Along the path to success in whatever field you’re in, you may create big audacious goals for yourself.
Thinking big is common, and we’re often given the advice to set ‘huge’ goals and to think abundantly.
Thinking big certainly has its place. It helps remind us to focus on the big picture and stretch beyond the limitations of what we think might be possible.
Constantly holding our big goal in mind doesn’t always get us to take action though, whatever your goal is.
Sometimes it can even have the opposite effect of making us feel bad about the progress we’ve made so far.
When we have a goal in mind and we compare that goal to where we are now and see the distance between the two, it often leaves us feeling disempowered rather than empowered.
We begin to dread the huge amounts of work that needs to be completed and so we feel like giving up.
So a goal that was supposed to make us feel empowered, strangely made us feel quite the opposite.
Here are some of the challenges that come with setting bigger goals
- Too much pressure on yourself
A big goal needs lots and lots of action, and so it also brings with it more stress and pressure as you’ve set more work for yourself.
- Your identity can get caught up in it
As we think big, our ego can get tied into the mix. We create false ideas about ourselves and see ourselves as something which isn’t really true to us. Ask yourself if you are doing it for your own joy or for what others will think of you?
- Becoming overly results-focussed
Results are great, but if you focus too much on the end result you lose touch with everything else. As you obsess with results you stop connecting with the process of creating something for the pure joy of it.
- Fear of failure
If our goal is big, our chance of failure is big too. So we begin to create a fear of failure of not achieving it.
Here’s the Solution… Patiently take small steps
Thinking smaller and taking small steps holds great power.
You don’t even have to hold the stress of a big goal in mind. All you need to know is what the next small step is.
Small steps have compound consequences, as you add up all the work done over a long period of time you’ll be amazed at how far you’ve got.
You can set yourself up for taking small actions on a daily basis.
Let’s look at an example of writing a book, here’s what you might think:
Example 1:
Big Goal Thinking: Publishing a bestselling book with a big-name publisher
Small Action Thinking: Just write 150 words per day
That 150 words per day amounts to 54K words in a year.
Example 2:
Big Goal Thinking: Become a leader in your field
Small Action: Start by publishing and sharing 1-2 articles per week
This small action amounts to 104 articles in a year.
If you just have the patience to take the next step, you can almost afford to ignore everything else.
