Sometimes we aim too high, too fast, and then should all over ourselves. You know, I should have gotten more done. I should have been smarter. I should have achieved my goal already.  I should be reading Greg’s blog every week and getting him to coach me. (OK, that last one was a shameless plug.) None of this is helpful.

When we should on ourselves it just leads to discouragement and it makes it harder to reach our goals. Two things happened to me this week that reminded me how destructive all that is.

First, I heard an interview where a world class, female athlete was asked how she accomplished so much. Her reply was awesome.

“I didn’t really have lofty goals when I started. I just wanted to get good enough and make enough money to feed my dog. Once I did that, I set higher goals. Now I set goals I couldn’t have dreamed of before.”

Yes! She created a goal, achieved it, and then created momentum. She has so much confidence now that her goals are enormous.

She didn’t live by the t-shirt slogan, Go Big or Go Home. She went small, won, went bigger, won, and now she goes LARGE!

One way to keep momentum going is to have constantly greater goals.–M. Korda

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Don’t get me wrong. Setting big goals is an awesome thing to do. Just don’t let the size of them paralyze you from taking action. Don’t become discouraged because you don’t change the world in a day.

The second thing that happened to me was a new friend of mine spoke eloquently to me about Grace. He reminded me that we are all flawed. No matter how much we try, we make mistakes. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

And that’s OK.

Give yourself some Grace.

Give your friends and family some Grace.

Take a breath.

Action Steps:

1. Take your big goal and break it down.
2. Create smaller goals to get there and action plans for the next year, six months, one month, one week and one day.
3. Take action every day.
4. Watch your small steps turn into something BIG.

If you’ve had a tough time or two, budget some time for a pity party if necessary (not for long, though).

Regroup.

Then, GO!

Question for comments: What small goal led to something you didn’t think you could accomplish?

I want to give as many people as possible my free eBook, 5 Steps to Finding Your Purpose. Please forward this to a friend who needs it. If they click here, they can get the free eBook.