Day 18: Integrate your goal with daily activities

This tip is in keeping with Tip 15 and it is also a simple time-management technique:

Tip 18:  Integrate your goal with your daily activities

One reason that people give up on their goals is that they treat them as something extra that has to be done.  When you treat your goals like this they can soon start to feel like a chore, and because the goal is only important to you, it can become easy to put off when other people make demands on your time.  You will have more chance of achieving your goal if you make it enjoyable and also easy to act on.  So, aim to integrate your goal with other aspects of your life.  For example, if you have set yourself the goal of reading more, you can get into the habit of taking a book with you everywhere, so if a meeting is delayed you can grab a few pages and your time isn't wasted.  Look for 'dead time', for example could the daily commute to work be an opportunity to listen to audio books or podcasts?  Make technology work for you - e-books provide much greater flexibility than paper books.  You can carry several books in one lightweight device, you can access the book through multiple sources from different locations and you can easily annotate them too.

This is just one example, but the general idea is to get creative about how you can make your new goal just part of your daily routine.  Remember, doing things 'little and often' will generally lead to bigger gains than trying to go for one big 'hit'.  All the little things quickly add up and this approach is much more sustainable.  Look to enjoy your journey too.