Turning Goals into actions

Lately it seems I’ve been unable to cross anything off my long list of to do items.  It’s discouraging when I feel like I’m moving and doing as fast as I can, yet I have no finished projects to show for it.  The problem is I’m focused solely on the goal, the final destination, instead of the actions, which are individual steps, to get there. I have a goal to write a short story each month. Because this is an ongoing aspiration, I’ll never be able to cross it off my list. Instead I should keep track of the actions required to meet this goal: Outline story for November, research topic, block out time on calendar, complete character profiles, etc. Blocking is a technique of categorizing small tasks or actions into a bigger goal.

According to Curtis G. Schmitt, Peaceful Productivity: “… when you’re focused on getting things done right now, it helps to chunk out individual tasks that you can laser in on and complete one at a time. If any given task seems too overwhelming or difficult, try chunking it into smaller pieces.” It’s time to take a chunk out of my to do list!