{"id":1157,"date":"2015-06-11T16:16:25","date_gmt":"2015-06-11T11:16:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mdi.com.pk\/management\/?p=1157"},"modified":"2016-02-22T21:26:49","modified_gmt":"2016-02-22T16:26:49","slug":"winning-with-smaller-goals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mdi.com.pk\/management\/2015\/06\/winning-with-smaller-goals\/","title":{"rendered":"Winning with Smaller Goals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Warning – this article may change your life in just a few days. If you don’t want any change in your life, don’t read this.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"SmallRemember the last New Year resolution? Remember all the other goals you set for yourself that never came about? So what happened? Was it just a lack of will power..?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Perhaps it was not the best time to set that goal? Maybe you weren’t really motivated enough? Maybe it was just that office project that weighed you down.?<\/p>\n

Sure, all of the above might have contributed in some way to you not achieving your goal but come on, you know that is not the real reason. The real reason – wait for this – is that you haven’t been setting your goals in the right way.<\/p>\n

The conventional wisdom about setting goals has always been to think BIG. You are told that if you think long and hard enough about being rich, I mean really RICH, then you will become fabulously wealthy. This might be true for a few people on earth, especially those who have become rich by telling you how to be rich but for most people like you and me this is just a fairy tale.<\/p>\n

Nothing wrong with ambition. Just keep your feet on the ground.<\/p>\n

The second wave of wisdom about setting goals was to think big but to break this (big goal) into small steps. This turned out to be a much better approach and got people moving in small increments in the direction of their goal. But about 10% along the way, they gave up. Because, you see, the goal itself was just too goddamn far away.<\/p>\n

So now, we are finally in the third wave of wisdom – the wisdom that will change your life. You will finally be able to achieve all the goals you set for yourself. How? You don’t have big goals with small steps, you have smaller goals that you can achieve easily.<\/p>\n

If you have been having difficulty getting close to your goals, the answer is to reduce the distance to your goals so you always get there!!<\/em><\/p>\n

How close are we talking about?<\/p>\n

Well, let’s assume you want to start running again but the knees hurt and you haven’t run even 10 yards in the last 10 years. So make a goal to run slowly for 15 seconds during your gentle walk. Do this multiple times until it is a snap then increase the time to 20 seconds…<\/p>\n

Creating small goals and then achieving them consistently helps to build motivation and momentum – the opposites of lack of will and inertia.<\/p>\n

The general strategy you should use from now on is as follows:<\/p>\n

1. Identify one area<\/strong> – getting fit, running, losing weight, waking up earlier, starting a business etc – that you have really been thinking about a lot.<\/p>\n

2. Set a first small goal<\/strong>. This could be:<\/p>\n

-get up 10 minutes earlier each morning this week
\n-eat fruit only for breakfast tomorrow
\n-meet an existing entrepreneur to get ideas for starting a business<\/p>\n

3. Celebrate your victory<\/strong> and think about how easy it has been to get going and how you felt and what you learnt.<\/p>\n

4. Repeat the process<\/strong> – add a bit more challenge – until you gain confidence that your desired outcome is within reach finally.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Winning with Smaller Goals – this article at Management Development Weblog may change your life for the better in just a few days <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[48,40],"class_list":["post-1157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-personal-effectiveness","tag-motivation","tag-self-improvement-2","post-preview"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t