Progress Pillars: Mapping Out Small and Large Goals

Aug 16

Boon Coach, Tricia Gehl

The stretch of mental highway between goals established and goals attained can be a long one. We begin at mile one with a focus on mile 2000 and keep our foot on the metaphorical gas until we reach our final destination. That exhilarating journey to goals attained requires careful planning, dedication, and a well-defined roadmap, so that we end up exactly where we intended to go. But how do we keep ourselves motivated for the entire quest?

Know Where You’re Headed
Setting a large or ultimate goal is a great place to start. It’s like plugging in GPS goal coordinates so that you know exactly where to steer yourself. Knowing where you’re headed helps you create a solid, workable plan to get there. Let’s say you’re heading out on a cross-country road trip to the beach. What are the essentials you need to get yourself there? Perhaps you need to put gas in the tank or fully charge your vehicle? Maybe you need to plan what food and drink you’ll want to have handy for the car ride? Get car sick? What remedies and strategies might you need in your back pocket for when the road gets bumpy? Knowing where we’re headed helps us identify exactly what we need to get us there.

All The Small Victories
Achieving and celebrating long term goals feels amazing! When we first set a large goal for ourselves, the rush of excitement we feel while we imagine charting the course, successfully navigating the journey, and arriving at our destination is what fuels us. But it’s a long way from mile zero to mile 2000. And a long journey with nothing to break it up might cause us to lose sight of where we’re actually headed or get angry that it’s taking so long. We might even decide that it’s just too far away and give up altogether (I will turn this car around right now!). What are some smaller victories or milestones you can place throughout the journey to help yourself stay the course? It’s a lot easier to get to point of interest #1 if it’s a short distance from your starting point. Setting small goals along the way keeps us motivated, inspired, and excited to continue the full journey.

Focus on a Mastery Mindset
When we over-focus on one large end goal, we set ourselves up for having only one measurement for a win. Consider instead approaching that long term goal journey with a mastery mindset. When we approach goals with a mastery mindset, we’re focused on “being” rather than simply “doing.” The result is we end up creating multiple opportunities for a win. Here’s where we’re celebrating what we’re learning, how we’re improving, and the enjoyment we’re getting while working toward those larger goals. The more “wins” we can celebrate along the way the more motivated we’ll be to keep heading to our final destination. So, on that road trip to the beach, did you stop and see the State’s largest ear of corn? Great! Take the picture and put it in the win column. Did you pop into that diner that boasts the Country’s best chocolate cream pie and discover it was indeed the best you’ve ever tasted? Fantastic! Another small win along the road to the big win. Overall, setting both small and large goals helps us not only keep our eye on the ultimate prize, but to enjoy achieving multiple victories along the way.