By: D. A. Slinkard
I had someone email me about my last article, and there were things this person would like for me to address in another article. So, I wanted to follow-up my last article with this one and go ahead and state I believe one of the biggest reasons people never accomplish their goals is not because they are lazy or because they lack ambition. Sometimes the problem is much simpler in that the goal just feels too big to handle.
We hear people talk about setting goals, creating plans, establishing milestones, and holding ourselves accountable. All of those things can be helpful. But if we are not careful, we can make goal-setting so complicated that we become overwhelmed before we ever get started. Sometimes, we just need a good old-fashioned to-do list, and sadly, we live in the most technologically advanced society the world has ever known – but many times we become paralyzed because of things being too much overwhelming.
I want you to think about this – a to-do list is really nothing more than a big goal broken down into smaller, manageable pieces. Suppose you decide that you want to clean out your garage. You walk out, raise the garage door, look at everything that has accumulated over the years, and immediately think, “There is no way I am getting all of this done today.” What happens is that you decide to close the door and try to push the previous thoughts out of our mind.
The problem wasn’t necessarily your willingness to work. The problem was that you were looking at the entire garage instead of the first box. What if, instead, you made a list? Sort the tools. Clean off the workbench. Throw away the trash. Go through the boxes in the corner. Sweep the floor. Suddenly, “clean the garage” doesn’t seem nearly as intimidating. Instead of one enormous project staring you in the face, you have several smaller jobs that you can actually accomplish. And there is something satisfying about putting a checkmark beside something you have completed. To me, there is nothing more satisfying than being able to mark something or multiple things off my list. I live daily by the to-do list, and there are days where a lot is accomplished and there are days where not much is accomplished – but I have an end goal in mind.
Then you move to the next thing. That same principle works with almost anything we want to accomplish in life. Maybe you want to get your finances in better shape. Don’t start by worrying about where you need to be five years from now. Start by writing down your monthly expenses. Maybe you want to read more. Don’t stare at a 300-page book and wonder when you will ever finish it. Put “Read 10 pages” on today’s list.
Maybe there is a project you have been putting off for months. Stop thinking about finishing the entire project and ask yourself a much simpler question, what is the next thing I can do? This is where progress begins, and I have found that sometimes we spend so much time thinking about the finish line that we become intimidated by the distance between where we are and where we want to be. We need to remember that we don’t have to cover the entire distance today. We just need to take the next step.
There is an old saying: “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” It’s simple, but there is a lot of truth in it. Take that big goal and break it down. Take those smaller goals and break them down again until you have something you can actually put on today’s to-do list. Then start checking boxes. Success isn’t always one huge decision or one incredible accomplishment. More often, it is a series of small things done consistently over time.
One phone call. One page written. One application. One conversation. One task. One checkmark, and then another. We cannot allow the size of the goal to keep us from starting the next task. Besides, you don’t have to accomplish everything today. You just need to accomplish the next thing. So grab a piece of paper. Write down that goal that has been intimidating you. Underneath it, write down three things you can do to move toward it. Then quit staring at the goal. Pick the first thing on the list—and get started. Sometimes success really is that simple: One thing at a time.
By: D. A. Slinkard
D.A. Slinkard would love your feedback. You can contact him at da.slinkard@gmail.com
