How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time! You achieve your goals the same way, one step at a time until you reach your goal.

We've all been in this situation: staring at a daunting task and feeling paralyzed. It's understandable, but it doesn't have to be the case! So often, people (myself included) sit and stare at a problem like cleaning off a desk. The thought of all the work that needs doing to remove the piles is overwhelming and seems to induce a paralytic state. So you sit, staring at the piles, and there they still sit.

Achieve your goals by tackling one thing at a time

It's easy to get discouraged when you look back on all those projects that were never finished, or what you need to do in your space. But just because there are plenty more tasks left doesn't mean we can't take care of today-right now- with whatever time we have--and then go from there. But just because there are tasks waiting in the wings, that doesn't mean we can't take care of The trick is having faith in yourself: believing that despite feeling overwhelmed, eventually, everything will come together…just keep taking one day at a time until tomorrow

Don't let past failures define you

We all have things we have failed to do. Frank Garon, internet guru and philosopher, writes:

“Last summer, I went to the gym 3-4 times a week and worked out like a fiend. I was in the best shape of my life, and I knew it. But then I got busy, and have only been one time in the past 7 months. Now, I could obsess about that, or I can just chill the freak out and go to the gym tomorrow and do something about it.

I have things I’ve needed to do for months still sitting on my desk. I can stop looking at this pile and DO something about it. I can pop in my Guy Finley and John Di Lemme CDs and give myself an instant boost. In short, I can either cry about something or I can fix it.”

Looking at what needed to get done, Frank had two options, continue to stress over how much still needed to get done or to make a plan to do something about it. He chose the latter. His plan was to put on music that motivated him and tackle the pile that had been plaguing him.

What would motivate you? If you are in a slump, a place where it seems things are too overwhelming, what helps you to get out of it? Think about what you have done in the past to overcome this obstacle.

Smaller tasks lead to success

It’s very difficult to cut down a tree with just one blow of your ax. You have to work at it, whittle away bit by bit until you finally break through the surface and into its heart where all that mighty resistance was hiding. Tackling your goals is often the same. You will likely need to create a goal and work at it, little by little, day by day before you achieve your end result.

For instance, if your problem is debt, chip away at your debts little by little. We were facing a mountain of credit card debt, again. Paying the minimum payments was just putting money into the pockets of the credit card companies, with no end to the debt insight.

So we came up with a plan. We came up with a little extra money to pay down the smallest cards first. Within a few months, we had a few little cards paid off. Then the money from those payments went to bigger cards. So we had a bigger pile of money towards the next cards. As we paid off those debts, the even bigger pile of money went to bigger cards. We still have debt, but we also have a plan and a light at the end of the tunnel. In the next three years, we will be completely out of debt.

When we first looked at the huge number of credit cards that we were paying off, it looked insurmountable. But breaking it into smaller pieces and coming up with a plan made it achievable. And every card that gets paid off is another small victory.

Outsourcing can help you achieve your goals.

I cannot tell you how many times I've walked around a craft fair, seen something cute and thought to myself, "I could totally make that!" Do you want to know how many times I have actually made anything I saw at a craft fair? Exactly zero, zero times. It's not the ability, I have the skills to do it, it's the time and materials that tend to get in my way.

Sometimes, it's more cost-efficient to hire someone to do a task than to do it yourself. Before Covid hit, we had a cleaning person come to the house every other week. I have the know-how to clean my house, but I was lacking the time, especially when I was working two jobs. That $85 was some of the best money I ever spent. It took a task I hated off my plate and gave me time to devote to another task that was going to make me more money than I was paying out.

The principle of leverage is getting someone else to do your work for you for money. This applies in a big way on the internet. The whole affiliate system is based on rewarding others for doing your marketing for you. Network marketing is also based on leverage.

Another option is to pay someone not only to work for you but to teach you. For instance, you could pay your web designer to work on your websites and to teach you how they do what they do. If it's a task that you know you could do but just don't know how to do yet, this is especially useful.