Being a father to four children under the age of five, I read a lot of children’s books.  On occasion, I find myself reading the story of the Little Engine that could.  The kids like it because the version that we have is written by a British author, so the choice of words is sometimes different than what you would get with an American author.  I rather enjoy this as it gives me the opportunity to exercise my British accent (albeit it very poor) and the kids teeter on thinking it is funny or annoying, but all in all it is good times.

The moral of the story is very interesting.  It touches on the notion of setting goals and achieving milestones.  At the beginning of the story you get the sense that it is going to be doom and gloom for the the stranded engine and all of the candy and toys aboard.  As each engine passes by, another rejection is handed down to the engine.  Finally, the little engine passes by the broken down train,and in a move of desperation, the broken down train begs the little switch engine to help pull the rest of the cars over the hill and to the village on the other side.

The little engine is floored.  He realizes that the task he has been asked to perform is next to impossible.  Instead of folding up the tents and packing it in, he decided to give it a go.  He set his goal to be getting the candy and toys up and over that hill and delivered to the children in the village below.  Realizing that what he has signed up for is a lofty goal, he sets out on his missions.  Along the way, he sets milestones to achieve, and as he achieves them he realizes that he is much closer to achieving his goal.  I think I can, I think I can, and before you know it he has achieved his goal.

The story is simple, but the lesson learned from it is invaluable.  Often times in life we set goals, but we do not take the time to figure out what our milestones are so we can ensure that we are on track to achieve said goal(s).  It is virtually impossible to achieve a goal if you have no form of measurement on your progress.  This seems to be so simple, yet more times than not we set down the path of creating goals and come up short in the end.  Take for example the phenomenon that occurs every new year.  Countless thousands of people set the goal for the coming year to be to loose weight and get in shape.  Great goal, but no milestones set to achieve the goal.  How much weight do you want to loose, where do you want to be in one month, three months, six months.  Without these milestones the likelihood of you every acheiving your goals is next to zero.  The only thing you are going to achieve is less money in your banking account and more weight around your midsection.  So what are you waiting for, get milestone setting