Image courtesy of WriterInspired
I ran in a race over the weekend and re-learned a valuable lesson. During the middle of the run, I turned a corner and faced a long stretch — the kind that doesn’t seem to end. When I started the race, the thought of crossing the finish line motivated me. But when I was half-way through, out of breath and out of energy, visualizing the finish line didn’t provide me with any “umph.”
Instead of focusing on success and reaching my goal, I tried to forget all about the finish line and conquering the long stretch ahead. I dropped my head and looked about three steps in front of me. Every three steps became a new “finish line.” Forget about everything else, I told myself over and over. Focus on just those next three steps. Before I knew it, I had run the long stretch and was turning another corner.
So what does this mean in the real world? All the experts encourage you to dream big. Making your goals big and bold, they say, will help you persist in the face of obstacles. But many times, this thinking doesn’t cut it.
Big goals can become a double-edged sword. Big can get you off the couch, but it can also create frustration: I’m in the battle for my life, struggling in the trenches, getting shot at, and you want me to focus on winning the war? I don’t think so. How about focusing how to survive the next 24 hours?
There’s a fine line of course. If you exclusively focus on the immediate (i.e., what’s right in front of you) and ignore the bigger picture, your work may start to feel pointless. To achieve of a healthy balance, try the following:
- Think big. In order to get the motivation to enter the race (e.g., start a company, write a book, lose weight, learn to play drums, start a blog), it’s important to visualize the finish line and to bask in the mental glory of crossing it. The bigger you think, the more excited you’ll be to get started. If you’re not a “think big” kind of thinker, check out Michael Port’s Think Big Revolution website for some inspiration.
- Act small. Get out of your head and start doing small things every day to get one step closer to reaching your goal. You’ll find that even the biggest goals (and longest stretches) can be achieved by focusing on those small things that will take you a few steps closer to your destination.
- Start today. Thinking about successfully achieving a big goal is easy. Actually achieving a big goal is hard. This is why most people talk and only a few do. If you want to accomplish X, you must do something today — right now — that moves you closer.
If you’re afraid of heights, the rule is not to look down. During my race, I had a new rule: don’t look up. I focused on my next few steps and knew if I did this over and over and over, I’d eventually reach the finish line. And I’m happy to report I did finish the race.
Oh, I guess I learned one more lesson. Don’t run in a race that you haven’t trained for if you want to walk the next day. (Ouch!)
For a limited time, you can download several free resources (assessment, poster, audio interview, video, and more) at www.other8hours.com and learn more about my new book, The Other 8 Hours: Maximize Your Free Time to Create New Wealth and Purpose.
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Robert,
I love this strategy, Think Big, Act Small and Start today.
Thanks for such a nice and true strategy to follow.
Sally Beam | SelfHelpFriend.com
Thanks Sally! I hope it works for you…
Good post, Robert.
I think we overlook how goals can actually be de-motivating in the wrong context. Concentrating too much on the finish line is often depressing because it makes you think of all the work you have to do to get there. I’ve been working on a big project for six months now and every time I think about finishing I seem to slow down, because I don’t know all the steps I should take to get there. Instead, I ask myself “What do I do next?” and I find myself moving forward.
Kenji – Great tip! I’m a big GTD guy, so I’m always asking “what’s the next step?” There’s so much power in that question and I find it motivates much better than “what’s the 100th step?”
I must admit that I could never implement all of GTD. I think it works for some people, but I don’t believe in a one-size fits all productivity system. The big tips I took from GTD were “what’s next?” and the two minute rule. I might reread GTD to see if I can glean anything else from it, but right now those two tips seem to keep my productivity level up well enough.
Congratulations on finishing the race, Robert! I think you owe yourself a pat on the back for attempting a “big picture” without — admittedly — taking any progressive steps to get there. That’s a bold move.
I have found that visualizing what I want to achieve is just as important as identifying the steps required to reach it. (Most people can’t just up and a run a race.) The smaller goals, manageable goals become the finish line for the day, week, month … like your next three steps.
The goalsguy.com and a multitude of other Web sites (including mine) offer guidance and/or tools for goal setting.
Thanks for the post!
Hey Robert, it was nice of you to share with us your experience of racing over the weekend. I agree with your statements that we should think big, but take small steps in order to accomplish a goal we set our minds to. That way we don’t become overwhelmed by the work it may take in order to get there. Most importantly, we need to stay in the present moment and act now, instead of procrastinating or delaying our actions for the next day.
Fawn – Thanks! It was either “bold” or dumb. I’ll go with bold. Is goalsguy.com yours? Great URL…
Sadly, goalsguy is not mine. It’s catchy though.
What’s your site?
Thanks for asking! I have several, but the most active, most applicable one is http://www.fawnmcmanigal.com titled, Me Amoeba … I’m the amoeba.
Great site! Good luck with your “five” goals…
Thanks for stopping by! It’s a work in progress so I hope you’ll return.
Looks like the books you’ve written would make valuable additions to my library! I’m looking forward to researching that idea.
Hulbert – So true. The bigger the goal the more overwhelming it can be. I love to think about the “next action” rather than the finish line. Thanks for joining the discussion…
Very refreshing post, Robert. We all have goals, but few of us have the motivation to think big and fewer still have the know how to accomplish those goals. Your advice is key, break it down into smaller steps.
Thanks for joining the conversation Darrell. I appreciate your input.
I’ve focused on BIG GOALS most of my life, and it led to burnout for me. I still have big goals, but I’m not striving or pushing as much anymore. My focus is more on going with what’s flowing in my life.
Have you found that you’ve had more success backing off a bit?
Focusing on the End Goal itself might not be a good idea, as one loses sight of daily lessons needed to achieve the GOAL
I will rather take it easy, enjoy and focus on what i have to do today.
You’re probably right. My weakness is “living in the moment”…
Nice post. Starting moving is the key – personally I prefer big goals though.
Craig – Cool man. Whatever works, right?
i believe in dreaming big but dividing the big dream to smaller goals over a period of time
It’s all about “what’s the next action?”
This makes a lot of sense. I have a big goal that I just never seem to get closer to realizing. You have inspired me to work on some much smaller steps that work towards my goal.
Hi Robert.
This sure is a potent one. Big goals are most likely to become causes of anguish when continued to be seen as big. We have to see the parts or we lose our energy to work on them quickly. Randomly setting a goal of reading a 200-page book won’t usually work, but having a desire to read the book and seeing it as a 10-chapter package, or as something we read when we have the interest, works out almost all of the time.
We are all fine with putting out the effort to tie our shoes, so we just have to scale that up for items of effort that are like tying 100 shoes, one-by-one.
That’s a great way to put it. I’ve written a couple of books and I always get people saying “I’ve always wanted to write a book. How did you do it?” Simple . . . one page at a time. It really is that easy.
ya thanks for such nice post…
Thanks for stopping by PickTheBrain! We appreciate your input.
So true!
Small, small steps and solid persistence make for success…
Hi Axel,
So what small steps are you taking?
Aw, this is a really quality site.