How do you achieve your the big, fat, juicy goals in your life?
Just like you can’t cram a big, fat, juicy burger (or apple if you’re vegan) in your mouth in one bite, you break your BFJ goals up into smaller goals that are easier to reach. How do you reach these smaller goals? By breaking them up into action steps. These are things that you do to get closer to achieving your BFJ Goals. Goals are reached in stages, not all at once. You didn’t pop up into handstand and hang out there for 2 minutes the first time you tried, right?
Turning Goals into Actions
When you’re breaking your goals into action steps, pick tangible targets. This means making the action step something that you’ll know you’ve finished. In other words, it has to be measurable. It’s all about the metrics, baby, remember? Each of these steps may be a task that once completed gets you closer to the goal. Choose one or a handful of actions to take each day.
You and Your Cluttered Garage
Ok, so lets bring it into real life. Let’s say your goal is to sign contracts for 4 corporate yoga gigs. What sub-goals would you use? One tangible sub-goal with a measurable outcome is to create a list of prospective sites. Another sub-goal to create your pricing structure. Reaching out the the company’s HR director would be another.
You’d then break each of these sub-goals into action steps. Remember that the end result has to be achievable. 4 teaching gigs certainly isn’t pie in the sky outlandish! For the first sub-goal of creating a prospect list, you might break it into an action step to research what corporate office parks are in your area. Figure out which companies are located where and then dig a little deeper. Spend an hour online e-stalking them up. You can get a pretty good idea of corporate culture from a company’s website. Intuitively narrow your prospect list accordingly.
The Devil’s in the Details
I know, I said that last week, but it’s true!!! Tangible means something that can be measured. (hello metrics!) Depending on the type of goal, you should use facts and figures. If you’re looking to nail a corporate gig, decide on an exact number of classes. If it’s asana mastery, break it down quantitatively – “hold headstand for 90 seconds”. Use action words to define your tasks. On your list of things to do, don’t write ‘business’ or ‘practice.’ Instead, write ‘research potential corporate yoga sites’ or ‘get inverted.’ The verb is important because it reminds you that this is an action that needs to be taken.
Keep It Realistic
Don’t forget that the reason we break goals down into steps is to make them more realistic. Any goal is achievable if you break it into bite-sized chunks and affix realistic time frames to these chunks. Goals that revolve around learning a new skill are especially daunting, but when you break them down in this way, they become possible.
If your action steps seem more like giant leaps, this doesn’t mean you should give up. It just means you need to break them up into smaller actions that are easier to achieve.
Monitor Your Progress
A journey of a thousand miles starts with one step. Once you’re several hundred miles on your way, it doesn’t seem so far at all. Monitor your progress and log it in a journal or computer file. This shows you how far you’ve come in working toward your goal and that adds more motivational fuel to the fire.
Need to play a little catch up?
Learning to Love Metrics
The Dirty Details.
Lets Go, Smarty Pants.
Ready Set Goal!
Resolutions Suck, Goal Setting is Awesome!
