Picture a meme that I’m sure you have seen going around the internet. It’s a cartoon person standing at the bottom of a staircase looking up. The text below the mean varies depending on where it’s posted. The overall theme is one step at a time.

I love this image as a reminder of so many different aspects of life, business, health, and fitness. To me, each small step is a goal towards my overall goals. In episode 12 we are going to talk about using little goals to make big goals.

Back in Episode 3, we talked about how to set goals that are SMARTER. Part of SMARTER goals also means smaller goals.

Why do smaller goals help us so much in our health?

First starters, smaller goals take the stress off the bigger goal.

For Example, let’s say your goal is to lose 100lbs.  Looking at that seems like a huge number because well, it is and can seem daunting. Assuming you are losing 1-2lbs a week (which is OKAY)…it’s going to seem frustrating and feel like it is taking forever to get to that larger goal.

By setting little goals in the meantime is going to help you achieve that overall big goal.

On the days you’re struggling, it’s much easier to focus on step by step by step, than the entire mountain you need to climb.

Maybe start with a little goal such as losing five pounds a month. That little goal will help you focus one month at a time instead of the next three years that it might take to drop all of that weight.

One of my favorite smaller goals that I like to encourage people to try is to make two new healthy recipes a month. That means cooking in their kitchen two times a month with a new recipe.

If you liked even half of those recipes, that’s 12 new recipes to add into your weekly rotation over a year. Again, small goals make big results.

Sometimes it’s hard to look back and see the staircase we’ve left behind. As you’re climbing those steps, there’s going to be days where it doesn’t feel like progress has been made. There are going to be times where it’s hard to look back and realize you’ve already lost 10 pounds, or you’re already drinking a gallon of water a day and helping your health.

For this reason alone, I think it’s incredibly important to write down your goals. Not to mention, writing down your goals makes you more likely to achieve them according to research. By putting it on paper you are committing to it.

When you are struggling, pull out your old goals, you will be amazed at how far you’ve come.

A year is going to pass regardless of whether you make changes in your life or not. I’m sure you’ve heard that quote before. Maybe a year seems really really far away. In other words, maybe you’re at the bottom of the staircase looking at one step at a time.

What small goals can you use in your life to move you further up the staircase? ​