Dear Matt,
I’m wondering about something. When I set a small daily goal as you advise, I get more done than when I set a big goal which almost always results in me doing nothing. So my question is, can you set a goal that is too small?
Hai O. Silver
Dear Hai O.,
Funny you ask this question because I covered this a few weeks ago with my Platinum Goal Getting members. The answer is the opposite of what is commonly taught in self-development, where you’re constantly shoved, cattle-prodded, and jerked to make yourself uncomfortable, to 10X your goals, or some other maxim that ends up contributing less than the minimum to you getting your goals.
Just as there “ain’t no mountain high enough,” when you examine your results over time, you’ll also find that there ain’t no goal that is small enough. The key is knowing what gets you into motion, with zero resistance or avoidance. If you’re not taking action, chances are beyond excellent that the size of your goal is an impediment.
Yesterday I walked outside to pull “a few weeds” in the yard. This goal got me into action – and the funny thing is, after I pulled a few, which took about a minute, I wanted to keep going.
More than two hours later, I had pulled enough weeds to fill a few large plastic bags.
Now, the key question: What if I set a big goal yesterday, with my sights set on filling three or more bags large bags?
If you guessed that I wouldn’t have pulled a single weed, you would be correct.
My new book, The Zen Zone: Be the One Who Gets It Done – which will be available in September, goes into far greater detail on this topic.
Follow me on my new Instagram channel – @thezenzonebook – for more.
Matt Furey
