Breaking Down Your Goals
A wise Chinese sage once said,
"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."
Wise words? But what do they mean to someone who is trying to
achieve their goals in life? That's what we'll be talking about
in this article.
I am sure that you have some big goals in your life. Perhaps you
want a mansion in the countryside, a sports car, or your own
boat.
I am also sure that you may well be looking at this goal and
thinking "How the hell am I going to get that?"
And this is where our wise philosopher comes into play.
Pick one of your major goals that you don't know how to achieve
and examine it more closely. Think about the goal and you will
realise that it is made up of a number of smaller goals, each of
which is in turn made up of other smaller goals.
Grab a piece of paper, write down a major goal at the top, and
below it, write down the steps you can take to achieve this
goal. In effect, each of these steps represents a mini-goal, and
each of these mini-goals can be broken down further if necessary
into more manageable chunks.
Do not become obsessed with achieving each minor step on your
way to the major goal. You may find that some steps can be
skipped, some become unnecessary, and that new steps appear.
Review these minor steps regularly as they will change often.
Now you've just done this quick exercise, and you should never
leave the scene of a decision without taking some action, so go
do something to get yourself on the path to your goal!
An example may be that you want to buy a farm in the country.
You know nothing about farms. You may break your goal down into
something like:
1) Find out about farming - is it for me and what does it
involve?
2) What sort of farms are there and which type do I want?
3) What is the best area for the type of farm that I want?
4) How much money do I need to buy the farm
...
...
...
Buy the farm
This is a very simple illustration of breaking down your goals.
Each one of these may be broken down further into actions you
can take.
Now you realise, that the journey towards a goal starts with a
single step, and is made up of many steps.