Recently I had a conversation with a person who has a long-term goal that will take a few years to achieve.

The individual seemed overwhelmed with the size of the goal and was getting discouraged Their focus was on all the things they need to do to reach the goal and their comment to me was, "I just can't do it".

It reminded me of the story of the clock that had been running and running:

This clock had sat on the mantle for years. And it ran and ran. One day, the clock began to think about how many times it had to tick during the year. It counted up the seconds - it would have to tick 31,536,000 times a year. The clock seemed overwhelmed - "I can't do it, that is just too much." So the clock stopped ticking. Then somebody reminded the clock that it didn't have to tick the 31,536,000 seconds all at one time, but rather one tick at a time. The clock then realized this was okay and started ticking again!

When we set our goals, it is good to visualize the end results. But, getting to our goal is doing a little bit every day; not doing it all at once.

So the next time you find yourself overwhelmed by your goal, remember the clock and the number of ticks - do a little bit every day and over time you will reach your goal.

Believe me, reaching your goal is worth it!