Reach Your Goal - Steps to Better Outcomes

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

(Chinese Proverb)

How many people never reach their destination or even start the journey due to the perceived length or complexity of the trip? Yes, a thousand miles seems long, but taking a single step is completely manageable and within our grasp. 

In other instances, it’s not the mileage bringing us to a standstill but the obstacles rising up in the road. How often do we set out to achieve a new level of accomplishment only to have some barrier emerge, such as sickness or injury, conflict, or a wrong turn, and bam! – the great plan becomes a whimper? The goal  unravels and is unrealized.

Life is full of thwarted plans and dashed aspirations. Yet, as we make small steps in the right direction, reaching those endeavors becomes reality. How we handle those difficulties arising before us determines our success.

I read recently, one barrier in attaining a goal is taking too big a bite or attempting to do too much at once. The writer noted, it's as if we are standing on the ground attempting to jump to the roof of our house. It just won’t happen. Looking up at the roof leaves us with the sinking feeling of failure.

When the “jump” is too big, we have limited success. Here are three thoughts to consider in setting realistic goals and accomplishing them.

ONE: Habit Stacking

The phrase “habit stacking” was first coined by S.J. Scott in his book Habit Stacking: 97 Small Life Changes that Take Five Minutes or Less. Whether you have big or small areas you’d like to improve, a change of habit creates fresh neural pathways in our brain. Repeating a new habit consistently is like hardwiring it in our mind. As we continue, the new habit becomes more  automatic; we find ourselves hardly thinking about it.

One way you can develop a new habit is to stack it onto one that is already established in your routine.

For example, if you want to floss your teeth consistently you stack it with a habit already in place. Since brushing your teeth is (hopefully) a habit you do with little thought, post a reminder note on your mirror to floss before you brush and don’t let yourself off the hook. Stack one habit on top of another. Once it is completed several times it begins to hardwire as a habit in your brain, one you must think little about.

One new habit is an improvement over no new habit.

TWO: Set Reachable Goals

Consider setting goals you can reach.

Sometimes we take on too much too fast, or make an unreachable goal. When we do so, we struggle mightily to accomplish it and may give up too soon. Failure is rarely motivating. When we set *small, attainable goals, we experience success and learn consistency. Both of these positive attributes help us achieve bigger dreams.

For example, a person who hates vegetables decides to get “healthy” and makes a goal to eat 8 veggies every day. What do you think the outcome will be? More than likely they’ll struggle and give up quickly. What if they instead committed to eating one vegetable each day? They might increase the number but stick to the decision to never eat less than one. I suppose one vegetable is better for them than zero.

Or, the person who decides to run a marathon but cannot run a mile. Why not aim more realistic? (Don’t shoot this idea down before you hear more reasoning). I heard about a woman who wanted to be a “runner”. This was not anything she had ever done previously, so her first step was the decision to jog in place for one minute after brushing her teeth.

Only one minute, you think? No runner jogs in place! Perhaps and yet, as expected, her length increased until one day she went outside and ran down the street and back. You can guess the story, soon she was a runner, exactly as she had hoped to be. And now she can work toward the next goal of running a mile.

One additional thought, she stated there were still days when she felt unmotivated, but she never let herself jog less than one minute. Because, one minute is better than no minute.

Little goals may not sound impressive, but sometimes we must abandon our grand plans for a time to accomplish an achievable goal.

Doing one thing is better than doing no thing.

*I know people who purport a different approach: BHAG.  (Big, hairy audacious goals). In other words, shoot high and see how far you go. This is certainly one approach to setting goals. The key, really, is to find ways to improve and grow.

THREE: Rebound Better

When Thomas Edison, inventor of the electric lightbulb, was questioned about his numerous failed attempts, he responded, “I have not failed 10,000 times—I've successfully found 10,000 ways that will not work.”

This is a great perspective and offers us freedom to try again. If we just throw up our hands in exasperation or if we let ourselves off the hook and just quit, we won’t reach whatever objective is in front of us. Get up and try again.

Another quote by Edison may tell us what our core issue might be. “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” It takes effort and hard work to accomplish any good thing. We draw in a deep breath and start again, regardless how many times we’ve started over.

It’s like the couple who decided to do planks together every day. By doing it as a team, they planned to encourage each other to stick with it and increase  their strength. Unexpectedly, the husband needed a minor surgery on his arm and the new idea was laid aside. That’s generally how it goes, the unexpected hurdles come along and hamper our noble idea to improve ourselves. The issue for the couple is, will they begin again once the arm heals?

To start again is more beneficial than not starting again.

Consider where would you be today if you had held onto decisions and goals you set months or years ago? What if you hadn’t stopped? Whether you start a new habit, set reachable goals or are willing to try again, these ideas lead to incredible benefit and improvement in our life.

When we set out to accomplish a plan and are successful, it builds a deeper sense of well-being. Whether you want to start recycling, write a book, eat healthy or save more money, doing something will always be better than nothing.

Even a tiny shift in our thinking will alter the end result. Each positive step carries you closer to the way you want to go.

Think right now, what is one small step you can take today to move you closer to a goal? Share in the comments section the one step you’ll take today.