I wasn’t only proud of the race when I crossed the finish line of that marathon. I was proud of the months of consistent progress I’d made along the way. Tracking each week’s achievement, no matter how small, reminded me of how far I’d come and kept me pushing forward. Even if it didn't last, I had a blast.

6 — Track Progress and Reflect on Weekly

<ol><li>Set a weekly check-in and ask yourself:</li></ol><ul><li>What did I accomplish this week?</li><li>What challenges did I face?</li><li>How can I adjust next week to do better?</li></ul><ol><li class="ql-align-justify">Use visual trackers like habit charts or progress bars. There’s something deeply satisfying about coloring in a box or moving a slider closer to completion. You have many infographics you can download and use from The Challenge (including this issue).</li></ol>

How To Do It

Divide your goal into 3–5 milestones. For example:<ul><li class="ql-align-justify">For writing a book, milestones could be:</li></ul><ol><li class="ql-align-justify ql-indent-1">Outline your chapters.</li><li class="ql-align-justify ql-indent-1">Write the first draft of 3 chapters.</li><li class="ql-align-justify ql-indent-1">Finish the entire first draft.</li><li class="ql-align-justify ql-indent-1">Edit the first draft.</li><li class="ql-align-justify ql-indent-1">Write the second/final draft.</li><li class="ql-align-justify ql-indent-1">Save $2,500 by March.</li><li class="ql-align-justify ql-indent-1">Save $5,000 by June.</li><li class="ql-align-justify ql-indent-1">Save $7,500 by September.</li><li class="ql-align-justify ql-indent-1">Save $10,000 by the end of December.</li></ol>

In Getting Things Done , David Allen wrote:You can’t do a project. You can only do action steps.Weekly tasks keep you grounded in what you can do today.

Why It Matters

<ul><li class="ql-align-justify">Find an accountability partner or group. Share your milestones and weekly tasks with them.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">Use social media (if it’s not anxiety-inducing for you) to publicly share your progress. </li><li class="ql-align-justify">Reward yourself for hitting milestones. However, prioritize fun instead of derailing rewards.</li></ul>

About six weeks into training, I realized I had no idea what I was doing. My plan was a calendar scribbled with random runs and vague hopes that I wouldn’t keel over at the last kilometer. And it wasn’t until I started breaking the goal into smaller, actionable steps that everything clicked. Unfortunately, that was too late.Big goals can feel overwhelming, but they don’t have to paralyze you. You can break them down into bite-sized pieces you can easily tackle with the right system. I will give you the exact steps to achieve that in this article.

Big, Overwhelming Goals

Real life can be savage, and no plan could survive it.Obstacles are inevitable. But you can increase your chances of staying on track if you prepare. You won’t solve every problem — that’s impossible. But at least you will try to protect yourself from the most common issues.

🎯 This is Part 5/9 of the Series Your Best Year Yet Welcome back! You’re reading part five of Your Best Year Yet: A Step-by-Step Guide — a special year-end series designed to help you reflect on the past year, set transformative goals, and create a plan to thrive in the year ahead. If you missed the previous issue, <a href="https://cosmopolitanmindset.substack.com/p/how-to-set-a-misogi">catch up here</a>.We will get our hands dirty and plan our goals and milestones in this issue.In the upcoming issue, we will discuss time management and prioritization. <a href="https://cosmopolitanmindset.substack.com/publish/post/https://cosmopolitanmindset.substack.com/subscribe">Subscribe </a>not to miss it!

[The Challenge] - Your Best Year Yet

You’ve got your Misogi. You have an audacious, world-shaking goal. And you may have also finished crafting your sparkling vision for 2025. Congratulations! You are ahead of most people out there. But what happens now?This is the moment where most of us falter.

Crafting Your Year

Even the most self-motivated people benefit from accountability. According to a study by Dr. Gail Matthews, people are 65% more likely to achieve their goals if they share them with a friend or mentor.

A few years ago, I set a goal to get healthier. I think anybody has done it at least once in their life. Except I had no idea what healthier even looked like. Was it eating more kale? Was it running a 5K? Or maybe it was drinking water instead of coffee?By February, my goal was to gather dust next to my unused yoga mat. And it wasn’t until I got specific — setting a goal to run 10K by June — that I started seeing progress.

1 — Get Crystal Clear on the Goal

Let’s get back to the cheese marathon fail. When training, I learned the power of weekly tasks the hard way.One Sunday, I stared at my training plan and realized I’d skipped the entire week. But it wasn’t because I lacked motivation (maybe a little). It was because my plan was too vague. I wrote “train for the marathon five days a week" on my calendar. Yet, I hadn’t broken it into specific runs or gym sessions. I didn’t have any weekly goals or achievements. Therefore, training felt useless.

