A Simple Idea for Achieving Personal Goals

I’m currently training for my first half marathon (eeek I know!). Out pounding the pavement I had a reoccuring thought, focus on small steps and go further.

I wish I could lay claim to this nugget of wisdom but I can’t. It comes from an episode of the James Altucher Show. His interviewee (who I can’t remember) were discussing this running technique and I thought, I’m going to give that a crack.

Small steps. Small steps. Small steps….round and round, like a mantra.

Tell you what, if you’re a runner, try it. I ran my furtherest yet.

As I placed one foot in front of the other, small steps and go further, a few things happened.

Going slower meant I noticed more. I saw the guy trying to hitch a ride in front of a bus stop. To all the drivers he looked like he was waving down a bus. I saw what he was trying to do. He was failing. Should have moved away from the bus stop, fix the mixed messaging. Think about this in your business. If you took smaller steps, focused in on those steps, what would you see? Small steps, take it all in, see the opportunities and the gaps. Allow ideas time to develop and evolve. Notice more. It’s empowering.

Small steps breed momentum. Left foot. Right foot. Left foot. Right foot. The action goes from conscious to unconscious. Running went from being a challenge, to a rhythm. No wonder I ran further than I’ve ever managed before. The hardest part is always the start. It’s without fail my slowest time split. New projects are like that. Slow moving to start, so many unknowns. so much indecision. It’s like running uphill. You need to find a way to put one foot in front of the other. Until it gets easier, things start to flow. When you start something new, remember the uphill slog. Stick it out and little by little find your rhythm. Small steps, small steps. You got this.

Not going hell for leather at the beginning leaves more in the tank for later on. My old style was to go for gold at the start and get slower and slower with each passing kilometre until I keeled over. Not effective. It seems counter intuitive but spread the motivation out. Use the enthusiasm to get started, then focus on building your rhythm. Get up that hill we just talked about. You’ll need motivation and inspiration all the way up that sucker so keep some in reserve.

Small steps gave a single focus. On every hill, when the going got tougher, small steps, small steps, small steps. Nothing else. Focusing on that one thing got my up those hills. It got me going again after I had to stop at lights and lost momentum. That level of clarity in business is powerful. Can you imagine having a vision that simple and motivating. Having a single guiding purpose that every time the going got tough, as it does. you come back to to refocus. A key phrase the always shows you the way forward. Picture the greatness you could achieve then. Just thinking about it gives me chills (but that might be the wintry weather going on, brrrrr).

Notice more. Momentum. Clarity. Focus. Go further.

Time to find your small step.

Related: Consistency: Unlock A More Successful Life Every Day