Want to accomplish a big goal? Start small!

by Jon Acuff

I’ve written books about goals for the last 10 years, and one of the most common questions I get is:

“How do I break down big goals into small actions I can accomplish?”

It’s an important question because if you can’t do this, the big goal you’re initially excited about starts to feel overwhelming—like you’re staring at a mountain without any hope of making it from the base camp to the summit.

This tension is true in every goal. I’m “here,” and I want to be “there,” but “there” feels so far away. 

In every goal, there are two natural checkpoints:

Before and After.

Those come free. They’re included with the purchase. They’re usually very obvious. 

It’s our job to create more checkpoints between those two. 

Imagine a ladder that only had a bottom rung and a top rung, with nothing in between them.

That would be useless, right? How discouraging would that ladder be? 
But that’s where goals start. Now, we get to figure out how to add as many rungs as we need to make it easier to win. 

The first thing I want you to do is write down your starting line and your finish line. Let’s be really clear about these two points. For instance, if you’re writing a book, you could put down: The first page.

That’s a great starting line. Your first page is your starting line.

And then, for your finish line, you could put: For sale on Amazon. 

When you’ve got the book finished, all designed and loaded onto Amazon, you will consider the project finished. 

If you’re creating your teaching strategy for the year, you could write down: Brainstorm series ideas. . .

Your starting line is brainstorming. . . And then your finish line is: The end of the last series. . .

Or just when all of the series and sermons are outlined.  It’s your choice, really. We don’t need a perfect destination in mind, but we at least need a rough finish line we’re heading toward. 

For one of my big goals this year, writing a book, I’d write down: The proposal.

Then, for the finish line, I’d say: The accepted manuscript.

I signed a publishing contract to write a book with my daughters this year. The finish line for the writing portion of the project is the publisher accepting the manuscript. The starting line is the proposal for the idea. Now, I need to start adding some rungs so that I can actually climb this ladder. 

Before I do that, though, I want to see if there’s a date for the finish line. Is there a deadline? For a lot of goals, there is. If you’ve got a sales goal at work, your company will close the books for that quarter or year on a specific date. 

If this is a personal goal you’re working on, you get to set the date yourself. If you can, get creative with it and add what I call “Positive Pressure.”

What’s Positive Pressure? Well, if your goal this year is to renovate your kitchen, then hosting your parents for Thanksgiving is Positive Pressure. You want the goal done before they arrive. Positive Pressure also works for small goals. 

Last Sunday night, a couple in our small group hosted us at their house. Someone said, “Thanks for hosting us again!” and the wife immediately said, “I offered to host tonight because our house was a mess, and I knew I’d clean it if you guys were coming over.”

Getting in shape before your high school reunion or a ski trip with friends to make sure you can keep up on the slopes is Positive Pressure. 

Can you add any Positive Pressure to your goal? Get creative with it!

You can also just use the calendar as your deadline. Let’s say I want to do 150 CrossFit workouts by December 31st. I have a year, which is a natural deadline. 

Deadlines help because big goals are mushy by nature because they are so far out into the future, and the future is largely out of our control. 

For my book, my deadline was September, which was about six months from the time I set my goal.

The next question we all need to answer for our goal is, what actions will help me accomplish this goal?
When I work on a new book, I first make a list of the actions I need to accomplish my goal. Here are six that immediately come to mind:

1. Writing

That seems so obvious, but don’t be afraid to put down really obvious actions. I know I need to spend hours with my butt in the seat working on my project.

2. Finishing the outline

With a book like the one I was writing, I needed to write out a 2-3 page outline that the editor would review. It’s essentially a summary of all the chapters and shows him where I’m headed with the manuscript. 

3. Responding to edits from the publisher

Writing a book with a publisher is a bit like tennis. I hit the ball to them and then wait for them to hit the ball back to me. When they do, I have to figure out what they’ve suggested I change and how to hit it back. 

4. Write three chapters

Some authors write the whole book and turn it in all at once. Not me. I like to send it in chunks, so I’m continually assured that I’m headed in the right direction. My nightmare would be to write an entire book, submit it, and have the publisher say, “What is this? We were expecting a thriller set in Norway.” 

5. Collecting stories

For nonfiction books, it’s good to have more than just your story in it. You need to collect stories that support and prove your concept. 

Without a ton of work, I added five rungs to the ladder. The goal is already a lot less intimidating.

What’s the right number of rungs? It depends on the goal, but the smaller they are, the simpler it is to climb. 
Now it’s your turn. Find three new rungs for your goal. 

That’s it. It doesn’t have to be 30, doesn’t even need to be 10, we’re just looking for 3. 

If you can get the first three, the next three will be even easier to find. Guess what happens when you get to that part of the ladder? You tend to find the next three.

Before you know it, that big goal is done, you’ve crossed your finish line, and you’re ready for a new one!

Bio

Jon Acuff is the New York Times Bestselling author of nine books, including his most recent, All it Takes is a Goal. When he’s not writing, Acuff can be found on a stage as one of INC’s Top 100 Leadership Speakers. He lives outside of Nashville, TN, with his wife Jenny and two teenage daughters.