What does parallel parking have to do with setting goals?

When I was learning how to parallel park for my driver’s test, I sincerely struggled with it, as most people do.  I lined up cones on the side of the street and tried a countless number of times, hitting the cones most of the time.  To me, the process looked like this:

1. Line up
2. ???
3. Car is magically parallel parked

The worst part was, I would get halfway in to the spot, and then realize I wasn’t going to make it without hitting the cones.  Nothing was working.  I got frustrated and eventually gave up.

The next morning, I was leaving for school, and I was parked on the street behind another car.  I was fairly close to it, so I cut my wheel all the way, pulled out until my car was clear, and then slowly began to turn my wheel back the other way.  Something clicked in my brain after I had pulled out.  I asked myself: “What if I just parallel parked the opposite way I just pulled out?”  So I visualized what I had just done to pull out, and then worked backwards.  Suddenly, the steps to parallel parking seemed so simple.  I pulled right back in to the same spot perfectly.

So what does working backwards have to do with goals?  Everything.  Think about a goal you’ve had for awhile.  It could be going to the gym, losing some weight, learning how to cook better, or even reading a book.  If you haven’t achieved your goal, it’s probably because it’s too big.

For example, one of my goals this month has been to read a book.  It sits on my dresser and looks at me every day, yet I’ve only picked it up once.  Reading this book is too big of a goal for me, and it creates a psychological barrier.  In my head, I say: “I’ll get to it later; I don’t want to start that project.”

Thinking of reading this book as a project is the problem.  At the time of writing this, I have the book sitting in front of me.  As it turns out, the book is about 300 pages.  That makes it pretty convenient since there’s 30 days in a month.  Working backwards, all I have to do is read 10 pages a day to finish this book exactly one month from today.

Here’s the strategy:

1. Identify the goal and the time frame you want to achieve it in
2. Break it down into small, equal pieces that add up to the goal in the time frame
3. Set a schedule for when to tackle each piece (this could be once a day, three times a week etc.)

You may think be thinking to yourself: “Well I already knew this!”  This is a fairly simple strategy for achieving any goal, but it’s often over-looked and under-valued in practice.

Almost all of us have had “getting fit” or “losing weight” as a goal at some point in our lives.  People feel like they have to go all in to achieve it.  I was talking to a friend about how he was having trouble getting started with going to the gym, and he said, “I know I didn’t go this week, but next week is the week!  I’m going to go to the gym every day next week!”  I responded with: “why don’t you start with working out just one day a week before trying to go for a whole week?”  He retorted with: “what’s the point of only going one day a week?”

It’s curious how people would rather dream about working out every day for weeks on end, than actually work out one day a week.

Stop dreaming about this goal you have; break it down, and chip away at it in small bites.

If you’re still having trouble completing these small pieces to your goal, try breaking it into even smaller pieces, even if it means taking longer to achieve.  It’s better to be achieving something rather than nothing.

PS: If you have a friend that can benefit from this insanely practical strategy, send them a link to it.  You’ll be helping me out, but more importantly, you’ll be helping your friend out.