When we look at an overall BIG, CRAZY SCARY goal, especially when we’re setting something that seems “impossible” to us, the thought of that end goal can cause us to go into a spiral of thinking it’s sooo out of reach we’ll never quite make it there.
That’s why creating milestones for your goals is CRUICIAL to help you break down large goals into smaller, more manageable steps.
Instead of looking at that DREAM goal as this massive thing and feeling intimidated, overwhelmed or downright discouraged by its enormity, these milestones are going to act as 'mini goals' for you to focus on one at a time throughout your journey.
<aside> ⚡ Focus on the step in front of you, not the whole staircase.
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☝🏻 This quote sat on my vision board in 2021 and it’s something I regularly remind myself of. Imagine your goal is a long and winding set of stairs (because the path to achieving your goal is never linear). During your ascent, there are landings where your milestones are positioned. These are there for you to celebrate your achievements and take a breather along the way to that BIG audacious goal. You should also try to select these milestones so they increase incrementally, which allows you the time to boost your confidence along the way, reinforce the new belief system you’re establishing and learn along the way.
I like to give myself a good 12 months to achieve my dream goal. It may happen sooner, but bossing those milestones along the way means you’ll be achieving ‘mini’ goals throughout the year. Each milestone (or ‘mini’ goal) should have a shorter timeframe of around 3 months so you can review your progress every quarter.
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Be gentle with your progress. Failure is also success in progress.
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Have a think about which category your goal fits into. This should help you work out how to break that goal down into four key milestones.
<aside> 👩🏼💼 Career What actions do you need to take to get you where you want to be? Could you take a course, or improve your performance metrics at work, or apply to more jobs / gain experience in a field you’d like to work in?Be gentle with your progress. Failure is also success in progress.
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<aside> 💸 Financial Looking to save? Increase your quarterly saving incrementally if you can. If you run your own business, you might be looking to increase your income. Divide your annual financial goal by 10 to get your Q1 milestone, by two to get your Q2 milestone, add your Q1 milestone to your Q2 milestone to get your Q3 milestone, and add your Q1 milestone to your Q3 milestone to get your Q4 milestone.
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<aside> ⭐ Personal Habits like reading, a gratification practice, waking up earlier, learning a new hobby can all be broken down into smaller quarterly (and then monthly, weekly and daily) tasks.
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<aside> 🏥 Health & Lifestyle You might want to run a marathon, or introduce a daily walk into your life. Maybe it’s drinking 2L of water a day or making a commitment to eat more healthily and be more active. Start small for Q1 and build up from there.
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<aside> ❤️ Relationships Would you like to dedicate more time to the people you love? Can you schedule in connection more often than you do at the moment, or make a pact to call someone you care about once a week?
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I’ve purposely created this back-to-front, so we can think about our big goal first and foremost and then start breaking it down. I personally feel when you go from big goal > first milestone, you can feel stuck, but if you work backwards, it seems to make more sense and allows you to get to your Q1 milestone without feeling overwhelmed. Simply fill in the boxes to calculate your milestones:
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What are the key components to your main goal? Write down 1-3 things that you can do to get you there.