Working toward your goals can be overwhelming. In order to achieve your goals you must make a plan and take action. You may be wondering, "where do I start?" Here's the method that I've found works for me.
1) Write down ALL of your goals. This could be anything from graduate from college, lose 50 pounds, get a new job, read more books, buy a house.. anything!
2) Separate these goals into two categories -Ultimate Goals (which would be something that takes a longer period of time to achieve such as buying a house or starting a business) & Smaller Goals (get into college, eat healthier, read more, etc.)
3) Make a plan. For your smaller goals, simply pick a start date for action, write it down in your calendar, and do it! My smaller/daily goals are the simplest things, such as drink one cup of green tea with lemon water for enhanced health or spend 30 minutes reading an educational book or article. You will soon realize that making small goals every day will slowly turn into habits that you will no longer need to pencil into your schedule unless you want to.
For your larger/ultimate goals, you need a plan that's a little more complex. After writing down my ultimate goals I write smaller and more easily achievable goals that will eventually lead to my larger goals. Once a week, I pick 1-3 goals that I want to focus on that will take me one step closer to my bigger desires. And each day I write down one small goal and the task that I need to do in order to get me closer to it.
4) Take action! Follow your plan, be patient, and work hard - you will get there!
I used this method for my career and continue to use it as I'm growing my own business. I wrote down my ultimate goals and then what I was going to do each year, each month, each week, and EACH DAY to get there. I wanted to become a well-educated Personal Trainer & Health Coach. And I have accomplished that! So what was my first step? Apply to colleges that I would go to after I graduated high school. Once I got accepted I chose the college I wanted to attend and then created a plan once I got there. I made a plan of what classes I would take each year so that I would be able to graduate in 4 years, on the side I also took a Personal Training course, First Aid, CPR, and AED courses, and did two hands-on personal training internships. I planned out each month, each week, and each day regarding studying and homework. After my targeted goal of graduation and a job after 4 years, I did it! I continued with the same method after college while working for companies until I was able to go fully on my own and start my own business.
Focus on the things that you can do in the moment each day to avoid being overwhelmed. Completing small tasks leads to big accomplishments. Put in the work and you can do anything that you put your mind to. What you do each and every single day will affect your future, so start making small changes now and your life will be completely different and better as soon as just one year from now!