Everyone wants to make a difference in their lives, whether it is to learn a new skill or earn money or get a better job or gain more happiness or get a bigger house or become more healthy. That desire to change is what we call a goal. When we think about goal setting, it looks like a marvelous journey before our eyes, which is tiring, stressful, exhausting even sometimes impossible. The Goals seem at the peak of a mountain that we fear and hesitate to perceive them. Imagine someone dreams of running in the marathon even when he is in a shape where he finds it challenging to walk a mile a day. However, here is a rule to apply, which is 1% better.
“You cannot change your destination overnight, but you can change your direction overnight”
-Jim Rohn.
If one cannot achieve 100%, he can go for 1% a day. This Kaizen’s approach is a way better than try all in one go. Like we eat a cup of ice cream spoon by spoon, not all at once.
Mostly, when people try to make significant changes at once, they fail. An effective way is that try Kaizen’s approach every day. Maybe you will not face substantial improvements, but you will gain experience, and that experience will provide an opportunity to lead you towards your goal.
Here is one of my favorite quotes,
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
-Lao-Tzu.
It is a smart piece of advice one can get in the journey towards his goals. Take the first step and make small changes daily that will leads toward a more significant change.
If we look from a different perspective, the goal is not a process but a result. My goal is to buy a big house. That is the achievement at the end of the journey. The important part is not what you will achieve; the critical part is how you will make it. That is the change in what you are, how you act, and what you value.
My first step:
I took my first step by dividing my goals into more straightforward tasks that will be my 1% this week. I focused on two goals for now and made five tasks for the week.
My goal is to set a healthy routine in both physical and moral aspects. I tried it a few times before but failed as I wanted significant change at once. So this time, I took the initiative by the daily tasks given here.
Start Morning Exercise:
For that, I started giving from 10 minutes and added three minutes every next day. It was a challenge as I experienced severe body pain for initial days, but I know once I got used to it, I will feel more active throughout the day and get to experience something more prominent as time passes.
- Make my day more productive:
I tried to make my day more productive by practicing politeness in my behavior by adding some simple acts of kindness and praying five times a day for a week.
- Eating Healthy Food:
Eating healthy and avoiding junk food is an essential part of a healthy routine. I avoided all the junky food I’m addicted to and eat three balanced diet meals a day. It was a bit easier as there was not a chance to go outside due to the COVID-19.
I experienced some minor difficulties as the changes are not easy to make, but the experience was way better than the past, and I intend to emerge these acts in my daily routine.
One of the goals is to take admission in MS degree of my choice. For that, I made two initials this week.
- Apply for admission:
I applied for admission despite the fear of failure as I was in a lack of time for preparation.
- Joined Study Groups:
I made some time and started preparing for the entrance test. For that purpose, I started revising previous subjects and also joined study groups for help. For that purpose, I had to pause my Content writing and Marketing course, which I will resume after the test, which is going to conduct in a few days. I hope to get a good result. If by chance, I fail the test, I will apply for another university and will work harder.
This experience made me realize that it doesn’t take much effort if you split your journey into small pieces. That was the practice of the very first value we were thought in Amal that was,
Just start and let the world teach you.
So, have you taken a step closer to your goal? If not…. go for it right now.
#justsart.