Sometimes when we think about life on our own terms, it’s hard to see how to achieve something that bigg. Want to know how we respond to that?

We say, “Don’t try!”

Before you click away, give us just a second to explain. What we mean is …

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Don’t try for the bigg goal all at once. Break it up into little actions. Give yourself a due date for completing each action. Suddenly that bigg goal isn’t so bigg at all. You advance toward it action by action. Those little actions are milestones. You can think of the period of time between due dates for your milestones as terms.

Vision to Victory

We introduced this subject last time when we talked about how to ramp up your savings, but we left out something really important. You must have a clear vision of bigg success in your mind. What exactly does life on your own terms look like?

Then, as you map out the actions required to get there, it’s crucial that each action build upon the previous action. “Success breeds success,” as the saying goes.

So when you succeed with one action, you’re more likely to succeed with the next. It’s all about momentum.

Momentum is a precious thing

Once you get momentum, you want to do everything you can to keep it because it works both ways. We think of an interview with an excited football player whose team had just won a bigg game. He described their victory by saying:

“We had the momodum, but then we lost the momodum. Fortunately, we were able to get the momodum back!”

He may have been too excited to get the word “momentum” right, but he certainly understood what it was all about. It’s something we see all the time in sports.

It doesn’t just happen on the playing field. We think it’s particularly important to understand this right now. Things haven’t been going the way a lot of people would like lately. We just have to work all the harder to get the momentum (or should we say “momodum”) back.

Life may throw you something unexpected. That’s part of the price of bigg success. That’s okay. You know you can do it. You know you will win. In those moments when things don’t go your way, don’t get discouraged. Overcome your fear. And charge back.

Get momentum working for you again because success does breed success. Build a cumulative advantage to turn success into bigg success.

Build success into bigg success

You do that by staying hungry. We’ve said before that bigg goal-getters are usually happy, but never content. That’s one of the secrets to building on your success.

Another secret is to understand the fine line between confidence and cockiness. Stay humble, but be proud of what you’ve accomplished.

Perhaps most important, stay focused to gain a cumulative advantage. Make sure your milestones work together so you get where you want to be as fast as you can get there. Then focus exclusively on reaching your next milestone.

If you’ve done everything you can today to get to that next milestone, then you are living your life on your own terms right now. You may not have reached your destination, but you’re well on your way to bigg success!

How do you stay focused on what you need to accomplish today?

Share that with us by leaving a comment below, calling us at 888.455.BIGG or sending us an e-mail at bigginfo@biggsuccess.com.

Thanks so much for spending your time with us today!

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Next time, we’ll talk about when your definition of success changes. Please join us!

Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. 

Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed.

Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file:
http://media.libsyn.com/media/biggsuccess/00372-041409.mp3

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(Image in today's post by cobrasoft)

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One of the challenges we face is getting started. You’ve talked about inertia – we tend to remain inanimate unless we really push ourselves. One of your quotes that I love is that we need “leadership over laissez-faire.”

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There’s the old phrase that the only person who likes change is a wet baby. I see that every single day. It is so important. Newton had it right – objects at rest tend to remain at rest; objects in motion tend to remain in motion. I find that if I can get someone in motion, making the smallest step, the next step becomes all the easier. There is something about momentum and forward movement that builds on itself. Unfortunately, inertia builds on itself too. We can become really sedentary in our lives in a variety of ways – both physically and mentally. That’s part of the reason I write the column. Sometimes when I write, I picture myself giving that stone just a little bit of a push downhill. If I can get it to roll a quarter of a rotation, maybe it will start to roll a little bit further. That’s something we need to do in our own life and also cultivate in others.

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Leaders are admired for their ability to keep pushing, taking all the steps necessary to keep progressing toward goals. Does your knowledge in this area stem from a time when you didn’t push yourself enough?

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I have to admit that I face this problem every day. I think we all do. There are days when we just want to sit down and do nothing. We just want the world to go spinning around us and not have to worry about whether we have groceries in the house or if that check has come in from that client. It just gets a little overwhelming to us. I grew up in a very small town – a rural town – in Ohio of about 2,000 people. Frankly, in a town that small, there’s a lot of inertia. There’s not a lot of push to go on. I found out very early, though, that I get bored very easily. If I don’t have a constant set of stimulus coming in, I can very easily settle down and just let the world go by me. So as part of learning about myself, I realized I have to have a new book to read, something new to watch, a new place to go to, a new area to go for a walk. I have to constantly have that new input so that I can continue to create the output that I do create such as my column, my podcast, and the other stuff that I do.

