Do you dream big? Do you ever have moments of clarity, inspiration, and motivation towards some long-term vision, goal, or idea? Do you start to get really excited about the achievement of that thing, only to end up getting lost in the minutiae; all the little details and next steps required to accomplish what you are dreaming about, dragging you to a halt?
These are the common roadblocks we face to our ultimate success. Everyone deals with these same problems, and it is one of the reasons many of us lose sight of our goals. It all depends on how you 'structure' your dream to make it a reality.
Chunking it down is a concept I've used with great success for a couple years now. Personally, I've found it to be my most effective means to achieving goals I had originally thought were unobtainable. The concept is simple.
Draw an outline of the ultimate goal you want to achieve, and put a realistic timeline on it. Put this goal/ idea/ concept/ achievement/ dream whatever it is on the far left side of a sheet of paper, then just above it, write the amount of time you anticipate before it is obtained. Now you will begin chunking that objective down on the sheet of paper, in backwards chronological order. The key is to use progressively smaller steps that carry you towards it's achievement.
Create a reverse goal-timeline brainstorming outline. A perfect example of this is laying a sheet of paper wide left to right, and dividing it into 4 equal sections. On the far left, write at the top of the column with YEARLY, second to left write at the top MONTHLY, second to the right top with WEEKLY, and the far right column top it with DAILY.
Now in the far left column you obviously write what the final achievement is, whether it be get a job promotion, buy a house, save $20,000, lose 20 pounds, create side revenue stream... Whatever it is, you want to have it by the time one year is up. Next, in the monthly column, you will determine one or two steps towards that goal would look like. For saving $20,000, perhaps you want to put away $300 from each paycheck as well as create a monthly budget to reduce expenses. That is listed under monthly objectives. For the third column, weekly - you may list "eat out only once; cook at home for the week; no expensive nights out", all steps that incrementally add up towards your yearly goal on the left. For the final column, under daily - what will you do TODAY that is going to help you carry forward towards that achievement? Some ideas could be "pack a lunch to work", "determine monthly living expenses", "create excel spreadsheet with budget ideas".
The important thing here is to work backwards from what the ultimate goal is and chunk it down into realistic actions that can be accomplished each chronological step. Once you have done this, you must execute.
Now that you have your goal outline it is very important to reference this routinely and remind yourself of why you started in the first place. The last important piece of advice I can give to you in this regard is that when you are developing these yearly goals and objectives, it will serve you well to include in your journal or in a document somewhere, how you feel when you achieve the goal and why it is important to you. Answering these questions will make these achievements more real to you. Really try to envision the feelings you have when accomplishing one of your objectives as well as the importance of that thing.
Visualization will also remain a key factor in the achievement of anything great, so the more vividly you can see yourself achieving X, Y, or Z, the more likely your subconscious mind will work with you towards achieving it.
Remember - you all possess an infinite potential to become who you truly are meant to be. And who you are truly meant to be is seen in your brief moments of inspiration, motivation, and fiery passion. Those moments are fleeting connections with your true self, the higher purpose of our being, Do not let those slip away. Dream big and chunk it down so you can continue to feed the inspiration of the soul.
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