How to Break Down Big Goals Into Smaller, Achievable Steps

Setting big goals can sometimes feel overwhelming and intimidating, especially when we’re unsure of how to achieve them. However, by breaking down our ambitious goals into smaller, more manageable steps, they instantly become more realistic and attainable.

To break down a goal into smaller steps, begin by clearly defining the goal. Then break the goal into actionable steps and set realistic deadlines for each one. Additionally, identify potential obstacles that may come up, and regularly track your progress to stay motivated.  

In this article, we’ll explore effective strategies and techniques for transforming big goals into manageable action items. By breaking your goals into smaller steps, you’ll gain the confidence and clarity needed to start your path towards success.

The Power of Breaking Goals into Smaller Steps

When it comes to achieving goals effectively, it’s crucial to be specific about what you want and have a well-defined plan of action. If your goal is too vague, overly ambitious, or lacks a deadline, it can easily demotivate you from taking the first step. Having overly ambitious goals can sometimes lead to feeling overwhelmed.

Learn more: Uncovering 7 Reasons Why Your Goals Overwhelm You»

To avoid wishful thinking and ensure success, take the time to clearly outline what you want to achieve, why it’s important, when you want to accomplish it, and how you plan to make it happen. By adopting this mindset, you transform your goal into a realistic plan that you can confidently pursue.

To guide your goal-setting process, consider using the S.M.A.R.T goals framework:

• Specific: Clearly define the goal you want to achieve and why it matters.
• Measurable: Identify the necessary steps and establish ways to measure your progress.
• Attainable: Ensure that your goal is realistic and within reach.
• Relevant: Assess the relevance and significance of the goal to your life and aspirations.
• Timely: Set a target date for achieving your goal.

By addressing these questions, you make your goal more tangible and attainable. Breaking your goals into smaller steps is also crucial. This transforms your goal from a mere desire into a concrete plan of action, propelling you forward.

Read more: The Ultimate Guide to Setting S.M.A.R.T Goals»

Here’s how to break down goals into smaller steps:

Step 1: Clearly Define Your Goal

Before breaking your goal into smaller steps, it’s crucial to clearly define what you want to accomplish. Take time to deeply reflect on your goal and its significance to you. Ask yourself why you want it and how it can improve your life. This reflection will give you a better understanding and a stronger sense of purpose.

Make sure that the goal is truly yours and not influenced by others. Don’t waste time, effort, and dedication on a goal you never wanted in the first place. Pursue your own dreams, not someone else’s dreams for you.

When setting goals, it’s important to make them realistic. For example, setting a goal to start earning $100,000 next month when you currently make $4,000 might not feel achievable. However, if you create a detailed plan on how to achieve it within a year, it becomes something you can actually do.

Consistently setting big goals without a plan on how to achieve them can have a negative impact on well-being. A two-part study found that failing to achieve big goals can adversely affect well-being, self-esteem, and motivation. Failure to accomplish goals can also demotivate people and hinder them from taking on new challenges.

That’s why it’s important to be specific about what you want. Without clear goals, success remains a mere wish, feeling unattainable and out of reach.

Step 2: Create Actionable Steps

When you fail to break down your goal into smaller steps, it can seem overwhelming and unattainable. Let’s say you’ve been tasked with cleaning a 40-story building from top to bottom. Standing at the bottom and looking up at the towering structure, the enormity of the task can be discouraging, possibly even leading you to decline the assignment.

But here’s the key: you don’t have to clean all the floors at once. Instead, you can break down the process by dividing it into manageable parts—actionable steps. Start by cleaning the top floor, then move to the one below, and so on.

While it may take a few months to clean all the floors, it’s a goal that you can achieve. Cleaning the entire building in one day, however, is unrealistic. Therefore, your focus should be on one floor at a time.

By breaking down a large goal into smaller steps, the task becomes more approachable and less daunting. It’s when we remain fixated on the main goal that we often feel discouraged. This is why breaking it down into smaller steps is so effective.

