How to Stay Motivated by Making Your Goals Visible

The month of December (a.k.a. the month of goal-setting) is one of our favorite times of the year. Nothing fuels us more than to sit down with each other and discuss our aspirations for what we aim to achieve in the new year. For some reason we’re especially fueled this month, probably because we can’t wait to leave behind the chaos that is 2020 (or soon to be was).

However, a struggle for many of our fellow creatives is actually staying motivated all year long. We know the feeling– you’re pumped to crush your goals while you’re planning them, and you still have the ball rolling through Q1, but then.. it slows down.

And it keeps getting slower.. and slower.. and slower until you reflect on your year, realize how shitty it’s been, aim to change that in the next year, get all pumped up again, and the cycle repeats.

So, how do you break the cycle?

‘Tis the Season to Make Your Goals Visible

Planning goals is one thing, but you’re never going to accomplish them if you aren’t frequently reminded of them and of what could be. Making them visible gives them some tangibility and  makes them feel like more of a reachable thing, like “This is actually in my future if I just keep at it”.

We know how easy it is to plan your year in your notebook or planner, then never glance inside of it again. When you can see your goals, you’re constantly thinking about how great your life and/or business would be if you achieved them, which can be just enough to keep the fire going. 

How to Make them Visible

You may be a little confused about how to actually make them visible. I mean, if your goal is to land 10 more clients than last year, how do you make that something you can see? For the most part, it’s about focusing on the results. What would 10 extra clients bring you? Well, let’s say you average $1,000 profit from one client– that’s $10,000 more than you made the year before. 

What would an extra $10,000 do for you and your business? Maybe it’ll get you one step closer to buying your dream home. Maybe it’ll allow you to go on that vacation to Bali that you’ve been talking your partner’s ear off about. While you can’t see the 10 clients, you sure as heck can see Bali. Here’s how:

CREATE A DREAM BOARD

Also known as a vision board, a dream board is just the thing that will bring those goals to life and allow you to see what you’re aiming to achieve. It’s basically a collage of images (like Bali or your dream house) and quotes that are meant to inspire you to stay on top of your goals, and they’re super easy to create.

What better place to find inspiration in images than Pinterest? You can either save these images to your computer and put them together in a simple Canva collage. We have a pretty in-depth tutorial here.

Once you’ve created your collage, put it everywhere. Save it as your phone screen, your desktop screen, print it off and frame it to sit at your desk, wherever you can possibly put it so that you’re constantly reminded of what’s waiting for you.

You could even literally create a dream board on Pinterest. If you want, you can also make this board secret so that no one but you can see it. Whenever you come across new inspiration, just Pin it to your dream board!

USE DUBSADO’S FINANCIAL GOALS FEATURE

In addition to this beautiful vision board for your life, how about one for your business too? We love tracking our financial goals through Dubsado.

If you’ve never used Dubsado before, they have a financial goals section of the dashboard. The dashboard is the first page to load when you log into Dubsado, so you’re able to instantly see what your current revenue is sitting at in comparison to the overall goal you’ve set for yourself either monthly or yearly. They also show it in a green bar that expands with how close you are to reaching your goals, and there’s nothing more satisfying than seeing it fill up!

In addition to the financial goals section, the dashboard also allows you to see the dollar amount of open invoices, a revenue indicator that tells you what percentage higher or lower of revenue you’re at compared to the last month, how many invoices have missed payments, how many contracts need to be signed, and more.

For a full Dubsado dashboard plus Projects page walkthrough, grab our Dubsado Dashboard Tutorial from The Creative Template Shop. We brought on Dubsado team member and expert, Cameron McBeth, who recorded a full walkthrough showing you how to use both pages, how to organize your projects by project statuses and tagging, how to create new statuses and tags, and more.

This video is $29 alone, or you can become a Shop member for only $47/month and get instant access to all templates in the Shop. And trust us, the Shop comes with the side effect of adding more and more things to your cart, so save yourself some cash by becoming a member.

If you aren’t using Dubsado, it’s our favorite CRM for service-based business owners. You’re able to streamline your processes in a whole new way, scheduling calls, sending emails, and accepting payments all through Dubsado. If you want to try it, just head here to get 50% off your first month or year.

There’s so much value in making your goals visible. If you find it hard to keep the momentum going throughout the year, this could be the perfect solution. Nothing lights a fire in your ass like staring at your hut in the water at the Four Seasons Hotel in Bali just waiting on you… calling your name… *ahem* Excuse us while we get back to work.