We’ve all been there. We’ve set a goal and then reflect on it and realise it’s huge. Possibly unachievable.
It could be losing weight, achieving a PB at the gym or hitting a revenue, profit or cash target in our business.
“How the hell are we going to achieve that?”
“That’s going to be tough!”
So psychologically, we back off a little because we feel that it’s going to be virtually impossible.
We back off on the nutrition. We stop going to the gym as often. We lose focus at work.
I’ve signed up to rowing two marathons on Loch Ness for charity this weekend with my good client and friend Andy Firth. Read more about that here.
That is me well and truly out of my comfort zone. Am I any good at rowing? Not really! Do I regularly row in the gym or on water? Nope – I’d rather stick pins in my eyes.
Does the thought of rowing 84,390 metres scare the hell out of me? Yip!
If your goals in business do not scare you, they aren’t ambitious enough. Get comfortable with being uncomfortable.
I aren’t going to approach this thinking I have 84,390 meters to row when I don’t regularly row.
I am going to chunk the task down into less overwhelming goals.
The task is split over two days. That’s 42,195 per day. Can I row 1,000 meters? Yes. Then another 1,000? Then another? Of course I can. Or I break it down into 100 metres and repeat (I probably will be by the end of day two).
So the plan is to row 1,000 meters and then do this another 41 times. Then repeat that again on day two.
Now, I’m not saying this isn’t going to be physically and mentally tough. It will be.
But the only way to approach a huge goal of this nature is to chunk it down into small manageable tasks and repeat.
It’s the way that I approach business.
For example: if you want to achieve a target of £0.5m in revenue, that is huge. On the face of it, a seemingly impossible task for most small business owners.
However, what if you start chunking it down?
Can you achieve £41,666 per month? Then repeat this 11 times. Can you achieve £9,615 per week? Then repeat this 51 times. Can you achieve £1,369 per day? Then repeat this 364 times. Can you achieve £57 per hour? You get the picture…
(I know I haven’t allowed for time off – you apply your own formula to your own goal).
Now, of course you can bill £57 in an hour. You just decide how many times you wish to do this to hit your target.
Of course I can row 1,000 metres. I just need to do this on repeat for two days.
