The Danger of Setting Big Goals

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Categories: self improvement, Uncategorized

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:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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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  • http://www.selfhelpfriend.com SallyBeam | Self Help Friend .com

    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

    • http://www.other8hours.com Robert Pagliarini

      Thanks Sally! I hope it works for you…

  • http://unreadyandwilling.com Kenji Crosland

    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.

    • http://www.other8hours.com Robert Pagliarini

      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?”

      • http://unreadyandwilling.com Kenji Crosland

        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.

  • http://www.fawnmcmanigal.com Fawn

    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!

  • http://frombottomup.com/ Hulbert

    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.

  • http://www.other8hours.com Robert Pagliarini

    Fawn – Thanks! It was either “bold” or dumb. I’ll go with bold. Is goalsguy.com yours? Great URL…

    • http://www.fawnmcmanigal.com Fawn

      Sadly, goalsguy is not mine. It’s catchy though.

      • http://www.other8hours.com Robert Pagliarini

        What’s your site?

        • http://www.fawnmcmanigal.com Fawn

          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.

          • http://www.other8hours.com Robert Pagliarini

            Great site! Good luck with your “five” goals…

          • http://www.fawnmcmanigal.com Fawn

            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.

  • http://www.other8hours.com Robert Pagliarini

    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…

  • http://www.darrelldavis.biz Darrell Davis

    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.

    • http://www.other8hours.com Robert Pagliarini

      Thanks for joining the conversation Darrell. I appreciate your input.

  • http://www.davidtrotter.tv David Trotter

    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.

    • http://www.other8hours.com Robert Pagliarini

      Have you found that you’ve had more success backing off a bit?

  • temi longe

    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.

    • http://www.other8hours.com Robert Pagliarini

      You’re probably right. My weakness is “living in the moment”…

  • http://enlightr.com/ Craig Thomas

    Nice post. Starting moving is the key – personally I prefer big goals though. :)

    • http://www.other8hours.com Robert Pagliarini

      Craig – Cool man. Whatever works, right?

  • http://www.2knowmyself.com Farouk

    i believe in dreaming big but dividing the big dream to smaller goals over a period of time

    • http://www.other8hours.com Robert Pagliarini

      It’s all about “what’s the next action?”

  • Peter Gibson

    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.

  • http://www.timelessinformation.com Armen Shirvanian

    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.

    • http://www.other8hours.com Robert Pagliarini

      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.

  • http://www.energysmartindustry.com Aaliyah

    ya thanks for such nice post…

    • http://www.other8hours.com Robert Pagliarini

      Thanks for stopping by PickTheBrain! We appreciate your input.

  • http://www.axelg.com/100-procent-success.html axel g

    So true!

    Small, small steps and solid persistence make for success…

    • http://www.other8hours.com Robert Pagliarini

      Hi Axel,

      So what small steps are you taking?

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    wonderful piece of information, I appreciate it that you share something useful for the readers here

  • http://www.socialnatural.com/blog Gabriel

    Big goals broken down over a shorter period of time provide instant gratification that we all want to motivate us that what we’re doing is worth it and paying off, if we don’t see the results from the effort we put into it, we want to give up and not waste any more time with it. This tells to either “move forward” or “move along”.

  • sathish pamala

    this is the one of the oppetunity to think about my life.in this world i’ll achive some thing in our future and then i’llshine like a star.this above sentence are spirit to my life.

  • sorzzz

    thanks Robert..
    it is the good motivation way to finishing the bottom line i m really appreciated with those lines.. but sometime we become more tired instead of applying those motivation lines but we must be keep going if we really wants to achieve our final goal….

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  • http://potatoehead64.blogspot.com/ Marty

    Something I picked up recently refers to caring for our goals. Grip it too tightly and you’ll crush it. Fail to pay it enough attention and it will fly away.

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  • http://www.livingwords.net Douglas Cartwright

    Magnificent. I shall use this strategy straight away – think big, act small! Thanks for this.

  • kman

    I can identify with the running. My trick is to ask myself “Can I still move my legs?” If Yes then keep running. Most of the pain/discomfort is only temporary anyway.

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  • http://www.chalali.in Raghu Sharma

    Hi,
    Thanks for nice article. It’s really useful.
    Keep the good work going.

  • http://prolifecoaching.com Seth Czerepak

    This is one of the reasons I encourage clients to focus on the development of habits instead of mere goal setting and achievement. Habits cause the goals to be achieved as a natural result of the person’s consistent actions.

  • http://www.enriching-life.com Michaela

    I think setting big goals is wonderful. But we mustn’t get too consumed by what lies in the future and need to focus more on the now, because everything that happens and will happen always happens in the NOW, so don’t forget to feel and enjoy the present moment.

  • http://developyourlife.net/remedies/depression/ stop being depressed

    I love this! I always tell people that they shouldn’t set too big of goals because its too hard to accomplish. I say that they need to set small goals that will work up to their main goal.

  • http://www.ls-finance.com/fidejussioni.php fidejussioni

    I am so appreciative of these varied resources that have been published for anyone’s benefit.

  • http://3ftfromgold.net Nathan Burns

    Robert this is a great post I really enjoy stopping by and reading your blogs.

    Take a moment to think about this. The moment someone say I need to set a “GOAL”, I’m going to set a “GOAL”. They take themselves out of alignment with their “right now”, and that is all we really have is right now.

    Our life is right now not next year, or six months from now. All of our power to accomplish anything we deem important enough to set a goal for can only be realized if we take persistent continuous action toward its attainment now!

  • Herk Raphael

    This article is great. I love the ideas shared in it. Many people actually fail to achieve their goals because they are too excited about the big picture that they forget to do the little things that give the result. Thanks for sharing. This information could have been sold for huge sums of money. In-fact, its priceless.

  • http://www.socialnatural.com Social Skills

    Tiny constant improvement is the way to go, without being overwhelmed. Another benefit is each improvement keeps motivation you and give you another perspective of that threshold you just achieved.

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  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_YYD62PO6GBAH4X5YDXCJ4CUHXE Liz Briggs

    Thank you.  All I’ve been focusing on the last couple of months is “I need to finish my book.”  “I want to complete the writing of my book.”  “If I don’t, it will absolutely never get published.”
    But I’ve hardly made any progress lately, which I blamed on brain fog, fear of letting myself down once the selling process begins (because I hate it so), and so on. 
    Reading your advice helps tremendously, because I’ve just completed one small section.  One page, or one section at a time.  A bit like people who attend AA, one day at a time. :)    Makes perfect sense, except to perceive it that way, that’s another matter.  You helped.

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    As long as you break down the big goals into smaller modules it can be managed without getting overwhelmed. 

  • http://www.tourismdentalindia.com Dental Tourism

    I love this post. 

  • http://www.tourismdentalindia.com Dental Tourism

    Sometimes big goals overwhelm us. Breaking them into smaller modules is a must to succeed. 

  • http://www.tourismdentalindia.com Dental Tourism

    Most of us are armchair entrepreneurs , just planning and doing little or nothing. There can be thousand excuses for not doing a thing but we have to keep our mind focused. 

  • Sanspriya84

    Nice article..

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