There is no such thing as being an “overnight success.” To be successful in any major endeavor requires time. And persistence. In fact, every highly successful person will tell you a story about the years (and sometimes decades) of work behind their achievements. And they’ll tell you about the importance of the small steps that they took along the way to achieve their goals.
Realize that in order to become great at anything, you have to work at honing your skills. And you have to engage in a lot of trial and error. In short, the key to success is not to try to “get lucky” quickly. Rather, the key is to take those consistent small steps necessary to achieve your goal.
Sadly, the reason why most people don’t achieve what they want in life is that they aren’t willing to take those necessary small steps. Instead, if they can’t have success today, then it seems like too much effort! That is why great success belongs to only a small few.
So, don’t try to fast track your success. Instead, be patient. Be persistent. And be willing to take those small steps necessary to achieve your goals.
Below are the ways that small steps can benefit you in any endeavor. Use those small steps to get from where you are today to where you ultimately want to be!
Use Small Steps to Prevent Big Mistakes
Many years ago, I knew some folks who wanted to have a vacation house rental business. So, they bought a bunch of vacation houses and figured that the money would just come rolling in. They’d done no prior research on the market. And they knew next to nothing about maintaining and renting vacation homes. In short, they failed to take those small, but necessary steps, for success.
Well, you can guess what happened next. Their vacation home venture was a disaster. No one rented the houses, and eventually the bank foreclosed on their loans for the homes.
Small steps are your insurance policy against failure. They allow you to lay the groundwork for success.
We all see highly successful people, and we think, “Wow! That person just seized the bull by the horns. They saw an opportunity and jumped on it.” That may be true, but that highly successful person also did a lot of research. They involved themselves in every last detail of their project. In short, they took a thousand small steps to prevent the obvious (and not-so-obvious) mistakes that lead to failure.
Small Steps Will Keep You Motivated with Small Victories
The road to success is not a short one. Highly successful people take years (sometimes decades) to get to the top of their fields. By taking daily small steps toward your goals, you’ll have lots of mini-victories along the way to keep you motivated on your journey.
A simple example would be having the goal of losing 20 pounds. That is a big goal and losing 20 pounds is no small matter. That is not a goal that you can achieve overnight. So, if you’ll only be happy when you lose the weight, you’ll get discouraged.
Instead, consider weight loss to be a journey. And each small step toward the finish line should be celebrated! For instance, if you have a mini-goal of working out five days a week, then it is a victory when you reach that goal. Similarly, if you decide to give up chips and soda to accelerate your weight loss, then it is a victory if you abstain from chips and soda for two weeks.
When you take small steps to achieve your goals, you get to enjoy those wonderful small victories that will keep you motivated.
By Taking Small Steps, You Develop Your Expertise
The key to success is to become an expert in a specific area. Every highly successful person has found their niche and has worked to become an expert in that in that niche.
But no one becomes an expert in anything overnight. Developing an expertise takes time and discipline. And taking small steps toward your big goal will help you to develop that expertise.
For instance, let’s say that you want to become a pianist. That doesn’t happen by taking a couple of piano lessons. Becoming a good piano player involves taking daily small steps toward your goal. It involves daily practice and weekly lessons. And it involves listening to other top notch piano players to study their musical interpretation and technique.
With each small step, you begin to develop your expertise in your chosen field. And after some time, you’ll find that you have become an expert in an area in which you once were a novice!
Taking Small Steps Creates a Process for the Next Big Goal
There is no one roadmap for success. Every highly successful person has approached their goals differently. They have approached their goals in ways that suit their unique personalities.
The value of taking small steps is that once you reach that first big goal, you now have a process for your next goal. The small steps that helped you succeed in one area will help you succeed in your next endeavor.
For example, let’s say that you started a successful business selling artwork on Etsy. You now want to open up a bricks and mortar shop. The same small steps that you used to sell goods on Etsy can be applied to your shop. You’ll follow the same process of creating goods, doing research, and marketing. And you’ll apply your same customer service techniques so folks keep coming back.
By taking small steps, you create your own personal blueprint for success in any endeavor. For instance, those small steps can help you learn what habits you need to be successful. So, when you are in success mode, you may need to get up every day at 5 a.m. because you are your most creative in the morning. Or you may have to schedule every hour of your day to stay on task. Those great habits that earned you success in one area undoubtedly will earn you success in another area.
This week, consider what small steps you need to take to achieve your goals. Don’t discount their value! Every small step is not only getting you closer to your goal, but each step is giving you the blueprint for success in any endeavor. (To read about the 5 steps necessary to make your goal a reality, click here.) (To read about the power of taking responsibility, click here.)
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