Did you know that people often set goals based on their self-efficacy, their belief in their own abilities? When individuals doubt their capability for success, they are less likely to pursue their goals.

However, in certain situations, individuals continue working towards their goals even when they lack confidence. This can happen when achieving a goal is crucial to avoiding significant personal losses.

When something becomes an absolute necessity, people usually find a way to achieve it. Often, this drive is fueled by fear, which can sometimes be a powerful motivator.

Step 3: Set Reasonable Timeframes for Each Actionable Step

When we give our actions a timeline, it increases the likelihood of us achieving them on time. Without a deadline, it’s easier to fall into procrastination. Sometimes a task or action might take longer than we anticipated. As a result, we may not complete it on time.

This is when it’s important to be kind to ourselves and not beat ourselves up. Life is not perfect and everything doesn’t always go according to plan. There’s a difference between doing the task, but not being able to finish it on time, and not doing the task at all.

So, when you establish your deadlines, be sure to set realistic timelines. If needed, add extra time here and there, so that you have more time in case one action takes longer than planned. 

Now, if your goal is to lose 30 pounds in a year, and you find yourself losing 25 instead, don’t feel discouraged. Keep going! The worst thing you can do is beat yourself up because you didn’t achieve exactly what you wanted on time.

By continuing, you will eventually lose the last five pounds too. But if you give up, then you might end up regaining the weight you’ve lost. 

Effective planning prompts work best when people care about their goals for personal reasons. This makes them more motivated to create thoughtful plans. However, being too specific in plans might make people inflexible, especially if the goal doesn’t involve unexpected actions. So, be sure be a bit flexible with your steps.

Sometimes deviating from your plan can bring better results. And if you had been too rigid with sticking to your plan, you might had missed out on something great. 

Step 4: Identify Potential Obstacles

No matter how well we plan our goals, obstacles are bound to come our way and derail us. For instance, catching the flu could disrupt our progress for a week, or we might discover that the promotion we were working towards has already been filled.

During these challenging times, it is crucial to persevere and adjust our plans accordingly. Instead of giving up, consider exploring other opportunities.

Perhaps there is another position available that you are interested in, or you could approach your boss and express your desire for a promotion. Your boss might provide valuable insights on what you need to do to secure the promotion.

Alternatively, you could even explore opportunities with other companies. The key is to not lose sight of your goal. Even in difficult situations, there is often a silver lining if we look closely. Sometimes, what we end up with is even better than what we originally wanted.

Studies have shown that when we strongly desire something, we are more willing to adapt or put in extra effort to achieve it, even when it seems like we are falling short of our goals. Therefore, the more committed you are to your goal, the higher the likelihood that you will persevere through obstacles.

By viewing mistakes as opportunities to learn, you can continue to set ambitious goals. However, if you feel discouraged by failure, it can hinder your ability to set new goals. Fear of failure can hold you back, causing you to avoid taking risks and playing it safe. But in life, there are no guarantees, and sometimes taking risks is necessary to achieve what we desire. If we never take risks, we will never reach our goals.

5. Measure Your Progress

Setting goals is important as it gives our lives meaning and promotes self-development. Achieving our desired outcomes through hard work and dedication improves our well-being and boosts confidence. However, it’s easy to solely focus on the end goal and overlook the necessary steps in between.

To address this, breaking goals into smaller steps is highly beneficial. By accomplishing each step, we celebrate success along the way. Tracking and measuring progress allows us to see how far we’ve come, which keeps us motivated to continue.

It’s crucial to celebrate every achievement, regardless of its size. Often, we tend to overlook small victories and only concentrate on the ultimate goal, but doing so can have negative consequences. Acknowledging progress sets a positive mindset that propels us forward. We should take pride in our journey and find even more motivation to reach greater heights.

Remember, success is not a destination but an ongoing journey that requires determination and persistence. Celebrate each step and keep moving forward towards your dreams. Along the way, measuring progress helps identify what strategies are effective and what needs to be adjusted for success. It’s perfectly fine to modify goals if necessary, as only you know what works best for you.