If you've read any books on 'Goal Setting' or possibly attended a seminar or two on this important topic, you've probably heard that most people think 'too small' when setting goals. While I certainly believe that it's great to set huge, unlimited goals, I also think that the problem many of us encounter is that we don't think 'small enough' when setting goals. Huh? In my experiences, I've found that setting large goals are great but they oftentimes seem so far from present reality that it's difficult to say focused on them long enough to create any real desire and momentum. What I've found works for me is setting the big long term goal but then breaking it down into smaller, more achievable goals along the way.
For instance, I wanted to lose 25 pounds by the end of summer, which happened to be about 4 months away. Instead of focusing on losing the 25 pounds, I instead decided on losing a 1.5 pounds a week, which in turn was 6 pounds a month, which was just about 25 pounds for the summer. It was easy to stay focused on this achieveable goal and as the weeks passed I not only built confidence in my ability to achieve my end goal, but even found it easier to surpass it. You can use the same techniques for other goals as well.
Many of us set financial goals, which often consists of having X amount of money by a certain date. While this is fine on the surface, the amount that we set is so far from the present reality, that it's easy to get discouraged when things don't happen as quickly as we initially expect. How about setting a large goal but focusing on smaller goals along the way? For example, say your goal is to accumulate 1 million dollars in 20 years. Fine, but how about first achieving $100,000 in five years? Once you've accomplished this, you'll find it much easier to accumulate say $250,000 in ten years, $500,000 in 15 years, and $1,000,000 in 20 years. In fact, you'll probably find that you'll surpass this goal along the way.
Once you've achieved your smaller goal, you'll not only have the confidence that comes with achieving your goal, but you'll start thinking in larger terms. It's much easier to see yourself with $250,000 once you've reached $100,000. You're confidence and thinking will grow larger along the way. In time, the larger goal will not seem so large, and you'll quite likely adjust your goals to even larger horizons.
While I do believe that it's great to think large and set large goals, I firmly believe that it helps to break these goals down into smaller sub-goals along the way. Few of us have the drive and staying power to stay focused on a large goal that is light years away from reality, but if we can set smaller more attainable goals along the way to accomplishing the 'large' goal, the likelihood of our accomplishing it increases.
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Bill Thomas lives and works in Seattle, Wa. He is involved with E-Commerce and Internet Marketing, and his current website is... Lifetime Residual Income on $10 a Month
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