Improving Your Life: Incremental Changes One Step At A Time

Do you have a plan for improving your life? Positive change takes a concerted effort and a definite plan. However, we can often overwhelm ourselves by trying to tackle too much change all at once.

The key to successful self-improvement is to focus on incremental changes one step at a time.

The trap we fall into when planning life changes

You have probably heard it asked, “Where do you want to be a year from now?” I think that a year is often too long of a horizon to consider. Having a long-term vision can be useful, but it can also be equally daunting.

There are a few problems with focusing on a whole year or more when planning to improve your life. Here are some things that I struggle with:

• Evolving priorities – Over the course of a year, many things can happen to change one’s priorities. When priorities change, goals often change. I have a hard time discounting this when trying to look out over an entire year.
• External factors – Happenings outside of my control may influence my ability to accomplish what I want to do. For instance, a person might not have seen the recession coming a year in advance. External influences can’t always be factored in or predicted.
• Making goals realistic – I have a hard time determining what is realistic a year from now. I wonder if I’m setting my goals for improvement too large or too small. This often leaves me in a quandary instead of with clarity and focus.
• Hard to measure progress – A goal that won’t be reached for a year is hard to measure because the progress is often small. This usually leaves me disillusioned and uninspired. Basically, I lose interest.

A better plan for improving your life that works

I think we need to break down our planning horizon to a much shorter timeframe. I would suggest approaching your goals as follows:

1. Set monthly or quarterly objectives – Break down where you want to be a year from now into smaller, more manageable chunks. For instance, if you want to lose 20 pounds this year, then make one of your objectives to lose 5 pounds by the end of March. Reaching these milestones will give you a sense of accomplishment and help you to stay on track.
2. Define your strategy – Write down the specific strategy that you plan to use to accomplish your goal. It is so easy to stray off course. Writing out your strategy and referring to it often will keep you headed down the right path.
3. Refine your target quarterly – Based on your progress, evolving priorities and external factors, refine your annual goal at the end of each quarter. This helps keep your goals realistic. If you are ahead of your plan, then you can adjust your goal to push yourself even further!
4. Reward yourself – As you succeed at accomplishing your monthly or quarterly objectives, reward yourself. Celebrating your victories is an important step in maintaining your motivation. Be careful to avoid rewards that are counterproductive to the overall goal!

Incremental changes make it easier to improve your life!

I use this basic approach to tackle just about all the projects in my life. A solid plan will keep you on track and ensure that you meet your annual goals! It is so much easier when you break it down into manageable chunks instead of trying to stay focused and motivated for the whole year.

Was this helpful to you? If so, please leave me a comment and let me know!

Photo from PhotoXpress.com

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