Why Small Goals Are The Secret To Being Successful


Take a little glance back at your achievements thus far. If you’ve graduated from a college and you’re now working in your desired industry thanks to your diploma, you can safely say that the final outcome has been the result of many passed exams, sleepless nights, and internships. Although a single one of these events wouldn’t land you that dream job, all of them summed up into four or more years of education and growth have certainly made you qualified for your work. 

Simply put, dreaming big and while taking small steps is the recipe for success in any aspect of your life, and your career in particular. Even if you have a clear vision of your future company or a brilliant invention, it’s impossible to move even a single step forward without a clear outline of all the steps you need to take. 

They Are Easy To Define 

By the time we turn twelve, the usual statements, such as “I want to be an astronaut when I grow up”, suddenly become incredibly distant and impossible. The same can happen during adulthood when you choose to make an equally vague statement without any actionable, real steps to support your idea. Take some time to outline your overall goal, whether it’s to build a corporate empire, continue a family business, or do something entirely different. 

After putting your main goal into words, it’s time to define each step you should take in order for it to become true. What may be ten years away is actually only one-day-at-a-time away, hence the need to focus on what you can do now to make a difference later. It can be something simple, such as brainstorming, calling people to find and rent an office space, or looking into funding options. Every step should come with a deadline and with a whole slew of accompanying tasks that need to be completed – all of which increases accountability. 

They Make Room For Learning 

As you make your way up the ladder of your own personal success, remember that education doesn’t end with your diploma or with you landing the first job. On the contrary, when real life kicks in, that’s when you truly test your abilities and start forming as a working, creative individual. 

In time, you’ll see which of your small goals make sense, which ones need to be adjusted, and how you can build up on your existing knowledge to move forward with your goal. You’ll come across many setbacks, which will only serve as the opportunities to master something new or find a new road to your goal. 

They Inspire You To Take Action Every Day 

The same idea of smaller goals applies to your existing job within a company, or if you’re flying solo, to your freelance job. There are so many ways to earn money online to supplement your current income or fund your ongoing business idea that you can easily use them as your stepping stone towards your professional goal. From blogging, filling out surveys, all the way to affiliate marketing, the online world is brimming with opportunities. 

On the other hand, these freelance jobs often turn into highly profitable businesses, but only if you approach them with the same planning mindset. You want to become the best freelance graphic designer out there? Think in small steps, from writing a brilliant CV, all the way to building up your portfolio! 

They Form The Roadmap To Success 

Whether you choose to stay on your career path, or find a more fulfilling career during your freelancing gigs, you need to put all of your small and large goals into writing. They will serve as your own written promise to yourself, and a detailed guide that you can amend as you move forward with your plans. The Internet is full of templated business plans, finance outlines, marketing templates, and other useful documents that can serve as your foundation. 

Once again, a typical college education is a great example of a roadmap to a certain goal. While this particular map has been done for you, you can use the basic premise as your starting point to plan your future. Focusing on small, actionable goals lets you stay productive as well as motivated without losing sight of your ultimate purpose. 

They Are Easy To Monitor 

Finally, it’s extremely difficult to keep an eye on something as vague and undefined as an overall idea of your success. This is where thinking about small steps, once again, steals the spotlight, as the only viable way to take full control of your achievements. If your goal is to start your own company some time in the future, and if you’ve divided it into little milestones, such as “research my niche online”, “set up a meeting with a lawyer”, and “write out a business plan”, you’ll know which boxes you can tick each step of the way. 

Small goals are always so precise that you can measure and track them no matter how complex the final outcome may be. This level of insight and control lets you enjoy the journey to greater success even more, and gives you the ability to bask in the fruits of your labor along the way.


I hope you enjoyed this article about why small goals are the secret to being successful in business.

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