What if I told you that achieving your most ambitious goals can be simpler than you think? If you believe that big goals are harder to achieve than smaller ones, you may be underestimating yourself.
The truth is that making big things happen doesn’t have to be an overwhelming task. For example, if you were wanting to get a new job to make more money and improve your lifestyle, it wouldn’t help to settle for the first job you came across. What steps would you take to create the outcome you’re hoping for? It all comes down to having a clear vision of what you want, having a plan of how to get there, and not giving up.
In this article, I’ll reveal the proven strategies that turned my biggest dreams into realities. If it can work for me, it can work for you.
Daring to Dream
Just a few years ago I was stuck in a job I didn’t love, and was dreaming about starting my own business. But I wasn’t quite sure how to go about it. I had a lot of doubts and concerns about the amount of risk I could afford to take. For example, how would I pay my bills while waiting for the new business to take off? What would happen if I didn’t succeed?
All of these thoughts are common for anyone looking to initiate ambitious goals. But these are just thoughts. And you can push back on them by finding solutions. Making progress with a big goal involves finding the reality in the dream. If you’re thinking of starting your own business, you need to think about how it really works. You can’t just imagine the fun of being your own boss with stars in your eyes. A lot of real work and planning is what makes a dream come true.
Once I realized there was a path to my goal, and that my dream of owning my own business really could happen, the dream came alive. Taking the first step led to the next, and as I worked toward my goal, I began to find answers to my questions. At each stage of the process, my dream was starting to make sense, and each step became more clear.
First, I wrote down the very first practical steps I would need to begin. For example, having a safety net to fall back on while waiting for my business to become profitable was something I needed personally. Struggling to make ends meet while managing a new business was not something I wanted to have to worry about. So the first step for me was managing a financial plan. I was going to have to keep my regular job until I could get my new business off the ground.
This allowed me to focus on the next part of my dream, which was building my business. Through practical planning and executing well thought out steps, my new business began to take shape. Within my first six months, I launched my product, gained my first 1,000 customers and quit my day job.
You might be wondering what steps might be right for the dream you want to create, and that’s a great starting point. You have a dream. Now how do you get from Point A to Point B?
The Pivotal Tool
Finding a way to build a business plan step by step can seem confusing at first. I knew I had a good idea, and I knew I wanted to do it, but I wasn’t sure at first how to make it happen.
It wasn’t until I discovered some new ways of looking at my goal that I was able to make a solid plan that worked. What was the game changer? I stopped setting goals the traditional way and started using “micro goals.”
Author Steven King said, “Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.”
Through discipline and planning, the work gets done. For example, if writing a book is an ambitious goal of yours, the use of “micro goals” can help you get your end result. Writing an entire book may seem overwhelming, but you can try breaking it down to smaller goals.
Set a goal of writing every day for 3 hours, or try setting a goal of planning out one chapter. As you reach each smaller goal, you get closer to the final project being completed.
Taking Real Action
Once it starts to come together, it’s time to act. You have to take your dream from inside your head and put it out into the world with actionable steps.
Step One: Define Your Vision Clearly
It’s important to be very specific in goal setting. If you want to own your own restaurant, that’s a very vague description. Be clear on every detail of your goal. Starting with questions like what type of restaurant do I want to have? What customers do I want to attract? Even details like staff, decor, etc. are all good starting points to be clear on what it is you want to do.
Step Two: Implement Micro Goals
Break down the steps it takes to achieve the ultimate goal. Set goals for each step. As you tackle each step, you learn what to do next. Every time you achieve one of your micro goals, you can tap into the feelings of accomplishment, giving you more motivation to proceed to the next step.
Step Three: Consistent Review and Adaptation
Regular progress checks are imperative. You have to constantly take a look at where you’re at and where you’re going. Are you on track? Does something need to be different to reach the next step?
By having checkpoints along the way, you can monitor your progress to be sure you’re heading the right way and not missing anything. If something didn’t work, or you find it leading you in the wrong direction, you can quickly redirect the problem and solve it before it goes too far.
Challenges and Solutions
So what happens when things go awry? Things will come up that weren’t part of your plan. When you find yourself at a checkpoint that needs correcting, what do you do? Most people who fail, do so because they hit obstacles and give up.
One example of someone who never gave up is the fascinating story of Soichiro Honda, who founded the Honda car company. No matter what challenges he faced, he always found a way to overcome the problem and move forward. Having dropped out of school at the age of 16, you might think his resources were limited, but that was never the case. He built businesses and developed new ideas throughout his lifetime.
Over the years he had a number of setbacks, including being rejected and laughed at by engineers who criticized his design of a piston ring. Instead of being discouraged, he just went back to his workbench and produced something better.
He also suffered during war times when materials were not available and his factory was bombed twice! Despite those setbacks, Soichiro Honda never gave up and continued to find a way to reach his goals.
If you were to take a lesson from his life to overcome any setback, you would most likely be inspired by his ability to never give up, and always find a solution, regardless of the situation he was facing.
Failure is Not an Option
Challenges ARE going to occur. It happens to everyone who is trying to achieve ambitious goals, but that’s not the time to give up.
Common pitfalls, like fear of failure, procrastination, and lack of resources are just a few of the things you might encounter on your journey to the ultimate dream. Knowing they can occur gives you the advantage because you can expect them and be ready with your defense.
Shift your mindset if you need to, adjust your time management techniques, and seek out resources and networking tips for support. No matter what comes up, be ready with a solution. The secret to finishing is to never quit.
I hope this article gave you some concrete steps to build the foundation for your next big win!
Achieving your most ambitious goals really can be within your grasp.
