Big Picture, Small Steps: What if I’m overwhelmed thinking about my goals?

When you read about goal setting, people suggest you visualize what achieving the goal would look like. You write about your ideal day or make a vision board. All of these activities help you lay out what you would like to do in so much detail you can taste it.

But what if step one is incredibly far from the vision in your head – like comically far away? It can be overwhelming and create resistance toward even getting started down the path to achieving your goals. Where do you start? Here are a few steps to keep in mind.

1) Find your next step and focus on that

Life coach Mel Robbins in her Audible Original life coaching session Take Control of Your Life says achieving your goals is like making a bridge from your old life to your new life. We don’t build that bridge all at once, it’s a LEGO bridge and we build it brick by brick. Staying focused on each small brick keeps us heading in the right direction without getting overwhelmed.

First, look at the goal you want to achieve and decide what the next action step in that direction would be. Keep in mind, there’s no perfect answer to this. The important part is to start doing the work. If your big dream is learning modern dance, think about what the first step down that path would be. Then, put it on your to-do list. As you pick your next step, make it as specific and actionable as possible. Instead of “take a dance class,” your first step might be to look in the list of community education classes and see what is available. It might be as small as “watch dance videos” on YouTube for ten minutes a day. Focus on the part of the journey that is right in front of you. Put your head down and do the work.

2) Engage with the big vision

Another way to stay engaged with the work is to lay out your deeper purpose for this goal. If your goal is to learn how to paint beautiful pictures in acrylic, what is the deeper reason for that goal? Is it because you want to bring more beauty into the work? Do you want to connect with the people who will view your work? Is it to gift to people you love? Blogger Leo Babauta talks about the deeper why for our meaningful work. If you are feeling overwhelmed by how far away and big your goals are right now, he suggests connecting right now with that deeper why.

Each day, when you are taking those awkward first dance steps or while you are slogging through drafting your first novel, connect back with that larger intention. If you can engage with your deeper why regularly, it will help keep your motivation up for the journey.

3) Find stories of other people who have already done it

Seek out stories of other creatives who have already done the work. Read books about the journey or listen to podcasts on the creative process. Find local authors giving a talk at your local bookstore. Visit local art galleries or join a writing circle. One example of this type of book is The Artist’s Way or The War of Art. You can also visit the library and look for books about your specific creative pursuit. For example, seek out a book on writing fiction or the history of modern dance to immerse yourself in the creative path of those before you. By reading others’ stories, you can put your journey as one story among many people doing creative work. Most likely, you will see your struggles are a part of other’s journeys as well.

Whenever we work toward big goals in our life, we will meet challenges both from the outside world and from resistance inside ourselves. We need to balance dreaming big and taking small steps to achieve goals. Especially in creative pursuits, learning how to put your head down and do the work in front of you is key. Consistently building our bridge to our dreams brick by brick will get us closer every day.