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That’s a great way of looking at it. Look at the inputs – the actions that you take – and then the results will come at some point.

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That comes from an artist coach that I had become friends with many years ago. I worked at Walt Disney Imagineering for five years as an IT professional in the computer department. One of the biggest perks I got at that job was that I had access to all of the art coaches that all the creative people did. One of the things we discussed was that you cannot output art or other great things in life unless you have enough input coming in. Those are the raw materials that you use for your creation. I really took that to heart and have lived that particular philosophy for a long time now.

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And if you can’t afford a coach, find that friend who may be a little bit ahead of you in life or in their career. I have a friend who I meet for coffee. We would always say we needed to get together more often, but it never happened because we didn’t make it happen. So we finally said that we would meet at a particular time every month. That’s what made the difference – getting it pre-planned.

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I started a whole new event here in Los Angeles specifically for that reason. It’s LA Friday Coffee. It is coffee and casual conversation between work and dinner. We meet at various coffee places all around the city. But at its essence, that is my attempt to get myself out on a Friday night to meet and talk to people that I don’t see often enough.

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And boy you just can’t beat coffee!

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Unless it’s a martini!

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Anyone who follows my Twitter stream knows that I’m into coffee!

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We have to be, doing what we do. Right?

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It’s weird. I’m a geek in all things. When I find a new interest, I geek out on it as much as I geek out on technology or anything else I’m interested in. So I’ve read up on roasting coffee, how to make coffee, and the perfect espresso shot. My wife’s family is Sicilian and we’ve been to Sicily so I’ve tasted real coffee. That whole geekness kind of filters into my whole life as well.

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I’ll bet you make a mean cup of coffee though. When will it be ready? We’re on our way!

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Thanks Douglas for sharing your thoughts with us. He has started a free online resource called Career Camp where members of his community can share their expertise. We highly recommend it to you!

And thank you for taking time to read our post today. Until next time, here’s to your bigg success!

Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. 

Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed.

Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file:
http://media.libsyn.com/media/biggsuccess/00333-021809.mp3

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Bigg Advice:
Don’t feel alone on this one, Dan. A lot of people face this problem or a similar one. It can be daunting, wondering how you’ll ever get it all done.

3 tips to help you get started on your next project

#1 – Break it down.
Don’t look at it as one bigg project. See it as a series of small ones. These small mini-projects won’t look so overwhelming. You can complete them relatively quickly and easily.

#2 – Just get started.
Start with something that plays to your strengths or that you think is easy. For example, look over the project and see what tasks require input from someone else. Then reach out to those people.

It’s relatively easy to do – just make a phone call or send an e-mail – and it gets the ball rolling.

Starting with the easy stuff gets the momentum going your way. As you check things off, you’ll feel good about the progress.

Then consider diving into those things that seem difficult. By front-loading, you’ll know that you’ll have it made as the project nears its completion.

#3 – Don’t overload your day.
You have a deadline for the whole project. In Point 1, you broke it down into mini-projects. Plan it out so each mini-project has its own deadline.

By doing this, the project won’t consume you. So you’ll look forward to it more, and you’ll be more likely to dive in each day and keep going.

Give yourself some fudge – time to react, to do things that are more fun, to have some downtime, and to work on something else.

Putting the puzzle together
Here’s an analogy to help simplify this process. Think of putting together a jigsaw puzzle. You have all the pieces on the table in front of you. It’s a mess! So where do you start?

Look for the corner pieces! They’re the easiest to find.

Then look for all the border pieces and put them together. You’ll have the framework in place for the rest of the puzzle.

Now, you can start working on the inside. With the picture of the completed puzzle in front of you, start finding pieces that fit into the border pieces and match each other. Keep going until you’re done.

Create a picture of your completed project in your mind. Then put the framework in place and fill it in. The next thing you know, your project will be done!

Thanks, Dan, for sharing your bigg challenge with us!

What's your bigg challenge, send it our way – bigginfo@biggsuccess.com

Our bigg quote today is by Calvin Coolidge, who said:

So to get started, don’t focus on everything, just work on something.

Next time, we’ll discuss why it pays to be late for work. Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed.

Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. 