3 — Create Actionable Weekly Tasks

I usually share everything that is on my mind with my friends. But this behavior could backfire.Sharing your challenges and ideas with your closest ones is useful. But when it becomes a habit, and you keep failing, they won’t trust you anymore. They will stop supporting you. I want you to take a different approach in 2025. You must build an efficient support system.Do you want to run?Recruit a training buddy, join a local running group, or post updates on social media. You will notice a different kind of involvement from those people because they will be actively interested in your progress.

4 — Build a Support System

<ul><li class="ql-align-justify">List potential challenges or <a href="https://cosmopolitanmindset.substack.com/p/how-to-make-a-how-to-fail-list">build a how-to-fail list </a>. For example, if your dream is fitness-related, your obstacles might include bad weather or a busy work schedule.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">Brainstorm solutions. For bad weather, you could plan indoor workouts. For time crunches, try morning workouts or lunch-hour walks.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">Revisit your plan monthly to adjust for life’s curveballs. </li></ul>

A big goal is like eating an entire cake in one bite. You need slices.Breaking your goal into milestones makes it manageable and provides opportunities to celebrate progress.

During my marathon training, I discovered a key obstacle — bad weather.Winter rains were relentless. My usual outdoor runs became impossible. And I would have fallen off track without a backup plan.Instead, I started using the treadmill at the gym. It was less exciting but equally effective. Yet, planning saved my goal.

5 — Plan for Obstacles

Your goal doesn’t have to feel overwhelming. Whether it is your Misogi or any other big goal, you can break it down into smaller steps. If you do, you will make it manageable and inevitable.It sounds great, but I don’t know where to start, you might think.Don’t worry. Next week, we will dive into the habits that will sustain your progress after the first months of the new year.For now, grab your planner, chunk down your audacious goals, and make 2025 the year you finally surprise yourself.[DOWNLOAD THE FREE INFOGRAPHIC <a href="https://cosmopolitanmindset.substack.com/p/breaking-down-big-goals">HERE</a>]

Big goals are like shiny toys — they’re exciting until you realize they are hard to achieve. And unlike IKEA furniture, your life goals don’t come with an instruction manual. I learned this after setting my first marathon goal (<a href="https://cosmopolitanmindset.substack.com/p/how-to-set-a-misogi">the one with the cheese</a>).I thought determination alone would make me achieve anything. Spoiler alert: it didn’t.

Exciting Goals

I treated my first massive goal like a sprint instead of a marathon. I wanted to learn to speak Spanish fluently in six months. I dove in, downloaded every language app, and studied for hours daily.Three weeks later, I was burned out and could barely remember anything. My dream felt too big to handle. But the real problem was that I hadn’t broken it into manageable pieces.

2 — Chunk It Down into Milestones

A fuzzy goal is an impossible goal. As James Clear wrote in Atomic Habits :You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.And you can’t build a system around something vague like getting healthy or being happier.

For each milestone, list specific tasks you can accomplish weekly. For example:<ul><li class="ql-align-justify">For running a 10K, a weekly task might be "run three 5K training sessions".</li><li class="ql-align-justify">For writing a book, the weekly task might be "write 4,000 words this week".</li></ul>Use a planner or digital app like Notion or Trello to keep track of your weekly tasks. (By the way, I am a Notion affiliate. Use this link if you want to help the newsletter).

<ul><li class="ql-align-justify">Spread the word! Share <a href="https://cosmopolitanmindset.substack.com/">The Challenge</a> with friends and family.</li><li class="ql-align-justify"><a href="https://cosmopolitanmindset.substack.com/subscribe">Subscribe today</a> to support the ongoing creation of this content.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">Want more? Explore my other work at <a href="https://www.cosmopolitanmindset.com/">Cosmopolitan Mindset</a>.</li></ul>

Next Steps

Tracked goals are easier to manage. Tracking your progress keeps you motivated and moves you in the right direction.

<ul><li class="ql-align-justify">Write your goal in one specific sentence. For example, run a 10K by June 1st or lose 15 pounds by eating whole foods 80% of the time.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">Add a purpose. Why does this matter to you? You have to find your fuel when motivation wanes.</li></ul>

You're reading an excerpt from <a href="https://cosmopolitanmindset.substack.com/">The Challenge</a> — a weekly newsletter dedicated to self-improvement, goal-setting, habits, time management, and health tips.Every week, you'll receive:<ul><li class="ql-align-justify">A life-enhancing challenge</li><li class="ql-align-justify">A custom infographic to track your progress</li></ul><a href="https://cosmopolitanmindset.substack.com/subscribe">Subscribe now</a> and start your first challenge.

The Challenge

Learn how to break down big, audacious goals into manageable steps with this 6-step guide. Discover strategies for setting clear milestones and building a support system to stay motivated.

How To Do It

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How to Get Motivated