Baby Steps

Failures aren't born. They're made. So are successes.

Studies have shown that defining success is the first step to achieving it. This means defining success for you, in your terms. People who don't have a personal definition of success feel less successful and less satisfied in their lives. They also earn less money.

If your life is not guided by a plan with goals you create, it will be guided by a default plan, a plan created by your past conditioning and others' expectations of you.

Some people resist the idea of a plan for their lives because they think it's something rigid. But having a plan is exactly what allows you to take advantage of serendipity, the unexpected, new opportunities. Your goals allow you to recognize and take advantage of the unexpected when it shows up in yourlife.

Just think: If you took only 1 baby step each day toward your goal for the next 30 days, by the end of the month you'd be 30 steps closer to your goal! It's only baby steps you need to take to reach your goal. Not giant leaps, not overnight success, not hours each day.

People set themselves up for failure by thinking that they have to devote huge chunks of time to their major goal each day. Not so. It's the progress toward that goal that counts, the consistent and persistent action done in little chunks on a regular basis.

If you haven't been exercising, would you just go out and run 10 miles? Some people make this mistake by setting unrealistic actions each day: the goal isn't unrealistic, the daily actions are.

You want the feeling that progress gives you, the energy and momentum that little daily actions give you. You want to stay motivated. That's why baby steps work.

How little is a baby step? In your first month of moving toward your goal, a baby step is the smallest action you can do in 10-15 minutes each day. Not 30 minutes, only 10-15 minutes each day.

What can you do today in 10-15 minutes to take a step toward your priority goal?

Here are some ideas:

Brainstorm a list of all actions you take toward your goal. Later, identify those priority actions that will only take 10-15 minutes for the next 30 days.

Make a list of people to call who can give you some on-target information about
your goal.

Make 1 phone call that moves you toward your goal.

Write the challenges you expect to face in reaching your goal.

Each day, write how you can handle each challenge (reduce it, avoid it, break
through it, get support, etc.)

Read something for 15 minutes related to your goal.

Schedule a future meeting with a person or group related to your goal. (Yes, the
meeting itself will take longer than 10 or 15 minutes but scheduling it won't.)

Start your daily habit of progress toward your priority goal with only 10-15
minutes each day. You can take these baby steps!