Chunk It Down

This next article is part of an ongoing series here at TSB Magazine called The Success Principles. The series is based on the 64 principles laid out by Jack Canfield in his course of the same name. If youre new, I always suggest starting any series from the beginning.

Principle 8: Chunk It Down

In the previous lesson- the goal setting workshop– you should have decided what you really want and set measurable goals with specific deadlines. The first step to accomplishing your goal is to determine all of the individual action steps you’ll need to take.

It is easy to get overwhelmed by goals like “make a million dollars by certain date” or “find the girl of my dream in the next year.” That is why it is important to see them as a series of small tasks- and accomplish them one at a time.

I spoke in the previous lesson about how I taught myself Portuguese a few years ago. Initially when I set the goal, I immediately made the mistake of focusing on all the new vocabulary words I would need to learn, all the different verb conjugations,past/present tense… and the goal looked insurmountable. After reviewing my goal book, and rereading the benefits I would receive from learning Portuguese (mainly being able to communicate with Brazilian girls) I decided I need to focus on completing one lesson at a time. I had 90 CDs to go through. My new goal was simply to master three CDs a week. If I could master 3 CDs a week I would have finished all 90 in less than a year. My new, more immediate goal, was to simply finish 90 lessons without stopping.

It is important to keep in mind that at the beginning you won’t know shit! It is a process. No matter what you set out to achieve… by the time you get there, you’ll have learned what you needed to know if you stick with the plan you set out for yourself.

Running TSB Magazine I see a lot of guys get frustrated with their lack of progress in their dating life. Most of these guys are starting from scratch in their desire to improve their skill set. This means they need to overcome approach anxiety, learn to communicate with women, learn to flirt, learn how escalate conversations, master body language, build sexual tension… and more. It will not happen overnight!

I always recommend focusing on building one skill set at a time. For instance, if you’re still struggling with approach anxiety- you need to first focus on building that skill set. Your immediate goal would then be to simply practice cold approaching 10 girls a week. During these approaches it is not important to worry about any of the skill sets you still haven’t mastered. When a baby is learning to walk… he doesn’t get upset that he can’t ice skate.

No matter what your goal is it is important to break it down into the specific things you need to do or learn. Once you have really dissected your goal into all of its smaller parts, then you need to prioritize which things need to be taken care of first. For instance, before you save million dollars you need to open a bank account, talk with a financial adviser, and set up a weekly/monthly savings and investment plan.

Once you’ve prioritized all of the smaller goals you need to create daily to do lists. In Brian Tracy’s great book on overcoming procrastination Eat That Frog he advices goal setters to identify the one to five things you absolutely must accomplish on any given day, and then pick the one you absolutely must do first. He suggests you always accomplish the biggest thing first which makes the rest of your day that much easier.

Canfield recommends planning your day the night before.

If you plan your day the night before-making a to do list and spending a few minutes visualizing exactly how you want the day to go- your subconscious mind will work on these tasks all night long.

By creating your to do list the night before, you can start your day running. You know exactly what you’re going to do and in what order, and you’ve already pulled together any materials you need.

Since beginning to work from home a few months back I’ve found this advice quite useful. It helps me avoid wasting a good hour every morning, foggy headed, staring at a blank piece of paper trying to figure out where to start.

If you haven’t done the Goal Setting Workshop… do that first. And then begin to chunk your goals down.