The first thing you have to do to accomplish something is to identify what you want to accomplish. Having a goal helps keep you motivated and moving forward. It gives you something to work toward.
But once you set a goal, what’s next?
I’m a goal person. I love setting goals and I love the feeling of accomplishing the goals I set. Every January I sit down and think over a list of things I want to accomplish in the coming year. Then I pick out two or three items and write them down as my goals for the year. (Some people do the same with new-year resolutions, but I prefer to list things I want to accomplish and not things I want to “stop” doing). As December winds to a close I review the list and see how I did.
But not everyone is a goal person. Maybe you aren’t. Some people seem to have an easier time accomplishing their goals than others. Maybe that’s you. Maybe you make a new list of goals every year but it remains undone year after year. What can you do to become a person who sets goals and then accomplishes them with regularity?
There are two basic things I do after I set a goal in order to make sure I can check it off my list. These are the same two simple things anyone can do to accomplish a goal.
- Break down what you want to accomplish into smaller goals.
No matter how far you have to travel, any journey can be finished if it is broken down into small enough steps. It is the same with accomplishing your goals. If you can break your big goal down into smaller, more manageable steps then eventually you can accomplish it. Don’t make it too big for yourself. Don’t make the stakes too high.
If you want to write a book you shouldn’t sit down and attempt to write 80,000 words. Instead break it down into smaller goals. Can you write 500 words per day? Can you write 2,500 words per week? Do that for six months and see what happens. You might just find yourself with a 70,000-word manuscript.
So take a few minutes to think it over. What do you want to accomplish? Now break that down into small steps. How small? The individual steps should be as small as you need them to be to make each step do-able.
Mark Twain said: “The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and starting on the first one.”
Now you are ready for the next step.
- Be consistent.
Anyone can do something one time. The thing that sets the person who has dreamed about doing something apart from the person who is accomplishing it is consistency. Consistency is the difference between a ditch and the Grand Canyon.
If you want to get into good shape physically you can’t go to the gym once and consider your goal achieved. You will need to go again and again until you get the results you want. It takes consistent hard work to accomplish anything worth doing.
Do you remember those small steps you came up with in order to accomplish your big goal? Start moving through those steps. And be consistent to do so each day. Take a step on the days you feel like it and on the days you don’t. Take a small step forward each day.
If you can break down your goals into small easy steps and then be consistent in doing those steps you can accomplish anything you set your mind to. Anything.
