How do you eat an elephant? And, you're asking me "Why would I want to eat an elephant?" Maybe if I ask it another way: How do you eat a 1,000 pound marshmallow? Is that a little more palatable? Either way, the answer is the same: One bite at a time!

Now, I doubt that you want to eat either an elephant or a 1,000 pound marshmallow. But, do you have a big goal? Does it seem overwhelming but yet something you really want to accomplish? Is the goal so big that you just can't figure out how to "just do it"?

This isn't abnormal, it's more normal than you think. Most of us have some big goals, things we want to accomplish that will take concentrated effort over a long period of time. We all have a 1,000 pound marshmallow to eat from time to time so we'll each need to decide how to eat it one bite at a time! How can we do that?

Step 1: Analyze

The first step is to examine your goal and determine what smaller, more managable goals will lead to the accomplishment of the large goal. Years ago I was working for a computer company that had its own huge goal. (In fact, that's the first time I had heard the question "How do you eat a 1000 pound marshmallow"!) We were going to develop a brand new computer with all new hardware, all new software, all new everything!

Step 1 was very important because we had to know what all the pieces would be before we could plan how to put them together. Your big goal is like that too. What are all the "pieces" that you'll need to accomplish in and of themselves before you can bring everything together to achieve your goal? This is an important part of the process, so do the analysis carefully and get help if you can't answer all the questions yourself.

So, in Step 1 you need to analyze where you are right now. You really need to understand how big the project is going to be before you can start working toward it. What, exactly, is the goal you want to achieve? Do you need additional skills or education? How much time and effort will you be able to apply on a regular basis? Are you going to need someone guiding you along the way, or can you create your plan on your own? If you have a big goal, you need to do a thorough analysis of what needs to be done before you start.

Here's a tip. Do this step carefully and thoroughly and you will save yourself a lot time as you get further down the road. The time you spend analyzing and planning the achievement of your goal is not time spent, it's time invested and it will pay great dividends as time passes!

So, step 1 is where you really examine the marshmallow and figure out how you will divide it into bite-sized pieces so you can eat the whole thing!

Step 2: Plan Your Work

Now that you've analyzed your goal and how you can achieve it you can begin planning how and when you're going to accomplish each bite-sized piece. From your analysis, you know what the pieces are and whether there's a particular order in which they should be accomplished.

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