Small Wins for Big Goals

By Daniel Rendelman

It’s been said that new year’s resolutions are made to be broken. This observation is true, and it’s kind of sad. Too many times, we resolve to do better with life and business, but then life and business get in the way. A few days into the new year, we are back to our old selves. It doesn’t have to be like this! Big goals can be accomplished, and resolutions can be kept. How? With small wins. A small win is just that – a tiny accomplishment that might normally go unnoticed but, if it is celebrated, can build to a large victory.

Imagine that someone offers you ten million dollars if you could eat an entire African elephant. Would you take up that challenge or see it as totally impossible? The way to eat an elephant is the same way to reach your business goals – a little bit at a time (and a little bite at a time.) Determining what matters most is primary. Then have the end in mind and work backward.

What are your dreams, desires, and dares? What do you want to achieve? Why is that important? Who should be included in these pursuits? What needs to be done? How can you measure progress? When are the deadlines? The answers to these questions can help boil that elephant down to a realistic size. That huge and heavy animal of a goal can be chewed down daily.

Let’s say you have a sales goal of $100,000 in one month. That seems huge until you chunk it down into bite-sized actions. You might not do 100k in one month but that’s only $25,000 a week, about $3,300 a day, $588 an hour, or about $10 a minute. That is doable! 

Know what targets are important to your business, divide the work into measurable actions, and then celebrate those baby steps. A best practice is to keep a “wins journal” of the positive things that happen in your pursuit of greatness. This is a simple running list of obstacles overcome or steps taken along the way to success. Nothing is too small to be documented! Every “little” action counts! Return to this wins journal when you feel frustrated or just need to be reminded of how far you’ve come.

A recent study by renowned author and Harvard Business School Professor Teresa Amabile found that small wins make bigger goals much easier to achieve because they help boost motivation and self-confidence. Because you have decided to do better, you will get better. Resolve to eat that elephant, and your goals will become a reality.