On Sunday, when the calendar turned to March 1, I realized the end of Q1 2015 is rapidly approaching. I suddenly pondered, how close am I to achieving my business goals for the quarter?

How many of you have been keeping a close eye on taking the actions necessary to achieve your goals? It can be quite challenging if we don’t have a structure or structures in place to hold us accountable to completing the actions.

Back in December, I posted a short blog with an offer to help my clients and prospective clients to gain clarity on their vision for 2015, and help them set goals. Many took me up on this offer, and along the way, I have helped to hold them accountable to the actions they chose to take or realized they needed to take in order to make their goals and dreams become a reality. And, I’ve helped them identify more actions along the way. Many others came to me a bit later hoping to work with me in an effort to gain clarity on what they truly wanted to achieve, so that they could set realistic, achievable goals with the knowledge that having a support alongside them to hold them accountable to completing necessary actions would increase the likelihood they would succeed.

In this busy world in which we live, where different priorities pull us in many different directions, it’s so easy to lose sight of our goals, or forget to take the actions or complete the tasks required to achieve our goals. The good news is it’s not too late. It’s only March and even if you’re a bit behind for the quarter, we still have over 3 quarters left in 2015. Or, if we’re talking about personal goals, it’s never too late to get started.

Some of my clients feel overwhelmed by what it takes to achieve a goal, or to make a change. What often helps is to break goals down into smaller, achievable tasks. This process reminds me of a book suggested to me when I was getting ready to put my house on the market, almost one year ago. I was feeling overwhelmed by the task ahead of me. That book, One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way by Robert Maurer Ph.D., is based on a Japanese technique that suggests that long lasting change and success can come through taking small steps one at a time. That’s just what I did to prepare my house for sale. My goal was to de-clutter and clear out no longer needed “stuff” from my house in which I raised a family and lived in for 23 years. I tackled tasks for 10 minutes at a time, rather than feeling the need to spend hours or a day at a time. This small step process was extremely helpful, allowing me to breathe while accomplishing the task with minimal stress. And I succeeded. The following quote is one I keep posted as a great reminder: “Great things are done by a series of small things brought together” – Vincent Van Gogh.

What’s holding you back from achieving your goals? Do you find yourself veering off your path? Would having support be helpful to you?  I would be honored to help you gain clarity, set, or re-set your goals, ensure they are achievable, help you to identify structures as reminders to complete your small tasks or actions, and hold you accountable so that you can stay on course and celebrate your accomplishments. If this sounds like it would be helpful for you, please contact me for a complimentary coaching session by email at heidi@heidiwerther.com or call me at 617.365.9550, or feel free to share my information with someone you know would benefit from working with me.