Here at The A Group, we love being students of industry experts to ensure we’re growing and evolving as people and as an agency. This week we stumbled on one of our favorite leadership gurus’ blog (Michael Hyatt). He published an article around the topic of establishing habits that help you achieve your goals, day by day.

Unfortunately, amidst this pandemic, goals have often felt more unattainable and uncertain than ever. For that reason, we thought we’d share some of the tips and encouragement from Hyatt to help us get back on track to where we know we want to be.

Check out these daily tips to begin implementing as you strive to reach your goals either as an organization or personally:

1. Be clear about your goal

This may seem obvious, but if you don’t have a specific and clear goal, you’ll never have anything to measure against. So instead of saying “I want our children’s ministry to grow,” identify a more specific goal like, “I want our children’s ministry to grow by 18% in 6 months.”

2. Identify effective behavior

Figure out what type of behavior will get you closer to that goal. Incremental changes, daily, will move you to major change. But you must be aware of what type of behavior gets you there (don’t rely on a “moment” to get you there).

This will help you move from feeling like your goal is unattainable to seeing daily progress and movement.

3. Measure your progress

As Hyatt says, “Tracking progress accomplishes two objectives:

1. It reinforces the habit through self-accountability.
2. It boosts motivation by showing you visual progress.”

Keeping tabs on your progress will keep you motivated and accountable to your goals.

4. Have an accountability partner

Find someone in your life that you would want to enlist as your accountability partner. People who check in our progress consistently, ask the right questions and make sure we’re on track (or notices when we’re off-track) are such huge assets in this process.

Be sure the person you identify has your best interest at heart and motivates you in ways that you respond best to. If you don’t respond well to someone pushing you in a harsh manner, find someone encouraging and positive. If you need a person who will kick you in the rear when you need tough love, make sure the person can do that.

We know navigating this pandemic with goals at large is challenging. But you CAN and you WILL get through this. Keep trucking toward those big audacious goals. Take it one day, one step, one incremental improvement at a time.