2. Aim High, but Keep Your Eyes on the Ground

Setting ambitious goals is great, but the key to successful goal setting is to start out focusing on the short to medium term, and set goals that are practical. It's far better to set the bar a little low at first and clear it than to set it too high and end up frustrated when you can’t make it over. As we say in Dare to Dream, when you dream, dream big. But when you’re getting started on the path to your dreams, take small steps and take joy in completing them. Shoot to study for thirty more minutes three or four nights per week, cut your sugar intake in half, lose one pants/dress size in eight weeks, or cut ten seconds off your novice mile time. Once you start making positive changes and achieving your goals, future change will come more quickly and easily, and you can set your goals higher.

3. Pace Your Change

The road to the life you want to lead may require a lot of change, and change is intimidating. We are all attached to our way of life – our diet, our exercise habits (or lack thereof), the types of people we date, when we go to sleep and get up, etc. Even if part of us is motivated to make changes in these habits, actually doing it can seem overwhelming. Don’t try to change everything all at once. Instead, focus on one aspect of your life that you are comfortable changing now. It doesn’t have to be anything major. Maybe it’s committing to reading a novel for an hour before bed instead of watching TV. Maybe it’s taking a 20 minute walk three mornings per week. Actuate one or two simple changes in your life, and don’t try to change anything else until you grow comfortable with the changes you’ve already made.

Once you succeed in forging one or two healthier habits, and you experience the way these small changes improve your life, you’ll be motivated to tackle bigger changes. The key is to pace yourself, and not hold yourself up to unreasonable standards. Your journey to your ideal self has to begin with a few simple steps. Try to run too far too fast, and you risk burning yourself out. Slow and steady wins the race. What’s with all the cliché’s you ask? These phrases got to be cliché because so many people repeat them so often. And why is this? Because there are so very true and so very important to remember.