Thinking Big

Article By: Karen Burns, Working Girl

Here’s a thought: Huge, exciting, challenging, unique goals are easier to attain than smaller, more ordinary goals.

First, there’s less competition for the fabulous goals, because most people think they have to be sensible and realistic.

Second, there’s more competition for the ordinary goals, for the same reason.

Third, a big goal fills you with energy because the potential payoff is big so you try harder. A mediocre goal produces mediocre effort.

So what are you waiting for? Think big, people. Here’re some other goal-attaining tips:

Make your goals specific, not general. “I want to live in San Francisco, work in the software industry, and buy my own condo” is a specific goal. “Gee, I’d like to live in a big city someday” is not specific.

Write your goals down. This will help you to make them specific. And help you to do the next step, which is:

Figure out your mini-goals. Mini-goals are all the things you need to do to get you to the big fabulous goal.

Figure out your daily goals. You should do something that moves you toward the big goal every single day. These daily goals need to be doable and unintimidating. Daily goals lead to mini-goals; mini-goals lead to the big kahuna.

Tell other people about your goal. This has two effects: (1) if people know what you’re going after, they might help you–probably will help you, because everyone likes and admires a dreamer, and (2) it will be harder to give up on your goal–think of the public humilation!

Think about what you might do when you’ve attained the Big Goal. Weirdly, there’s often a little letdown when you get something you’ve been chasing a long time. You should always be working toward a goal.

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.