Before I started my freshman year of college, my mom sat me down to give me a little pep talk about this new phase of life I was entering. She said that getting a degree was like eating an elephant. What she meant was that it was a task that seemed completely insurmountable from where I was standing, but that I could do it.

She told me that I’d have to work on it every day, but before I knew it, I’d have “eaten” a quarter of it – then half, and then I’d look back on graduation day and wonder how it all happened. College was my life for the next four years, but I still had time to keep a part time job and I made plenty of time for socializing. I worked on that “elephant” paper by paper, credit by credit, and semester by semester. It took four years, but I was able to maintain a perfectly livable, if busy, lifestyle and I can now call myself a college graduate.

If you have a big goal that you want to see accomplished, you have to make it a part of your life. Any time someone wants to lose weight or get in shape, they are advised to make small and sustainable changes to the way they eat and exercise or they won’t be able to stick with it. This principal applies to any long-term goal. The changes you make to your life need to be simple enough to sustain long-term.

Spend time every day thinking about your goals and the rewards you will reap if you achieve them. Carve out some time each day to work on your goals and soon it will be second nature. You will advance toward your goals with each task and before you know it you will have exactly what you wanted.