Many people find it difficult to stay on track with their goals. A lot find it more challenging as task after task arises. However, it is not to say that you could overcome those. Several argue that it would always start with small steps. One lifesaver could be working on a to-do list. Though routines like this would demand consistency, which is another obstacle itself.

Nicki Conradt Eberlin, a certified life coach, whether happiness, money, relationships, health could be mental or physical health or career-wise. She joins the podcast to talk about how people can build better habits to reach their goals. Specifically, creating small habits to reach one's personal or professional goals.

The biggest benefit to starting small is you make it so easy that you can't say no. It's just a simple small habit, and that's easy. There's no pressure or strain for you to complete this, like a massive goal. But depending on the purpose of why you're building that small habit, which is produced in this aspect. It could improve your quality of life, lower your stress levels, help you focus more, have a greater sense of joy with what you do, and have more self-confidence. It is because when you're productive, you're focused, and you can take on different things.

People want instant gratification. And this is for some reason that smaller habits can be too simple. You don't have enough motivation or willpower to do just a small aspect. But that's where it starts. A perfect example of that is when people start a small habit or think of one, they think it's not that big of a deal, or it's not a big habit, so they start there. But then they don't take it seriously, so you push it off to the wayside. But if you started working with those small habits seriously, you could have started building better or bigger habits already.

The small habits that make the biggest impact are showing up in planning your weeks out for whatever goal that might be. You can start with small habits and figure out the trigger points, what's going on in your head, and take small parts of the day. And that could be like not spending five minutes in the morning to plan out your day to be more productive or saying no to that afternoon cocktail and doing something else. And there are so many variables and moving aspects depending on like what the goals that the individual has. But condensing it down from doing it once to twice a week, and if you're feeling really good, bump up to five as it takes time to get those things rolling. 

If you don't have time to do blank, what do you have time to do? Because essentially, all people have the same time of the day. And in reclaiming your schedule, you first have to find 30 minutes in your schedule, at least to show up for yourself once a week. And the biggest part is making that time to figure out how you can become more productive. And then you start gaining more time. So, if you want to show up for 30 minutes for yourself once a week, work out your schedule, read a book about time management, whatever it might be. Still, you have that 30-minute to better yourself to reclaim your schedule, and then you start finding other actionable items during that timeframe.

But if you are not good with your schedule, break it down into three days, 10 minutes a day where you can at least practice working on some productivity, some like efficiency in your schedule or learning something new during that timeframe. And those 10 minutes, three days a week, are going to be difficult for you, but know that it will get easier. You have to dedicate that time first. That's the biggest step.

There are a couple of different ideas, but one of them is to find a time that works for you. For