How to Achieve Your Goals by Taking Small Actions Now

Don’t Let Your Goals Die Before You Begin

I am seeing it already. It’s and epidemic in our world today. We have our goals all set for this year and guess what, most people haven’t attempted to do anything with their goals. With the first month of the year almost gone, many people are giving up on their goals and their dreams.

If you haven’t set any goals for this year, I would highly suggest you read this post:

If you have set goals, have you started working toward any of them?

If you are like most people, probably not. And if this is true of you, it is OK, for a while. However, the first month of the year will determine whether or not you will start achieving your goals.

Want to know how to get things rolling in the first month?

Well here it is:

Start taking small actions toward your goals.

This is it. If you are taking small actions now, they will begin to build habits which will help you knockout your goals for this year. I believe we can take one action, every day to complete our goals.

But how do we do this?

Eating the Elephant One Bite at a Time

We have all heard the saying, “It’s about eating the elephant one bite at a time.” This is true about all major projects and life events. We need to break them down into doable chunks in order to be able to make it to the end.

Goals are no different.

If we expect to achieve our goals on our way to seeing our dreams come true, we need to break them down into actionable pieces for everyday life. The key is knowing where you want to be (the achieved goal) and knowing where you are now.

And then, we start breaking our goals down.

How Do We Break Our Goals Down?

I do it a few ways. Each one helps me take actionable steps and work my way to the ultimate goal. And each step is easy to do.

1 / Define The Next Actionable Step

In this instance, I look at my overall goal and then define the next three actionable steps. But it always starts with the next step. The idea is to help define actions and to start building momentum.

If my goal is to lose 10 pounds.

My next step might be to create a chart to help me track my goals. And then the next step after that would be to research a workout routine. The third step would be to choose a workout routine and start today.

2 / Pick Your Milestones

Now, goals are like milestones to chasing your dreams. However, each goal should have smaller milestones within them. These smaller milestones or goals help us to track our progress toward the overall goal.

If we consider this for our goal of losing 10 pounds then our smaller milestones might look like this:

Lose 2 pounds a week for five weeks.

I would write this down in a calendar or a worksheet to help me track my progress. If I don’t meet one of these goals, I push it back or try and make it up the following week.

3 / Establish Monthly Goals

This is one which I do every month and it helps me reach my goals for the year. I will sit down on the last day of each month and set goals for the following month. Typically, these smaller goals are focused on my life plan and my larger scale, annual goals.

If my goals is to save $2,000.00 by October 31 my monthly goals might start out with saving $200.00 per month. Or maybe I make it a smaller amount initially and step it up as time goes on. Either way, the idea is to break down this large number into smaller ones which don’t seem as hard.

If I miss a monthly goal, I typically roll it over to the next month unless I realize it was a poor goal. Then I might re-write the monthly goal, abandon it, or find a different one which would help me achieve my larger goal.

4 / Reward and Acknowledgement

Rewarding yourself or receiving acknowledgement for goals completed help us keep the momentum going. And it helps create positive reinforcement in the entire process of setting and achieving goals.

Rewarding ourselves with little items, treats, or breaks will help us to achieve our smaller goals which will build up to the larger ones. In these rewards, we are not trying to set ourselves back or fall into poor habits. We are simply receiving a small token of encouragement from ourselves.

Acknowledgment from others helps us feel encouraged about our progress. If you have a friend or family member who is encouraging you along your goal journey and you have given them permission to help you celebrate completing your milestones, it will help you know other see your progress too.

5 / Keep Each Step in Front of You

Whether you are doing the next action step, creating smaller goals, or establishing monthly goals you need to keep these right in front of us. Whether you have a chart which hangs in a place you see it every day or you review your goal packet every morning, you need to be looking at your goals every day.

This will help you remember the work you have to do for each day. And when you keep doing the work day-after-day, you will experience progress without even realizing it most of the time.

I keep this all together with my goal paperwork. I review them daily and weekly. And make adjustments as necessary. And then, I see real progress in my goals.

Don’t Let Your Goals Die this Year

This is your year. You have set goals. Potentially created a life plan. And you want to make this year the best year of your life. And if you do these simple things, you can make this a jumping off point into the dreams you have for your life.

But, you need to make sure you do the hard work today.

January, February, and March are the most crucial months of the year when it comes to achieving your goals. It is in these months you will need to do the real work and start making progress. And my hope for you is to see your goals accomplished and your dreams come true.

How do you break down your goals? Are any of these helpful? Am I missing anything? Share in the responses below.

This story is published in The Startup, Medium’s largest entrepreneurship publication followed by +413,678 people.

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