Tiny Steps to Audacious Goals

 

“We rise to great heights by a winding staircase of small steps.”

Francis Bacon

 

If you’re someone who frequently fails to achieve your ambitious goals, and you assume your goals are just too big to accomplish or it seems something is standing in your way, then this article is written for you.

And the premise of my message for you is that the easiest path to massive results is not the way of massive heroic efforts but the path of tiny and consistent steps.

In other words, when it comes down to achieving our audacious goals, we don’t need to sweat blood to make them happen; we only need to capitalize on the power of small but consistent wins.

Steady progress is a very powerful ally and focusing on progress, no matter how small is a clever guard against the disease of procrastination.

Contrary to the popular notion that massive effort is the best way to massive result; tiny steps are the real secret to lasting success, whether big or small as Louis Sachar, the author of ‘Wayside School series’ observes:

“It is better to take many small steps in the right direction than to make a great leap forward only to stumble backward (later).”

For example: If your goal is to reach the planet Mars (over 33,000,000 miles away), and you plan to take massive and unrelenting actions to reach it, the chances are high that you will eventually exhaust yourself with burnouts due to the sheer volume of work involved and its attendant stress.

But if you consider the path of tiny sustainable steps, chances are high that you will keep going, maintain a steady progress until you reach your astronomical target.

In the words of Sheryl Sandberg, the billionaire and COO of Facebook:

“Getting from point A to point Z can be daunting unless you remember that you don’t have to get from A to Z.

You just have to get from A to B. Breaking big dreams into small steps is the way to move forward.”

Hope you notice the point in her last sentence, the way toward progress is the path of tiny steps. The reasoning behind this is quite clear.  We need momentum to achieve big goals, and tiny series of constructive steps is a smart way to kindle the fiery fire of momentum.

In support of this concept, Ellen Langer, a professor of psychology at Harvard University observes:

“There is always a step small enough from where we are to get us to where we want to be.

If we take that small step, there's always another we can take, and eventually a goal thought to be too far to reach becomes achievable.”

Finally, know that the most natural way to achieving a big vision is the path of small, consistent steps. It is how human beings, animals and even trees grow to maturity.

It is the path that will not only make our greatest visions inevitable but also organically grow our self-confidence, self-efficacy and the belief in our personal capacity to make worthwhile things happen.