Little things matter

Bill Gates said that people typically overestimate what they can do in one year yet underestimate what they can do in ten. It’s such a simple statement yet is so profound. 

Every year most of us look at the new year as an opportunity to make new resolutions about how much weight we are going to lose, how much money we are going to make, or that we are going to quit some bad habit that we can’t shake. Then, within a couple of months we have typically abandoned all these resolutions. We do it year after year, thinking that somehow this year will be different. But it rarely is. What if we stopped making New Year’s resolutions all together? Instead, what if we had an ongoing list of little things that we do every day? We can then simply add new items as we go. Instead of living our lives from year-to-year, we would simply be living our lives, period.

To achieve long-term success, we need to focus on goals that are so far out that we often lose our motivation to reach them. Even to achieve shorter-term goals, we still often fall short and don’t realize how much the little things we miss doing impact our progress. So, one of the best things you can do to achieve large long-term goals is to think small.

Pick simple actions you can take that will move you toward your larger goals. For example, if you want to read ten books this year, then focus on the daily activity of reading and not the goal. You can set a daily goal of reading for 30 minutes. Within a month, you will most likely have read one book. If you read a bit slower, then make it 45 minutes of reading, if you read faster then make it 20 minutes. Whatever it is you are striving for, big or small, if you chunk it into small micro-goals and then focus on achieving that small goal; then the big goal will eventually take care of itself. 

If you apply this technique to multiple goals and remain consistent, imagine what you can accomplish over the next year. Better yet, imagine what you can accomplish over the next ten.