The Most Important Thing I Learned About Accomplishing Big Goals From Hiking 25 Miles In the Grand Canyon

18 months ago I couldn’t complete a short hike. But earlier this month I hiked 25 miles in the Grand Canyon, rim-to-rim, in one day.

And it was because I had learned one simple concept:

If you want to accomplish a big thing, you have to do a lot of small things over and over again

When I started training for the Grand Canyon trip, I planned a lot of long challenging hikes.

But I quickly realized that I wasn’t ready for long – let alone challenging – hikes. Instead I needed to break down my training into much smaller chunks. So I started walking on an inclined treadmill for 45 minutes a day. Even though this was incredibly boring, I did this (or similar) almost every day for about three months. And it totally paid off.

I accomplished this "bucket list" hike by putting one foot in front of the other, over and over again.

My new process for accomplishing big scary goals

After this experience, I've got a new appreciation for disciplined consistency.

My new approach for accomplishing big scary goals is to:

Work backwards from the goal to create a plan.

Break down the plan into small tasks.

Consistently put in the work to accomplish each task.

I now know what's possible if I just keep going, one step at a time.