How to Do Goal Setting the Right Way – Achieve Big Goals in 3 Months or Less

Abhi Chand
April 26, 2023

Building on from what we talked about last week…

Successful goal setting is basically a series of celebrating your wins along the way to your one big goal.

This is how you ensure that you stay consistent.

And don’t fall off.

In my experience, most people give up on their goals for at least one of the following reasons:

  1. They haven’t achieved the result (too outcome oriented)
  2. They haven’t made any meaningful progress

It’s easy to tell when you haven’t achieved your goal.

The tangible of “goal not achieved yet” is pretty hard to miss.

That part is valid to a certain degree.

In this article, we are going to focus on the second statement.


Making Meaningful Progress


This is really the key to anything you want to accomplish.

Don’t take my word for it…

Take Gary Keller’s word for it.

Gary Keller wrote the book The One Thing.

(btw, this is one of the MOST impactful books I have ever read!)

What Gary Keller says in this book is practically the basis of my 1-1 business coaching and goal-setting methodology…

…and also why so many of my clients have achieved their goals repeatedly.

The people I see who hit their goals vs. the ones that don’t… get this one simple concept wrong.

Here’s the simple concept:

A domino is capable of knocking over another domino that is 1.5 times its size.

This is what this looks like visually:

That little domino at the front can start a chain effect that will knock over the BIG domino in the back.

That big domino in the back is your big goal.

The little domino in the small goal you can achieve today.

The middle (progressively larger) dominos are the milestones you hit along the way to achieving your big goal.

But in order to topple over any of the middle dominos…

…you have to start by toppling over the little domino today.

The key is to:

  1. Define the little, medium, and big dominos
  2. Put them in order
  3. Chip away at the little domino every day

This is basically how you achieve any big goal.

Most people get this wrong because they want to know how to:

  • knock over the small domino
  • skip the ones in the middle
  • and knock over the big domino

Every person that I’ve seen not hit their goal has had this in common.

(Either that or they didn’t define the middle dominos.)


The Power of Compounding Small Wins Over Time


Most people have a big goal they want to achieve and they go about it like this:

They try to make a dent in a gargantuan goal today and get little to no results.

This, in turn, feeds their frustration and anger, and makes them feel like:

“No matter what I do, I’m just not getting anywhere!”

This is a bad place to be in.

What the achiever does differently is s/he stacks his/her actions, goals and milestones in order and makes them happen one-by-one, like the image below:

Each of those blocks in the image above are the middle dominos we identify.

According to Gary Keller, using the rule of each domino is capable of toppling over another that’s 1.5 times its size…

…if you start with a regular sized domino and keep stacking dominos 1.5 times larger, one after the other:

  • Domino #18 would be big enough to topple over the Leaning Tower of Pisa
  • Domino #23 would be big enough to topple over the Eiffel Tower
  • Domino #31 would be 3,000 feet taller than Mount Everest
  • and Domino #57 would almost be tall enough to reach the Moon

This is the simple concept behind achieving big goals.


How Can You Apply This Concept to YOUR Goals?


This is the question you should be asking right now.

How do I apply this to my own goals?

The best way I can tell you is by showing you.

That's why I'm leaving a goal-setting workshop I did a little while ago for this process below.

Everything I have taught you in this article is put into practice in this short workshop.

And you can download the worksheets below the video as well.

Give the goal-setting approach a try and share your experience with me if you like.

It’s always a pleasure to hear what you have to say.

Cheers,

Abhi



PS. Next week I want to talk to you about something that we all go through at some point:

A slump.

At some point, we all “fall off” and lose our good habits.

And it becomes harder and harder to just get back to where we used to be.

And the longer we’re unable to get back up, the more we start losing hope.

We start feeling depressed, and worst of all:

We start to give up.

The only way out of a slump is to bounce back.

There is an art to bouncing back.

Luckily it’s a lot simpler than you would think.

We’ll talk about it next week.

After all, a major part of being consistent is knowing how to bounce back after you fall off.

We’ll get to the brass tacks of it all next week.

See you then.

Same time, same place.


Abhi Chand

About the author

Abhi is super passionate about business and marketing. He loves hitting the gym and working out while also being a bit of a nerd. But the best thing he likes to do is help people win big!

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  • Abhi
    Good however i think many of us NEED things like;

    – more clients,
    – bigger list of names or a list to start with,
    – more income
    etc, etc

    so the course example is very straightforward and ideal but for those of us that haven’t had a list of names and haven’t really got that working for us before – we actually need teaching those steps, and especially getting traffic.

    even on socials with 3000 ‘friends’ things aren’t happening…….

