Setting big life goals can be really motivating… and scary AF! The biggest problem is we get stuck in the comparison gap! We focus so much on our big goals we end up stressing. We can become obsessed with “gap” between where we are and where we want to be.
Take this from a professional gap focuser. It doesn’t help! I spent years stressing myself out and working in circles, trying to get out of the hole that I was stuck in. I kept thinking about where I was compared to where I wanted to be and I felt desperate and frustrated.
These steps have been the ladder to help me get out of my comparison hole. It’s all about breaking down our big life goals so we can take it in small, bite sized, motivational chunks! And it’s seriously a life changing way to go about goal setting.
Here’s the 4 steps…
Write down one big goal you currently have
The first step to learning how to break down your life goals is to write it down and make it motivating.
It’s important to keep your goals full of numbers!! Set a time frame, set a number for what you want to achieve. Make it as specific as possible.
A lot of us get lost when we think of the person we want to be. We think “healthy” or “fit. But what does that mean to us?
Is healthy a balanced diet? Or cutting out a few processed foods?
Does fit mean a daily walk? Or a daily run?
Decide what you’re going for exactly.
A really specific fitness goal would be to walk 4 times a week for an hour. Then you could set the date you want to get there by.
Because it’s important to take it step by step.
I know if I set a life goal that’s too big, it’s a guarantee by the next week it’s forgotten!
Related content:Â 2 Goal Setting Worksheets To Help Break Down Your Goals
Break your major goal to 90 days
The biggest tip I ever got was to start breaking down my goals to 90 days!! A year is a long time to achieve a big goal. When we set yearly life goals (like New Years resolutions) we tend to become inactive because we feel we have so much time! So we think next month, next month, next month until it’s the end of the year again.
So what’s a good time frame?
When I went through the 90 Day Year, I learnt how great it is to set 3 month goals.
It makes it seem a lot closer (so you’re more likely to get your butt into gear!!). And the “we have time” excuse fails. There’s something about the magic 90 days. It’s far enough to feel like we can get big things done but not so far that we tell ourselves we have time and don’t take action.
Related content:Â The Power Of A 90 Day Year
Choose 3-5 focuses for each goal
A great tip I got from the book High Performance Habits
was to find five steps to reach your goal. That’s it! Just 5 things we need to focus on to reach our goal.
How do you figure out what you’re 5 steps are? Look at what other people have done. When I started blogging, I read so much free content from other bloggers about what to focus on and what NOT to focus on. And it completely changed how I worked!
The feeling of overwhelm can stop us from taking action. So finding just 3-5 things to focus on can help you feel more focused and determined.
Related content:Â The 6 Most Important Habits Of Successful People & Habit #4
Break those goals down into 2 weekly goals
After I’ve chosen my 3-5 focuses, I break it down into two weekly tasks. Some tasks might not apply to this. For example, I know I need to focus on Pinterest & content. So there’s no real 2 weekly goals there. But when you’re working on some big, one off life goals like creating your first product, it helps to break it down into 2 week targets.
I.e. If you’re creating a new product, your first 2 week goal might be to get all you research done. Seeing what else is out there, the price points and looking at feedback from your readers.
Related content:Â Why Your Goals Feel Unachievable (And How To Change That)
Review… review… review…
I review things twice. Once at every 90 days and once every 2 weeks.
A 2 week review is a great way to assess how you’re going with your 2 week goals. It also gives you a chance to see how productive your 2 weeks have been. It gives us time to reflect and make small changes. Rather than waiting to the end of the 90 days and wishing we’d changed our focus earlier.
The 90 day review is then to look at your big goals you set. I ask myself things like what worked? What didn’t? What have I learnt? Do I need to shift my focus? Where my goals too ambitious? Where they not ambitious enough?
I’ve learnt that reviews are half the battle. Stopping and thinking about things is worth the effort. It helps you to stop and shift your focus if you need too. Sometimes we work so hard at things, we forget to stop and see what’s working and what’s not. And 3 months is a good time to see if things are actually working. It gives us enough time to fully test and trial new ideas etc.
Related content:Â 4 Steps To Start The New Year Productively
So, in breaking down your big goals remember to:
- Write down your big goal and keep it specific!! (full of numbers)
- Break down your big goal into 90-day/3 month goals
- Choose 3-5 focuses for each goal
- Set two weekly goals/focuses
- Review every two weeks and every 90 days
