Small wins help achieve big goals

You have to celebrate small wins because it very easy to get discouraged by the length of the road that you’re on. Ask anyone who has ever climbed a big mountain. Ask them how they got to the top - they did it by focusing on climbing 50ft at a time.

A good goal for someone who wants to lose 50lbs is not to lose 50lbs. It’s to lose 1lb this week. And then 1lb next week.

For a 4hr marathon runner who wants to run a 3hr marathon, a good goal is not running a 3hr marathon. It’s to get up do their training run today, and then get up and do it all again tomorrow.

Forget about the horizon itself. Focus on the one step you can take today, and the one you can take tomorrow. If you can do that, you’ll be amazed how far you can go.

Here’s a step-by-step goal setting hack:

1. Set the goal

2. Identify the daily actions required to achieve that goal

3. Forget the goal

4. Make the daily actions the new goal

5. Celebrate those daily wins

That is literally the recipe for success and it works over and over again.

Celebrating the small stuff is us acknowledging that we are on our way to achievement. In fact, we are achieving all the time, and it’s a myth that we are only successful once we’ve reached that elusive goal.

But none of this will work if you refuse to put any amount effort into the process and remain obsessed with the end goal. That is not going to work. Ever.

Imagine a mountain climber only fixated on the peak? That would be suicide. But if you can detach yourself from where you want to end up and commit yourself to improving where you are right now, you will eventually make it to where you want to be.

Habits equal success. It’s like magic. Just give it time.