Reaching your goals

Goals are great.  It’s good to have something to work towards.   But sometimes goals can seem formidable.

What do you do when your goals seem too big or too difficult to achieve?  You break them down into smaller parts.  You work at it one small step at a time, baby steps if you will.

Start with your goal in mind and ask yourself, 'What is the first step I can take towards this goal?’  If that step seems too daunting, ask yourself if you can break it down even smaller.  Often we put aside our goals because they just seem too big and unattainable.  But every goal was achieved by taking the first small step and then the next, and the next.

I recently visited the Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC.  Being the science geek that I am, I love all things space and physics-related.   When you think about how we were able to send men to the moon back in the 1960s, that was a HUGE goal.  It didn’t happen overnight and it didn’t happen in one fell swoop.  It happened by taking one small step at a time…and then one giant leap for mankind (sorry, couldn’t resist).

Nasa designed each step of the process carefully, with one goal in mind- to get to the next step.  First, they concentrated on designing a rocket that could get a man into low earth orbit, then they achieved orbit, and so on until they reached their ultimate goal of the moon.  But even before that, they took many smaller steps.   

This same process can work for you.  Ask yourself what is the very first step you can take towards your goal.  If your goal is to run a marathon but you’ve never run more than a 1/4 mile, your first step might be buying a new pair of running shoes.  Next, you find a runners group you can join for support, maybe hire a trainer, and run a little further every day, even if it’s just a hundred feet.   

By: Michelle Sabolchick