Breaking Down a Large Goal into Manageable Chunks

large goal

“Everybody has their own Mount Everest they were put on this earth to climb.”

– Seth Godin

When I graduated high school, I set a goal for myself: to write a novel.  However, between moving to a new town, trying to find my place on a big campus, and my studies, it seemed an impossible task.  I would start a novel only to abandon it within a few weeks, and when I picked it back up again, I couldn’t remember what I wanted to write about.

It took me several years to figure out a system that helped me finish my goal.  I decided one day that I was going to write 3 pages every day, no matter what.  Breaking the daunting goal of writing a novel into this amount made it easier to tackle, and I finished a rough draft within a year.  I easily wrote the rough draft of another novel this same way.  I felt empowered by how I’d broken down this large goal into daily manageable chunks.

Since then, I have been meaning to revise the second novel into something I could send out to publishers.  But between starting a career, a divorce, and then starting a family with a new person, revising the novel fell by the wayside.  It would be too much work, I reasoned.  I don’t have the time.  And, most importantly, I didn’t have a system in place to make this mountain of work seem reasonable on a daily level.

But in the back of my mind, I knew this was one of those bucket list items I would regret if I didn’t do it.  I’m now a few months into revising the novel, and I feel like I have a system that allows me to make progress every day.  Here’s how I did it:

Step 1: Just Make Time

If you don’t have the time, it’s never going to happen.  So the first thing I did was make sure I had dedicated time during my week to write.  Since I just finished a major consulting project, I decided not to look for new projects so I could use this time to work on the novel instead.

Step 2: Explore Options for Finishing the Task

I had no idea how to approach revising my novel.  So instead of jumping straight into my rough draft, I read a book about the art of good storytelling.  This got me thinking about my story from a new perspective: what things in my story worked and what needed revisions.  From there, I made a list of things that I wanted to tackle to strengthen my story.  Having this list of actionable items, instead of just a vague idea that I wanted to make it better, made it much easier to break down the mountain of work ahead when I started re-reading my draft.

Step 3: Make Daily/Weekly Mini-Goals

If you don’t feel like you’re making progress in the short-term, you may give up your long-term goal.  I decided early on to outline 2 chapters of my novel every day.  This gave me a sense of purpose and moved me closer to my end goal.  Once finished, I collected my outline notes to define more tasks, such as rewriting scenes or modifying characters.  This gives me many more mini-goals to complete without feeling overwhelmed by the remaining workload.

Step 4: Give Yourself Free Time to Explore

If you are embarking on a creative endeavor, you will find yourself needing time that does not necessarily lead to concrete results.  For example, I set aside 15-20 minutes each writing session to free thinking about my novel without looking at my notes or reading the text.  This gives me a chance to explore ideas to strengthen my base novel.  I write ideas down quickly and get back to “meditative mode” for more ideas.  Sometimes these idea-generating sessions lead nowhere, but more often than not, I have an “ah-ha” moment that leads to more tasks.  Give yourself permission to have free time to explore your goal, even if it’s not always productive.

Step 5: Maintain Momentum or Return to Step 1

You will feel it once you’re in the groove and making progress towards your goal.  Do what you can to protect your time and keep moving forward.  When (not if) you get stuck, take a step back and assess how things are.  Are your mini-goals still working?  Is your free time completely unproductive?  There comes a time in the process where you may have to try a different approach to get back on track with your original goal.

It may take me a while, but I’m going to revise this novel.  Share your stories of tackling a monumental life goal below.

13 thoughts on “Breaking Down a Large Goal into Manageable Chunks”

  1. This is just what I needed. Recently, have been giving up on goals because I did not break them down so as to appreciate the progress I make each step of the way. So I would often decide, since I’m not achieving the bigger goal, I might as well quit. Now, I guess I will try turning every major goal into a number of mini-goals.

    Thanks for sharing your insight Deborah!

    1. It’s been a bit of a process for me too. I’ve started and stopped a couple of times. I’m still working out the kinks, but looking back at 3 months worth of work, I feel proud that I’m inching my way toward my goal! Good luck to you, Nelu!

  2. The momentum piece is huge for me personally in my business ventures. I feel like a lot of people completely underestimate the amount of effort that goes into a large goal.

    Can you explain the free time part a bit better? Confused how you would maintain momentum while sliding in free time.

    1. This may not be true for all large goals, but part of my creative writing process is to have some time just to “think.” In my case, I set aside about 15 minutes each 90-minute writing session where I don’t write anything. Instead, I think of a problem I have to tackle (such as a plot point or character development), put on some music, and just let myself think about it. This has led me into some insights into my novel I wouldn’t discover if I simply sat at my computer and started typing (which is what I normally do with the other 75 minutes of each writing session).

      Having a little bit of time to be creative has been helpful to me in past management jobs too. I’ve worked at companies that allow a half day a week for teams to work on personal projects related to work but not their main task. I find this “free time” to be very good for generating new ideas.

    2. Hey Jon,

      Another way I have found to help with this is mediation. I started meditating for just 10 minutes every morning and it was incredible the change it made to my thinking throughout the day. I found that taking this short amount of time to focus my mind helped it to become fair more acute.

      In terms of my goals, i was able to navigate a more successful path to achieving them.

      I hope this helps

      Tash

  3. I just finished reading Just F***kin Ship – a great book about breaking down projects and making it happen – then making it happen better next time. I think the universe is telling me something…

  4. These are fantastic tips. I especially love #4. I’m trying so hard to get back into a writing habit and I feel guilty about what little time I do have spent on “daydreaming.” I needed to be reminded that I have permission to do so! Thanks.

    1. I wrote a rough draft of the novel I’m working on several years ago. I’ve actually just spend a few months more “thinking” than “creating.” I’ve outlined stronger characters, revised plot points, and fleshed out my world. I just finished a new outline for revision this week, and it is much better than the original. I can’t wait to start actually writing now this week!

  5. Pingback: Tips for Keeping Those New Year's Resolutions Past January - The Healthy Voyager

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *