Getting Started on Your Goals
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act but a habit.
~Aristotle
There are two ways to get started on your goals or take up the charge again once you are off track. The easy way and the hard way.
You know the hard way - making huge sacrifices, trying to swallow big changes in one giant bite, trying to overhaul your whole life or career all at one time. Its a good strategy when you are facing an immediate crisis. Think of people who wait to change their lifestyle until they have had a heart attack or the executive who hires a coach AFTER he loses all of his top people. The hard way can work AND it takes a monstrous amount of energy and discipline.
Nothing against the hard way. I've done it many times myself. I ran up a good amount of credit card debt in my twenties and didn't get it under control until the government came in and took 25% of my paycheck for back taxes. I always had the choice of paying it off a little at a time but, I didn't make that choice. That was then and this is now. Now, I prefer the easy way.
The easy way is to make incremental changes or improvements. There is a great article on the process called kaizen over at Zen Habits posted by guest author, Mary Jaksch. Habits are the foundation to achieving goals. Mary makes two really good points -
"If we change direction little by little, we can use momentum to affect change." "With a strategy of continuous low-level change, we are able to sidestep the number one barrier to change: fear."
What steps will you choose today? I'm sticking with tiny steps in the right direction - for now.
To your success,
Lora
