Productivity for sensitive people: How to achieve your goals this year

Despite having a great amount of experience SETTING goals (for both myself and others), I seemed to struggle with meeting them.

I’ve helped other people set AND meet their goals through my 10+ years as OT. I’m no stranger to the world of making “SMART” goals, using habit trackers, waking up early to do an hour long morning routine, all the productivity “hacks” and tips and tricks.

I love a good shiny new planner (and a good plan at that) and live for making a hearty to do list. I like planning what to expect.

But when it came to actually following through on getting all of those plans and habits and goals achieved, I was struggling. And a bit fed up every time I heard about the next big productivity hack.

For much of my life, I lived more out of inspiration and made choices based on what seemed like the best path or option at the time. I didn’t and wouldn’t consider myself impulsive in my life choices, but things did seem to fall into place without much planning. That SOUNDS right and nice, but I also realized that I wanted different things than the ones that were falling into my lap.

I wanted to be more intentional about my decisions and my plan for life.

BUT that also turned out to be discouraging when I put as much intention and planning and scheduling into my life as I could muster and didn’t reach A. Single. Goal.

I still have plenty to learn, but I’ve recently started to meet some substantial goals I’ve set for myself and have some ideas that I’d love to share with you.

Here are 5 reasons you might not be meeting your goals AND what you can do about them to make this a year you’re proud of:

Why you’re not meeting your goals

Reason #1: You’re setting the bar too high

Without having a single scientific study to reference this data, I would say that about 100% of conscientious, overgiving people also think that they should be able to achieve all the lofty goals they set for themselves. These unrealistic standards of what you should be and/or achieve that you have set for yourself are honorable but so harmful to your self-esteem and confidence in your abilities.

If you keep overestimating what you can achieve, you will also keep letting yourself down when you aren’t able to achieve these things.

I know it’s tough to lower the bar when you think you should be able to meet all your goals, or at least keep up with your ever-growing to-do list.

But you really cannot do everything. And as a sensitive and/or neurodivergent person, we are made for much different things than being able to power through a to-do list and knock out the perfect day of perfect habits of the perfect person.

Along the same lines, it’s one thing to think of all the things you want to get done and achieve and quite another thing to have realistic expectations, bringing us to #2:

**This is a little preview of something exciting to come…**

**Stay tuned for more info, especially if you’re interested in setting and *meeting* your goals this year**
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Reason #2: It’s tough to know how long things will take (+ how much energy)

Even if you have the best intentions and realize that you cannot do everything when making your schedule or deciding what to do daily/weekly to meet your goals, it’s tough to know actually what you can do in the time you have.

It’s often difficult to understand how long something will take (and often even more of a struggle for people with neurodivergence and those that experience time blindness).

But maybe even more important than your available time is your available energy.

If you knew with 100% accuracy and certainty how long something should take, that is still an average length of time among all people. You might be able to complete it a lot faster or a lot slower depending on your personal strengths, attention, and energy.

So it’s not only important to plan things based on the amount of time you think you’ll have available, but how your energy is and may be as well.

Reason #3: Self sabotage

Ugh, why do we do this?

When we clearly and strongly want something, we still can find ways to sabotage it. There seems to be many different theories about why we sabotage good things or good progress and I think there are many different reasons. You might find what’s at the core of your self-sabotage is one or many of these reasons:

Your dreams aren’t truly what you want.
You’re tired of working hard without many results.
You aren’t excited about your goal(s) anymore and/or getting bored.
You’re afraid of what people will think if you want or have your goal.
The steps towards your goal seem too overwhelming or scary.
You don’t think you’re worthy of what you want on some level.

Related to this is your overall self-belief and #4:

Reason #4: Not believing in yourself

Not being able to follow through on your goals and desires could be a sign that you need to develop better belief in yourself and your worth. And this is a vicious cycle - the more you unrealistically overestimate what you can accomplish, the less you will actually achieve what you set out to accomplish, and the less you will believe in yourself.

And in a similar manner, the less you believe in yourself and your innate worth, the more you feel like you need to achieve to prove yourself, so you may set high expectations and goals for yourself, and then the more you set these and have unrealistic expectations for what you can accomplish, the less you will actually achieve what you set out to accomplish, and the less you will believe in yourself. What a cycle.

