Small Goals, Big Results: The Power of Setting Daily Goals

Setting daily, small goals is a powerful way to accomplish any Big Goal.  That is because Big Goals are achieved when we make small bits of progress toward those goals on a regular basis.  As a result, setting daily goals is a powerful approach to accomplish anything that you want in life.

For example, I’m an amateur musician.  Over the years, I’ve studied classical singing, flute and piano.  And every so often, I say to myself, “If I’d just committed to practicing 15-20 minutes every day in any one of those things over the last 20 years, how far along would I be in my musical skills?”  Pretty darn far.

Realize that it doesn’t take much daily effort to move your goals forward.  But it does take daily effort.  In fact, there isn’t any skill that you can’t improve with daily effort over an extended period of time.  The key is to make that daily commitment.

If you are seeking to achieve certain goals in your life, follow the approaches below.  Learn how to set daily, small goals.  Start today!  There’s no time like the present to commit to daily goals to achieve your desired Big Goals.

First Identify the Tasks That You Need to Accomplish

There’s a saying that goes, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.”  That simply means Big Goals aren’t accomplished overnight.  Rather, Rome was built brick by brick.  Your bricks are your daily tasks, and each day, you need to identify a couple of tasks to do in furtherance of your Big Goals.

I always have a couple of Big Goals that I’m working toward.  For instance, right now I’m working on my French and Spanish language skills.  I’m also trying to improve my piano playing.  And I’m trying to grow the “Create A Great Life” website. 

As a result, every day, I select some small tasks that I can accomplish to move those goals forward.  For my language learning, that typically involves doing some lessons on Duolingo or watching a show in either French or Spanish.  I’ll also try to sit down at the piano to play a couple of pieces each day.  And I start every day by doing some writing for the website. 

Now because I have a busy schedule, I can’t devote my entire day to any one of my Big Goals.  But by doing small, daily tasks, I am incrementally moving each goal forward, day by day and week by week. 

So, if you have some Big Goals that you are trying to achieve, identify the daily tasks that you can do in furtherance of those goals.  Your daily tasks don’t have to be anything grand.  What’s more important is that you do at least one thing each day to move toward accomplishing those goals.

Set Specific Daily Goals

Your daily goals should not be vague.  For instance, if you goal is to become healthier, your daily goal shouldn’t be to simply “exercise.”  Rather, you want to set a specific goal.  So, your goal may be to walk for 30 minutes a day or to do a 45-minute exercise video every morning.

By setting specific daily goals, you put those goals at the forefront of your mind.  For instance, my husband and I like to stay healthy.  So, we have specific goals for how many calories we want to burn and how many minutes we want to exercise each day. And we use a health app on our phones and watches to track both.  Then at dinnertime, we compare our progress for the day!

So, don’t just set vague daily goals.  Those types of goals aren’t motivating.  Instead, set specific daily goals, and enjoy how good it feels to achieve them each day!

Make Your Daily Goals Achievable

Your daily goals should be easily achievable. If you set goals that are unrealistic, you’ll become discouraged and give up.

For instance, as I mentioned, I have a Big Goal of growing this blog.  And from time to time, I read advice from writers who have highly successful blogs.  Their consistent recommendation is that in order to have a successful blog, you have to publish blog posts 3-4 times per week.

However, publishing a blog post every day, or even every other day, isn’t a realistic goal for me.  That’s because I think a lot about every person who reads “Create A Great Life.”  And I want to only write blog posts that truly inspire, encourage and help every reader.  I simply can’t churn out blog posts that accomplish that on a daily basis.  Blog posts like those take some thought! 

So instead, my daily goal is to write for a certain period of time every morning.  In fact, before I’ve even made my coffee, I sit down and start writing.  And that writing goal is achievable!  I don’t have a goal to write a specific number of pages.  Rather, I simply have the goal of writing for a certain period of time every morning, which makes that goal “specific” and “achievable!”

So, if you are seeking to accomplish Big Goals, set daily goals that are achievable.  And don’t worry if your daily goals are small.  As long as you are doing something (even something small) every day in furtherance of your goal, you will accomplish it!

Track Your Progress

The fun part of setting daily goals is tracking your progress!   Recognizing that you are making progress each day toward a Big Goal feels great.  It gives you a sense of purpose for the day like nothing else.

So, if you are setting daily goals, make sure that you track your progress each day and each week.  You can do that in a notebook or on a spreadsheet.  Or, with modern technology, you can easily keep track of your progress for many goals on your phone or computer.

As I mentioned above, my husband and I keep track of our fitness goals on our phones.  We are “Apple” people, and we both wear an Apple watch and have iPhones.  So, a big part of the fun of our daily fitness goals is checking our health app at the end of the day to see if we’ve achieved our calorie, exercise and “stand time” goals. 

The key is to make sure to acknowledge whenever you hit one of your daily goals.  Because daily goals aren’t merely “habits.”  They are achievements!  They are “wins” that you make happen every single day.  So, be sure to keep track of them.

Celebrate Your Big and Small Accomplishments

We don’t often have big accomplishments in life.  That is because our big accomplishments take time!  They are the result of our meeting our smaller goals, day after day, week after week.  So, if you only celebrate when you have big accomplishments, you’ll get discouraged.  You have to celebrate meeting your smaller daily and weekly goals to stay motivated.

For instance, I’m studying both French and Spanish.  Now, if I waited until I achieved a high level of proficiency in each language to celebrate my efforts, I’d be waiting a very long time!  So, instead, I give myself a pat on the back if I travel to a French-speaking or Spanish-speaking country, and I’m able to converse with the locals.  I also feel good if I’m able to watch a show in either French or Spanish and understand some of it.

The good news is that if you’re diligent in meeting your daily goals, you’ll have lots of opportunities to celebrate!   Small, daily efforts pay off.  When you practice a skill or work toward a goal on a daily basis, you can’t help but make progress.  For example, if you exercise every day, and make healthy food choices, you will become healthier and more fit. 

So, as you keep meeting those small daily goals, celebrate anytime you see improvement.  By recognizing and celebrating your smaller achievements, you’ll stay sufficiently motivated to reach your Big Goal.

If you have Big Goals that you want to accomplish, recognize the power of setting small, daily goals.  Your small, daily goals are the key to achieving anything that you want in life! (To read about how to stay motivated to achieve your goals, click here.) (If you would like to read about how to develop your focus and self-discipline, click here.)