    And again, more clients, if ONLY we knew how to get these then life really would be simple wouldn’t it because we just adhere to simple steps and hey presto we would be there, but it doesn’t work like that does it mate??

    Without a bag of money to throw at these issues it becomes a continuous obstacle

    • Thanks for your comment. I appreciate you sharing so honestly.

      Ok, what would you like to learn more from my side? Things around growth-hacking without spending a lot of money? Is that something that would help?

      Obviously, most problems can be solved by throwing money at them… but not that’s not always an option (as you mentioned).

      What would be the main thing that I could help you with the most? I want to get ideas for upcoming content. Would love your input 🙂

    • Karen McCamy says:

      Hi S. Mack,

      Your frustration is clear so I hope the following is helpful…

      It’s easy to look at what we *don’t have* and feel that “lack” is the reason we are struggling.

      The thing is… you (and everyone just starting out) can only start from where they are right now…

      Just like Abhi illustrated in his training video, it’s necessary to first define where you want to be… In the example, it’s a vague idea (financial freedom)…

      The real work comes in the next few steps where you identify with more clarity what possible steps (or milestones) could possibly help you achieve the goal…

      In the example, it’s a course…which doesn’t yet exist. So it’s obvious that “create a course” — in this example — could theoretically move you closer to that goal…

      These are just examples… If you’re not interested in courses, then replace that with your own milestones…

      One thing that I noticed in your comment is your language, using terms like “easy” & “simple.” Shane wrote a great post on his ActiveGrowth website about just that mindset (I’d post a link but can’t find it; it may have been taken down, sadly. The premise was “If it was easy…everyone would do it!”) But rarely are people who are beginning their own business journey arriving with a huge list or a ready-made audience…

      Everyone has to start from somewhere, and focusing on what you don’t have just makes those “obstacles” seem like mountains…

      If you feel you need traffic or subscribers, what steps can you implement — based on others’ successful results — that will move you closer to your own goals?

      You haven’t indicated what steps or strategies you have tried in the past…or your niche / industry…so it’s hard to provide you with more specifics for your particular situation…

      I hope this is helpful.

  • sorefbaris@gmail.com says:

    I enjoy these series so much, Ahbi. They bring similar value vibes like Shane’s old stuff. You’re really giving me exactly what I need right now. Very motivating. I can’t wait for the next one.

    • Thank you so much for your positive feedback 🙂

      I appreciate the compliment.

      Just out of curiosity, is there anything in particular you would like help with? Would love to make content that is useful for you. Thanks!

      • sorefbaris@gmail.com says:

        Thanks Abhi, I am 42 years old now. But I am feeling like some of my fears are still holding me. Which were similiar as on my 20s and 30s. I wish i could find out what are causing them. And how to heal them. Because if you leave alone these things they don’t resolve into something positive. Instead they are feeling like serial failiure. This is the thing i fall into these days. I feel like every attempt in my life was a failiure and i hesitate that the next one will going to be same.

        • Karen McCamy says:

          Something that might help is investigating those fears that are holding you back…

          Shane did a great presentation on “being your own coach” that was extremely helpful.

          I don’t have a link but perhaps Abhi can direct you to it.

        • Hey brother, I did my post this week on this exact topic. Here’s how I see it, you have 2 options:

          1. You can hold onto all your fears
          OR
          2. You can go after your goals

          The problem is: how to let go of the fears?

          I answered that in this article: https://ikario.com/how-to-bounce-back-from-a-slump/

          You said you’re 42 now… let’s stop wasting more time and start getting a move on.

  • Karen McCamy says:

    Great & very actionable, Abhi!

    I’m sure a lot of people feel like S. Mack… “Not enough of ‘this,’ or “if I only had ‘that’”… As Shane & many others have documented in recent years, needing a massive list is a myth! (Search “1,000 true fans”)

    What I’ve seen — over my 12+ years in online marketing — is that if there is NO *viable* product/market “fit” (reasonable demand for your offer), you can have the money & the list and still not get traction… That demand is the foundation…

    When I see others struggle, I wonder if they have somehow missed this step…or like you chronicled in the CNN case, simply overlooked it without adequate research!

    Your thoughts?

    <3

    • It’s possible. Most likely the idea validation stage has been overlooked. Product-Market-Demand fit is key for sure. Then before diving in, gotta also do a validation step as well. To make sure that the idea indeed is viable before pouring tons and tons of resources.

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