - by Teresa Huff

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Mid-Year Check-In
It’s hard to believe the summer is half over already! Where did the year go? I don’t know about you, but I’m a goal-setter, so mid-year is a good time to check in on my progress. Like most years, I’ve had a lot of unexpected things come up. It’s a process of learning to roll with the changes and adjust as I go.

As I evaluate how to move forward for the rest of this year, I thought it would be a good time to share a few tips I’ve learned to help you reach your goals.

Make Progress with Micro-Habits

One method of goal-setting is to set up micro-habits. Rather than setting ourselves up for failure with a huge goal we likely won’t reach, where can we create micro-habits to set ourselves up for a nearly 100% win? Those have a surprisingly compounding effect.

Micro-habits are small actions that help lead us towards our goals. They're easy to accomplish consistently and have a compounding effect.

7 Steps for Setting Micro-Habits for Success

1. Assess Your Progress:
   Look at your goals from the beginning of the year. Are you on track? Have you accomplished what you hoped for by now? Don’t be too hard on yourself if your progress isn't exactly where you expected it to be. Instead, use this time to evaluate, adjust, and adapt.
2. Be Flexible
   Choose to adapt when life throws unexpected things at you. Keep pushing forward and don’t give up.
3. Be Deliberate
   When unexpected opportunities or hurdles come, deliberately decide where these things fit in the bigger picture. Be sure to pace yourself and take a rest when you need to.
4. Be Intentional
   Be intentional when choosing your micro-habit. Consider the larger goal of who or what you want to become and identify a habit that will help you get there. Define and visualize where you want to be in the next month, three months, or by the end of the year.
5. Be Strategic
   Identify areas where consistent action will have a meaningful impact on your larger objectives. Then integrate micro-habits into your existing daily routine by choosing a trigger. A trigger is a specific time or event in your day that serves as a reminder to do the new habit.
6. Be Accountable
   Setting goals, micro-habits, and triggers is only half the battle. We all need accountability to stay on track. If you need an accountability partner, shoot me an email.
7. Stay Clear on Your Vision
   Make sure your bigger purpose is clear. Why are you doing this? What will this move you closer to? That will help you stay motivated and on track.

The key is to set a trigger and stick to it, because it takes about a month for a behavior to become a routine. By setting deliberate micro-habits strategically aligned with our bigger picture, we can actively work towards becoming better versions of ourselves each day. And you don’t have to do it alone; I’m here to support you. 

Keep pushing forward; you've got this!

To read today's full episode: Mid-Year Goal Check: Assess Your Progress and Set Micro-Habits for Success
To watch and share my TEDx Talk, The Real ROI of Grant Writing.  

Challenge Question:

What micro-habit will you commit to every day for the next 30 days?

Resources Mentioned:

• Other Grant Writing Simplified podcasts to help you reach your goals:
  • Leadershi