Think big, act small

It’s easy to become overwhelmed by the enormity of the goals we set for ourselves.

If you’re like most people, you have ambition but lack sufficient organization skills and willpower to realize that ambition. This is why most new-year’s resolutions fizzle; why most small businesses fail, and why most people are stuck in dead-end jobs.

The worst thing you can do is to stuff your ambition. Adjust it, maybe. Maybe decide you’re happy with your station in life.

Or maybe not. But how do you get from here to there? How do you get across that chasm between what is now, and what could be later?

The answer is to break it down. Think big, but act small. Instead of being paralyzed by the question: how am I going to grow my company to $1.2m in revenue by 2020, ask: what small thing can I do today that is a step in the right direction? Can the big goal be broken down into quarterly, monthly, or even weekly goals? What milestones can we set so that we recognize that we’re on the right track? What habits can be built that will conduct us more swiftly to the big goal?

Think big, but act small.

Originally published at Ryan Crispin Heneise.