I love a big goal. One that requires lots of planning and a ton of patience and what feels like (and often is) a million little steps to reach. But sometimes those big goals, like this one, feel like they’re too big to achieve. People will tell you to break them down and focus on each individual step. Which is great, but what do you do when you’ve done that and you’re working on those steps, but the big goal is still in your mind and progress feels too slow? Here are my tips! (That I need to remember too!)
Plan those small steps
If you haven’t already, reverse engineer the big goal so that you do have small, take 10-30minutes to complete, steps. Start with the big goal and then think of 10 things you need need to do to make it happen. Then pick one of those and write 10 things you need to do to make that happen. Continue until you have teeny steps you can do without them feeling overbearing and pop them on your calendar or in your planner over the next few weeks and months so you start to tackle them.
Take the pressure off
If you’re anything like me, once you set your mind to something you want to see it through. Like, now! But if your goals are biiiig, it’s rarely ever as simple as just “head down, get to work!” It can be easy to feel discouraged if the small steps you’ve planned out don’t really feel like progress. So the best thing you can do is to take that pressure off.
Maybe, for you that means not thinking of the big goal and just focusing on the small steps for now. Or if that’s not working, make your big goal deadline more realistic (or set one, if you don’t have one at all). If it is a long term thing, pick a date that’s far enough in the future that you feel you’ve got time (but the trick is to not slack off on your small steps in the mean time). Be kind to yourself
Make unrelated smaller goals
It might seem silly to have unrelated goals for you to focus on whilst you want to do this big thing, but having a goal that you can achieve in the short term will help you to feel like you’re accomplishing and that you can achieve what you set your mind to. It gives you a boost to your confidence levels and reminds you that working towards goals can be worth it.
Build in milestones to celebrate
Many moons ago, when I worked with business systems, we used to focus on milestones. Usually they were linked to money coming in or going out in a big chunk, but they work well for most big goals even when they are unrelated to money. In this case, create milestones to celebrate how far you’ve come. Did you reach 25% of your savings goal? Or did you book your accommodation for your trip? Pick some of the small steps to be milestones when you complete them and make sure to pick a celebration.
It could be pizza, or dinner out or a happy dance or a night off watching Netflix on the couch. Not all celebrations need to be fancy, but recognising how far you’ve come can be a great way to not only celebrate your achievements but give you a boost to keep you moving to the next milestone.
What do you do when your goals feel too big? Do you have a special method for not getting overwhelmed?
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