Sometimes we make goals harder than they need to be. Small goals are great, too. Take my experience on Monday for instance, when I was in the middle of a workout and made a goal to continue exercising until the timer reached 23 minutes. I looked at the panel only to realize it did not show 22:15 minutes like I thought it would,* but rather 19:59. I’d eaten too many sweets that morning, so 23 minutes seemed like an eternity away. But I made it. In fact, I was so thrilled about reaching my goal without falling off the exercise machine that I decided to go even longer—until 40 minutes, in fact. Making it to 23 minutes—that’s a great goal. Making it to 40 minutes—that felt even better.

* Yes, my lofty goal was 45 more seconds. But to my credit, I was fighting off a cold and was more tired than normal.