Sounds absolutely cheesy but it’s true. You need to have some level of belief and confidence in yourself, your gifts, your abilities. Both belief in general about yourself and belief specifically that you’re capable of achieving your goals.

Reason #5: Forgotten goals

“Set them and forget them” doesn’t apply to working towards your intentional goals. You may have an idea of what you would love to achieve and what dreams you have for your future, but do you remember them, know them, think about them often?

It’s easy to daydream and think about things that would be nice.

Do you make it a practice to write down your goals and dreams? Do you see a specific outcome for yourself?

Sometimes just the act of writing down your specific goals can improve your ability to achieve them.

If you forget about your goals, you won’t have a clear vision of where you want to go. You could end up way off from where you wanted to be.

OR even…

BONUS reason: You actually ARE meeting and achieving your goals, but not letting yourself notice or celebrate or remember when you do. And continue to beat yourself up for not making any or “enough” progress.

What to do to meet your goals

TIP #1: Schedule it. Kinda.

Have an area where you can write down everything that pops into your head, everything you’re afraid you might forget. BUT resist the urge to schedule all of these things and resist and release the idea that you have to get all of it done ASAP. I do like to make a “pool” of to-do list items for my week WITH the expectation that I WILL NOT get everything done, but that I give myself the flexibility to choose a task that seems the most appropriate at a given time. I schedule a time frame in my week where I plan to do something from my to do list, then choose something to focus on within that time period when the time comes. Whether it be something inspiring, interesting, or even the one that I know will help out future me the most. That way, I can choose a task that aligns best in the moment while also not being completely influenced 100% by how I feel in the moment (because then I probably would always choose just playing Nancy Drew computer games or reading outside all day).

It’s also important to consider your personal energy levels - at specific times of the day, week, and month - and to be aware of and give yourself some grace if your energy levels are down when it comes time to complete a task you previously scheduled.

Giving myself different options allows for so much more inspired action. This gentle and forgiving approach helps get things done without forcing myself to complete something I don’t end up having the energy for. In your own schedule, consider intentionally adding in more flexibility, time to be inspired, and space to choose.

TIP #2: Anticipate and celebrate quick wins.

What are your current goals for yourself? If you got just halfway towards your goal, or even just quarter way towards your goal, you still would be closer to where you want to be than you currently are. I say that’s a win! And a win that should be celebrated (I’m talking to myself as much as you here).

But even more so, you might consider breaking your goal into the smallest possible part. You can do this by asking yourself: what do you think you could get done this week to make progress towards your goal? Now half that. Now half that again. THAT is your realistic goal for this week.

Give yourself the gift of working towards your goals while also allowing space for the natural ebbs and flows of your energy, inspiration, and available time. And when you DO meet this goal, you get to show yourself that meeting goals is possible and you are now someone who meets their goals. You learn that you can trust yourself more and achieve what you set out to do. This is critical to your overall success as well as for building your overall confidence and self-esteem.

Don’t forget to give thanks and celebrate what was accomplished.

TIP #3: Be your already successful self

What actually helped me was listing out not only the aspects/habits etc of each goal (go into this more…break down each goal into bite size habits etc) but also and especially listing out the changes that need to happen in the process of and when you meet your goal and really processing through these changes (helps me realize that I am really self sabotaging because of a lot of fear around these changes and often seems like my most desired and exciting goals are often the ones with the biggest and/or scariest changes).

I could go on and on about this subject, and I will continue to go into detail about how and what you can do to continue to grow, achieve, and live life to the fullest without overexerting and beating yourself up along the way.

Imagine you can meet your goals in all areas of your life and your wildest dreams are within your reach without excess stress, overwhelm, and overuse of time management systems and overreliance on your pure willpower alone.

Imagine you can achieve without sacrificing your beautiful sensitive nature and zest for life.

This is what I want for you, for all of us.

My cyclical and sensitive planner is coming soon - get on the waitlist here. The scheduling methods are based on the most easy, flowy, forgiving, and gentle ways to be productive and achieve your goals.

If one of your goals is starting and growing your own successful blog business this year, also recommend my free blog business roadmap for a step-by-step action plan.

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Let me know your thoughts and join our community for more motivation, inspiration, and information about starting and growing your own online business and creating a purposeful, balanced, HSP life you love:

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