In general, we are very aware of and happy with what we do in the short term. We are excellent at planning for something that finishes in three to six months, or maybe a year or two.
By nature, our brain sees timelines beyond two years as long term. That long-term timeline doesn’t command enough attention and is commonly ignored.
This attention deficit happens because our brain cannot see a clear path to the finish line.
For our brain, traversing a path with an unknown destination is very difficult. Hence, we are happy setting short-term goals—and will probably achieve them.
Short-term goals seem reasonable. In these cases, our brain has the capability of envisioning the destination even before we start traversing the path. These goals seem more easily achievable. That’s why you often hear “break down your larger goals into smaller ones”—those smaller pieces seem achievable.
So . . . how small should you break down your large goals?
There is no single correct answer; it varies from individual to individual. It depends on the capacity of each individual brain. If the brain can envision the destination of the smaller goal, it is a good enough goal to achieve.
If you cannot clearly envision the destination (goal), then you need to break your goal down further into smaller “envision-able” milestones—depending on your individual capacity.