Breaking Down Daunting Goals into Manageable Chunks

My first job in management was a New York Manager position at PEOPLE magazine. For those of you who don’t know, PEOPLE magazine is arguably one of the most successful print publications of all time.

When I was there at the turn of the century, there was talk that it could reach a billion dollars in revenue. That’s billion with a “b”.

In New York, there were three managers overseeing five sales people each. We each had a revenue goal of a $130mm… give or take a few.

As you can imagine, to wake up every morning and think about a $130mm goal sent the pulse racing. PEOPLE was considered the crown jewel of Time Inc and all eyes throughout the building were on PEOPLE to gauge the company performance. Given how important PEOPLE was to the company, this job was high stress. Any hair I had was gone by the end of this gig.

The thing about goals is when they are big, they are hard to wrap your head around. Think about large broad goals -

• I want to play in the NFL

• I want run my own company

• I want to sing in Madison Square Garden

If you set goals too broad or grandiose, it's hard to figure out where to start, let alone how to achieve them.

Luckily, at the time we had a great leader in Paul Caine. (look ‘em up). Each week in our company meetings Paul talked about how to take our goals and break them down into manageable chunks.

Rather than focusing on $130mm in sales, he stressed small goals -

• Make sure each of your sales people has five face to face meetings weekly

• Make sure they get at least three proposals weekly from brands

• Aim to win one of those proposals once every 14 days

Setting smaller goals like this made the idea of the larger goal much more attainable. Here’s why:

Each goal you hit is a win - When you set smaller goals and you achieve them you you are winning. Winning helps with confidence, motivation and keeps you energized.

Small goals build to long term success - Each time you hit a small goal, you get closer to the larger goal. As you get closer to the larger goal, it feels more tangible. I mentioned in my last email I had a goal to send out 25 emails a day to clients when I started Rotary Digital. I had a goal of winning one piece of business a day - didn’t matter the revenue. As the daily wins came, the monthly goals and annual goals were met too. Had I focused solely on monthly or annual goals, my daily focus would have been all over the map and would have made the chance to success infinitely harder.

Small goals keep you on track - Hitting smaller goals keeps you moving forward and not feeling overwhelmed.

When thinking about your own objectives, break down your goals into small ones:

• If you are building a business, what daily goals can you set to move the ball forward?

• If you want to learn guitar, put 10 minutes of practice in daily

• If you are a salesperson, make a set amount of calls each day

• If you want to get that next job, reach out to two people each day and learn more about the industry and opportunities

You get the idea. Large goals leave you unfocused and intimidated. Break them down into small manageable ones and rack up the wins and progress.

I’m one of the founders of Rotary Digital. I’m an entrepreneur and advertising veteran for 30+ years counting. I’m married with three beautiful kids and one day hope to make art full time and continue to eat at Whole Foods.