Goals pave the way to your dreams. Creating the life, the health, the wellbeing, the relationships, and the finances you desire - it’s all simply a matter of creating a vision and then setting and accomplishing one goal after another until you get where you want to go.
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Now, that said, each goal along the way will have its own set of challenges, setbacks, frustrations, starts, and stops. But as long as you keep going, keep overcoming, keep committing to the accomplishment, you can get there.
The Challenge with Big Goals
One of the biggest mistakes I see people making with goal setting (and one that I've made over and over again) is that they shoot for the stars right out of the gate. They go for the big dream instead of breaking it down into the smaller goals that will actually get them there. They want to run before they walk. They want to lose 100 pounds before they learn to lose 10.
I'll never forget how much I slowed myself down in growing my business because I wanted to focus on building a 6-figure business before I wanted to focus on learning how to get people on sales calls.
Why is this a Problem?
When you go big right away and hope to hit the vision fast:
- You will likely run into big obstacles that leave you feeling defeated, frustrated and full of doubt that you will ever get there. These setbacks are harder to get up from than smaller setbacks, and therefore, you’re more likely to give up before you know what’s possible.
- You may drain your resources (financial and emotional!) early on leaving you without much to continue working with.
- The end state is far away, constantly leaving you feeling like you’re not making enough progress or having enough success
And Worst of all...
You may lose hope. I see it all the time - people tell me that they don’t know if they should bother going after their dreams because they’ve failed in the past and it’s probably not even worth trying again.
But I believe that, as long as the dream’s not going away, it’s always worth trying again.
Set Goals that get you Closer to your Dream
Start small. See the big dream and ask yourself, “What is the first step I need to accomplish to be on my way?”
Commit to following through on that step - overcome the obstacles; build the belief that you can do it; reflect on what’s working and what’s not. Learn from each step along the way.
The accomplishment of one smaller goal and overcoming the obstacles that come with it will help you build confidence that you can be successful on the next step, and the next step, even as the steps get bigger and harder and scarier.
And as your cruise through the steps, you will get closer and closer to achieving the vision.
You've got this!
"There is no elevator to success. You have to take the stairs." - Zig Zigler
Leave me a comment below - what resonated with you?