Turning Goals Into Micro-Goals

You have a goal that you have set for yourself. CONGRATULATIONS. That is the first step into creating your dream life. You have written down your goal. In essence, you have created something from nothing. Now is the task of accomplishing this goal. Breaking down this goal into minuscule day goals might seem ridiculous. When I first did this, I thought to myself “seriously? What is this craziness?”. But there is something about breaking down a goal into daily ‘so small that you need a microscope to see the changes’ goals. There is science behind this phenomenon. Turns out, our brains enjoy autopilot. Makes sense, really. There is so much stimulation in this world. Not just the internet and everything it contains, but also in the actual world. There are flowers, trees, sidewalks, roads, cars, bicycles, pedestrians, houses, fields, buildings, clouds, and the list goes forever. Not only that but each item has various sub items within them, all flowers are not alike for example. Our brain, while one of the most amazing organs in our bodies, quickly organizes and files away this information. It does this so efficiently that it prefers to run on autopilot. Which makes the job of taking on a new goal seem daunting at first to your brain. It has to reprocess and reorganize and reshape your previous behaviors and patterns. This is where setting and creating micro-goals will help accomplish the larger goal. The word micro means ‘very small’. So that your brain doesn’t resist all the new changes, it maybe helpful to simply make one very small change in your day/routine/life. This process is not going to get you quick, instant results. But it will get you long lasting sustaining results because it allows your brain to ‘adjust’ to these changes in a subtle way. Nearly all of us have had the new years goal and we give it 150% right away and completely overhaul our life to create our “perfect” ideal life. Which for most of us, these changes last about 2ish weeks before we fall back into our previous habits/patterns/routines. Setting up micro-goals allows for a tiny daily change, which in turn allows your brain to think “oh, this is super easy, I can accomplish this one tiny thing and go back to my easy peasy lemon squeezy life”. My personal example of this is mornings. I had a moment where I thought “this is it, this is what will cure me of my low self esteem and enable me to finally conquer my life. I will wake up at 5am and do all the things I need to do”. And I totally did. For about 2 weeks. Then I went back to waking up at my normal time, about 8am. Using the 30 Day Challenger journal, I broke it down into smaller goals that my brain was less resist to. Now, this did take time, but I get up at 5am, walk for 3 miles, journal about gratefulness, and write about topics that interest me. I do this before my kids wake up. Looking at your goals and making them micro is one technique that can assist you to accomplish your goals. Until next time, Heather