Related posts  

Don’t Put Off Taking This Test

Success In One Week

Climbing The Stairway To Success

Change Your Scenery For A Change 

More Bigg Challenges 

(Image by dijani)

Bigg Advice:
Don’t feel alone on this one, Dan. A lot of people face this problem or a similar one. It can be daunting, wondering how you’ll ever get it all done.

3 tips to help you get started on your next project

#1 – Break it down.
Don’t look at it as one bigg project. See it as a series of small ones. These small mini-projects won’t look so overwhelming. You can complete them relatively quickly and easily.

#2 – Just get started.
Start with something that plays to your strengths or that you think is easy. For example, look over the project and see what tasks require input from someone else. Then reach out to those people.

It’s relatively easy to do – just make a phone call or send an e-mail – and it gets the ball rolling.

Starting with the easy stuff gets the momentum going your way. As you check things off, you’ll feel good about the progress.

Then consider diving into those things that seem difficult. By front-loading, you’ll know that you’ll have it made as the project nears its completion.

#3 – Don’t overload your day.
You have a deadline for the whole project. In Point 1, you broke it down into mini-projects. Plan it out so each mini-project has its own deadline.

By doing this, the project won’t consume you. So you’ll look forward to it more, and you’ll be more likely to dive in each day and keep going.

Give yourself some fudge – time to react, to do things that are more fun, to have some downtime, and to work on something else.

Putting the puzzle together
Here’s an analogy to help simplify this process. Think of putting together a jigsaw puzzle. You have all the pieces on the table in front of you. It’s a mess! So where do you start?

Look for the corner pieces! They’re the easiest to find.

Then look for all the border pieces and put them together. You’ll have the framework in place for the rest of the puzzle.

Now, you can start working on the inside. With the picture of the completed puzzle in front of you, start finding pieces that fit into the border pieces and match each other. Keep going until you’re done.

Create a picture of your completed project in your mind. Then put the framework in place and fill it in. The next thing you know, your project will be done!

Thanks, Dan, for sharing your bigg challenge with us!

What's your bigg challenge, send it our way – bigginfo@biggsuccess.com

Our bigg quote today is by Calvin Coolidge, who said:

So to get started, don’t focus on everything, just work on something.

Next time, we’ll discuss why it pays to be late for work. Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed.

Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. 

Related posts  

Don’t Put Off Taking This Test

Success In One Week

Climbing The Stairway To Success

Change Your Scenery For A Change 

More Bigg Challenges 

(Image by dijani)

Episode 7 begins with Ozzy, one of the tribe members, angry because Tracy, another tribe member, wants to kill their chickens. Ozzy likes the eggs because they are renewable. Tracy thinks the protein from the whole chicken is needed now by many of the tribe members.

Today, we want to talk about the chicken and the egg strategy – a lot of people choke their chicken, and then they don’t get any eggs – by looking at three situations where people choke their chicken.

#1 – Playing less risky
With March Madness winding down here in the States, we had to include an example that applies to sports and to business.

You’ll see a team get momentum. Then they relax, get less aggressive, start playing to NOT lose, and stop taking risks that gave them the momentum.

They choke their chicken! Then they don’t get any more eggs.

When you get momentum, keep pushing in order to win.

#2 – Not acting out
There are certain activities that make us successful. Let’s look at sales people for an example. They may send out e-mails or letters, make phone calls to existing clients and prospects, attend networking events, and work their contacts.

At first, they’re hungry. They need the sale. As time goes by, they start achieving a level of success. Then they get content, lackadaisical, perhaps even arrogant or cocky. They stop doing the very things that made them a success.

They choke their chicken! Now they don’t get any eggs.

When you start achieving some level of success, build upon the thing that made you successful in the first place so you get to the next level, rather than taking a step backward.

#3 – Money matters
A person saves money (chicken). That money makes money (eggs). They start seeing their savings grow. Then they get tempted …

They choke their chicken!

They’re doing so well that they think the chicken doesn’t matter. But now they don’t have a chicken. So they don’t get any eggs. They’ve spent their savings so it doesn’t earn any interest.

If you want to build a nest egg, don’t touch your principal and keep reinvesting your money. When you do that, your money makes money so you’ll eventually be free to spend your time however you want.

Our bigg quote today is an Ashanti proverb:

So don’t choke your chicken until you don’t need any more eggs!

Next time, we’ll discuss how to relax during a job interview. Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. 

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(Image by adobemac,CC 2.0)