Imagine for a moment that you got into a small boat and sailed out into the ocean.
When you set sail, you decided that you wanted to visit Antarctica.
The only problem is, you didn't take any preparations and don't have enough food, supplies or navigation equipment.
What are your chances of success? Whilst having a broad idea of what it is you would like, without breaking that idea down into tangible steps you are never going to reach it.
There are thousands of books out there professing the value of setting goals.
The downside of this, is that many of them don't explain how to break your goal down into easy steps that virtually assure success.
What this results in, is a plethora of people who attempt goal setting, fail miserably, and then blame the idea for their lack of results.
"Goal setting doesn't work for me" is often the way they validate this failure to themselves.
The truth is, when you implement goals and break them down properly, even a small child could complete the majority of tasks.
The Crucial Element to Goal Setting If you are setting a goal, say for example you wanted to lose 10 kg, you would need to be specific to begin with.
So your goal becomes "I want to lose 10 kg before January 1st.
" While this sounds great, it lacks details and steps.
Focus On Where You Are...
Now If you are the type of person who doesn't exercise, then the steps you need to break down will be different compared with somebody who does exercise.
Perhaps walking a kilometre is the limit of your exercise capabilities.
Therefore, the steps you break your goal down into must be relevant with where you are at this very moment.
Sure, after you lose weight your exercise and fitness may be extraordinary, however if you set your broken down goal from the perspective of where you will be, you are assuring your own failure.
Focus on your outcome, acknowledge where you are, and break down the steps to get from where you are to where you want to be.
Only then, once you have broken your goal down into small bite-size chunks, attach deadlines and regularity to these pieces.
Instead of saying "I will walk 1 km", change it to either "I will walk 1 km three times per week" or "I will walk 1 km by tomorrow.
" You Can Start Today Don't wait until next week, next month or even next New Year's resolution.
Start right now, write down a goal that you would like to complete.
Break it down into the pieces necessary to complete it and then space out suitable time to have each piece completed.
When you apply this approach to goal setting, and you stick to your schedule, you will be remarkably surprised at just how much you can accomplish.
People around you will comment on how productive you are.