Free Printables, Monthly Motivation, Wellness

Taking small steps towards your big goals – Monthly Motivation includes printable

Big visions are realized through small steps.
~ Mike Glenn

Taking small steps towards our big goals

Big goals can be scary. It doesn’t matter if it’s changing careers, paying off a big bill, or losing a lot of weight. When we look at those big goals, we can get intimidated. We put off working towards them because we either don’t know where to start, or because the task simply seems overwhelming. So, for this month’s motivation I’m hoping to inspire you with some tips you can use to take those first small steps towards your big goal.

Get started

No matter how lofty the goal, the key is to get started. Any change you’d like to make or goal you’d like to reach is attainable if you consistently move forward with small steps. And the best part? You don’t have to have it all figured out, or know exactly what to do every step along the way. You don’t need to come up with a plan to pay off your entire credit card debt, or figure out how exactly you’ll lose all 65 extra pounds. And you don’t need to know everything there is to know about opening and running your own bakery.

It’s all about making a little progress. Getting started gets you over that initial hurdle and builds momentum. It also helps you realize that you can figure out the rest along the way.

Define your goal

Start by looking at your big goal, the changes you want to make, or what you want to get out of life. Know what your end goal is, but don’t worry about everything you need to do to get there. For this first step, it’s fine to simply decide that you want to improve your health, or pay off those credit cards or whatever your goal happens to be. Got that goal in mind? Great!

Choose a small step

Now come up with one or two little things you can do right now that helps you move in the right direction. It doesn’t matter how small those steps are. They may seem insignificant when you look at the big picture, but they’ll quickly add up. Most importantly, taking those steps gets you going. As an example, if your goal is improving your health, your small steps may be to go for a 10 minute walk each day. You might decide to try some new healthy recipes, and eat a salad or steamed veggies every day. The point is to start small and pick something you can do consistently.

Take a SMART approach

One way to help define your steps is to use SMART goal setting. The acronym SMART stands for, specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely.

Let’s use paying off a credit card as an example. Instead of saying, “I want to pay off my bills” or even “I want to be out of debt”, be specific.

“I want to pay off my credit card in the next 12 months.”

This goal is specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely. Here’s what a SMART goal would look like for paying off a credit card bill.

S (specific) Decide the exact amount of debt you are going to pay off.

M (measurable) Calculate how much the payment will need to be every month.

A (achievable) Is the payment realistic, or can you supplement the payment another way (is it attainable)

R (realistic) Is this a realistic timetable? Is 12 months a realistic timeline to pay off the debt (if not, readjust your original timetable)

T (timely) Is there a deadline for completion? Yes.

Take action

Once you’ve created a SMART goal, you can break down the actions needed to complete and achieve your goal. Using the example above, if your goal is to save money or pay off debt, it could be to auto draft the extra money per month into a savings account or towards your debt. Or maybe it’s skipping the coffee shop in the morning and packing your lunch. Find one or two places where you can save a few dollars and start applying them towards your financial goal.

I’ve used one specific example but whatever your goal, defining your small steps will help you move in the right direction.

Small steps will lead us to our goals

Any change you’d like to make or goal you’d like to reach is attainable if you consistently move forward with small steps. And for motivation, I’ve created a pretty printable that I hope will inspire you to take those small steps everyday!

Download your free ‘Small Steps’ printable by clicking the button below

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