How to Take the First Step on Your Goals

Hi, friend! We're so glad you’ve landed here at the Break It Down Week Series! Here’s Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5. 

You've got your goals—and you've checked that they're right for your season.

You've looked honestly at where you are now.

You've broken your big picture goals down into mini goals, and broken your mini goals into action steps. It's feeling so good! But, now what!?

Maybe you're afraid to take the first step. Perhaps you're fearful that your first step won't be perfect, and you'll fail.

Here's a dose of truth for you: IT DOESN'T NEED TO BE PERFECT.

Say it with me: your first step doesn't have to be perfect. Neither does your second step. Or third step. Imperfect progress is still progress, and all good things begin with one imperfect, small step!

Imagine how it will feel when you take that first step, embrace your seemingly imperfect start, choose the right goals for your season, break them down, and take action little by little? What if one step leads to another step and to another, until a few weeks or a few months from now, you're in a new place, having achieved something that truly matters to you?

How will that change your life? How will it change the life of the people you love?

You'll feel alive. You'll have bloomed right where you've been planted.

Here's the alternative: you leave your "perfect" goals sitting untouched in your PowerSheets®. Even if you don't take action on those goals, you're still committing to something—to staying the same.

Friends, the hardest part of getting started is getting started. Let's embrace a little Nike wisdom and just do it. If you have time to read this blog post, you have time to complete a two-minute action step! :) Don't overcomplicate this.

Yes, you can make imperfect progress on starting your goals, and still achieve your goals!

You do not have to do it all, or make perfect progress, or start flawlessly, or do more, or get it all done now, or have your goals perfectly formed by January 1.

It's never too late to start fresh.

It's okay to grow slow.

Little by little, change will happen.

Start today - right where you are.

More for you: If you're looking for action step inspiration, here are some of our favorite monthly goals and daily and weekly action steps in a few common goal categories. Use these ideas to brainstorm for your unique goals!

Nutrition
Faith
Fitness
Parenting
Relationships
Business
Finance
Career

Emily Thomas

Emily Thomas

Emily Thomas is Cultivate What Matters' Content Strategist and Writer. With over a decade at Cultivate, Emily loves helping women uncover what matters, set good goals, and live them out with joy. Her free time is spent with her high-school-sweetheart husband and three young kiddos.