Break It Down Into Bite Size Chunks
Now that I have been operating my coaching business for over a year, I was asked what one or two of my biggest learnings have been to this point. The biggest one for me is to consistently make progress. You may have heard the adage, "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time." That mindset is one of the things I've gotten better at keeping, proved to myself how true it is, and really began to embrace it this past year. I practiced breaking the big long term goal down into manageable chunks. I used to (and still do at times) get overwhelmed thinking about the long term or end goal. Does that mean you shouldn't have a big, long term goal? Absolutely not! Rather, use that goal to understand where you want to get to, and then with that clarity you can create a plan of smaller steps to get there. Once you have those steps lined out, focus on them and trust that staying on track with knocking out the smaller tasks will get you there if you stay consistent with them.
This past year I practiced and got better at this. I finally focused on the smaller milestones that would lead to progress towards my "BHAG" (Big Harry Audacious Goal). The result has been more consistent action, and those actions actually moving the needle. Over the past year anytime I felt stuck I would ask myself the question, "how can I make this easy?". In the past I would have never even considered making it 'easier' on myself, and truth be told, all that did was hold me back. Beginning to ask myself that question has allowed me to continue to make progress, albeit very small progress lots of times, it kept me moving forward. I would either break the task down into smaller parts, or find some sort of help or support with a task. Getting better at taking this approach has resulted in more progress and better results than I would have ever imagined a little over a year ago.
In summary, break your big goals down into smaller chunks and keep chipping away. If you find yourself overwhelmed, simplify the task so you can make progress. Doing this will enable you to be consistent and consistently doing the small stuff will lead to big results over time.
Looking for ways you can adopt this same principle, here is something to think about... If the shear size of a goal is too daunting or creating a mental block for you, I'd encourage to ask yourself and come up with an answer to one or a couple of the following:
How can you make the task easy?
How can you break it down into smaller, more feasible steps?
What resources do you have or who do you know that could help you with this?
What do you know or could you come up with to solve the challenge?
