Can you believe that we are already at the last week of this series?!? This month has flown by. I’m loving all the improvements I’m seeing in my day to day life with just these simple, daily habit changes. I hope you have too! Now that we’re drinking more water everyday, we’re eating more salads or veggies, and we’ve prioritized finding time for quiet and rest, I think we’re ready to get things done! The hardest part is usually to just get started.
What do I mean by that? You know that item on your to do list that you keep meaning to get to, but you never do? Or maybe for you it’s a huge goal or dream that you can’t stop thinking about, but you haven’t even started yet. That’s what we’re going to get done this week. I know that some of you are thinking that there’s no possible way to get whatever you thought of (to do list item, goal, or dream) in just one week. No worries! Most projects like this never get started because starting is the hard part. That’s what we’re tackling this week – the hard part.
Break Your Goal Down Into Easier Parts
Once you know what task, goal, or dream you want to finally tackle this week, it’s time to break it down into easier parts. Depending on what project you’re working on, some of the ways that you can do this are to:
-Make an outline
-List all the big steps it would take to complete
-List the things you don’t know or questions you may have (what you may need to look into or research)
-Write down names and contact info of anyone that may be willing and able to help
List the First Three Steps
Depending on how big your goal is (paint your bedroom, write a book, find a new job, potty train your toddler, go back to school, organize your closet, etc) these three steps might be able to be completed within this week, or they may take a few months. If it takes more than this week, then just focus on the first step.
Break it Down Into Even Smaller Steps
Take your first step and write it at the top of a paper. Then brain dump all the things you need to do to get step one done. Maybe you need to buy supplies, or ask someone for help. Maybe you need to hire someone, so you need to call around for quotes. You may need to schedule a sitter to watch your kids so you can work on this uninterrupted, or take a half day off of work to focus on the task. Whatever comes to mind, write it down.
Now put them in order. Assign them to days of this week (could be one action item a day, could be 5, it all depends on what your to do item is and how much time you have to work on it).
Set Yourself Up For Success
Many of the same suggestions I gave to help you drink more water the first week can be used again here. Depending on what motivates you, set up some accountability for yourself:
-Find an accountability partner that you can check in with
-Set alarms on your phone with reminders or due dates
-Decide on a reward for completion
Get It Done
Ok, now get to it! Think about how great it will feel when this first step is done. Get excited about finally starting, no matter how small a step you take! As you continue to progress through these steps, the momentum will build and you’ll start to see even more progress.
What if you had the best of intentions to get started, but something unexpected happened in your life and you got off track? Don’t feel like you have to try to catch up to the place you “should” have been at – that can just cause overwhelm. Start exactly where you left off and continue. Progress over perfection. Always.
Accountability partners can be so helpful! Great reminder
Most definitely – especially if you are both working toward the same, or similar, goals!
Such great advice! Setting goals can be overwhelming, but this breakdown is super helpful.
I’m so glad it’s helpful! I’m all about taking something and breaking it down into the baby steps because those always seem much more manageable.
Breaking it down into smaller definitely makes it feel more achievable!
Yes! It definitely makes the larger goal much less overwhelming.
The journal I use actually has these progress bars you can colour in as you achieve each smaller goal, and it’s such a strange yet effective way to reward myself. It works!
Excellent tips, Brandi. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Ooh, I love a good tracker! It’s so encouraging to see the visual progress, especially with something where the progress may not be really obvious at the beginning. Great tip!
This is so true! Just starting is usually the hardest part. I love how you break this down & then break it even further by focusing on JUST the first step. It seems simple but having it written down really helps. Thank you! I’m going to go back & read your other posts in this series.
Yes, I agree – having it written down into smaller steps really helps! I find it less overwhelming and I’m more likely to actually get a step or more done this way.
Breaking it down into smaller and more doable parts is great advice. Even for parenting. When a child has an issue sometimes breaking it down into smaller thoughts or feelings can help them cope. Thanks for the post!
I love that you applied this to parenting! I can definitely see how that would help a little one process feelings.
I like your idea of breaking down larger goals into smaller tasks. Sometimes my to-do list looks so simple (and so it grows to an unrealistic size) because I haven’t put much thought into what goes into each goal. Thanks for sharing!
Yes, I much rather smaller, quicker goals or steps to check off my to do list so that I don’t get started on a task thinking I’ll finish it that day only to find out it has so many steps or parts that it will actually take longer than I expected.
These are such great tips! I HAVE to break things down into smaller tasks or I get distracted so easily. I’ve also found that writing out my full to-do list on one page can be overwhelming, so I like to grab a post-it note where I can write out only the next 3 tasks. I put the post-it on top of the list, then move things up or around as I accomplish tasks. It’s a helpful trick for me!
I have to break mine down too. I absolutely LOVE the idea of post-it notes! I guess I do the same thing in a different way because I choose one or two things to add to each weekday in my planner (to focus on), but the post-it notes are much more flexible. Thanks for sharing that tip!
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