How to Accomplish Your Goals: The Stair Step Method

You know the saying, “You can have anything you want; you just can’t have everything you want?”

For the most part, I believe this.

If all you want is to own a Ferrari, you can get there—actually relatively easily—but you’ll have to sacrifice something else.

But what if there’s a lot you want to buy, achieve, or experience in life? What if you don’t want to necessarily have to choose either/or? 

Well, then hard work will become your best friend.

That said, over the last decade-plus of working for myself, I’ve found ways to get closer to the things I really want on a regular basis that help me live a more comfortable and enjoyable life – even if, say, that Ferrari, maybe a decade or two away.

I call it the Stair Step Method of Goal Setting.

How does it work?

I’ll get to that in just a minute, but first things first.

What Do You Want in Life?

The first thing you need to do is identify what you want in life.

I’m always shocked when I start emailing with readers, and we get into their next steps, and I ask the question, “In 5 years, what would you like to do, own, or experience?”

More often than not, the answer is, “Hmmm, I guess I’m not sure.”

Here’s the deal: it’s tough to work towards something if you don’t know what that something is.

There’s no reason to start a blog, freelance business, social media account, etc., if you don’t know why you’re doing it and truly have a purpose.

So this is step 1: think about what you actually want in life.

Here are some prompts:

If money were no object…

• Where would you like to live?
• What kind of car would you like to drive?
• What experiences would you like to have?
• What experiences would you like your family to have?
• What things would you like to do that you don’t feel you can do now?

This is the fun part. It’s where you can dream about life if you have all the time and money in the world.

Make a list, write things down, and pull photos for inspiration.

And now?

Back to reality.

Newsflash: As I mentioned in the quote at the beginning of this post, you can have any of those things with a lot of work. You just can’t have every one of those things.

But that’s what is so great about the stair-step method of goal setting.

You don’t necessarily need to have all of them because often, you can get 90% of the same enjoyment, value, or experience for far less money.

What Is The Stair Step Method for Accomplishing Your Goals?

I’ve personally used the stair-step method to help motivate me to reach my goals and make the process itself much more comfortable and enjoyable.

It looks something like this:

The way it works is that it starts with some outlandish goal or dream. Then, you work backward from there. Figure out what different milestones you can reach along the way that give you a similar experience for less cost.

Using the Stair Step Method to the Watch of My Dreams

A great example for me is watches.

For years, I’ve been interested in horology and the history of watchmaking. I have a few obscenely expensive “grail watches,” which I’d love to own one day.

For me, the be-all and end-all is a black-and-white Rolex Daytona.

A guy can dream, right?     Image.

Now, I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to justify spending that kind of money – but that’s the dream we’re starting with.

Now, let’s look at my evolution of watches so far.

In 2010, I bought a Fake Omega Speedmaster on the streets of Bangkok. Back then, I had no money, a brand new business, and lived in a $ 200-a-month apartment. Seeing this watch on my wrist motivated me to work harder so that one day, I could get the real thing.

This one cost me about $35.

Step 2: Tissot T-Touch

A few years later, as the business grew a bit, I purchased my first “real” watch.

It was a Tissot T-Touch, and while it wasn’t the mechanical, automatic movement I really wanted, it had some super cool features. Again, it motivated me to want to continue growing my business, and having it on my wrist was a source of pride and confidence.

Step 3: Doxa Shark Dive Watch

My Doxa watch.

One of my guilty pleasures is reading Clive Cussler’s adventure novels.

I have been digging into these every year since high school, and in almost every book, the protagonist, Dirk Pitt, has a Doxa Dive Watch.

So naturally, I always thought it would be cool to own one.

I upgraded that Tissot to my first automatic, mechanical watch – this Doxa. It’s simple, unique, and a bit more expensive than the others. Again, wearing it became a reminder to continue working hard.

Step 4: Real Omega Speedmaster Professional

My Speedmaster.

Second to the Daytona, the watch I’ve always wanted was an Omega Speedmaster Professional.

Buzz Aldrin wore it on his moonwalk, and because it’s the only NASA-certified watch for all lunar missions, it became affectionately known as the “Moonwatch.”

My grandpa had one that he passed down to my dad. I had the fake one in Bangkok. So, for years, I’ve been striving for that goal.

And I was finally able to invest in the real thing.

You can dig into the story of the Moonwatch, NASA, and Buzz Aldrin (trust me, it’s worth it) right here.

See how it works?

Now, what’s the point of me walking you through my history of watches?

It’s that at every point in time, each of those timepieces provided me with probably 99% of the same pride and enjoyment that Daytona would—and motivated me toward that ultimate goal.

The idea is that if you start small and have a number of goals between where you’re at now and your ultimate dream, you’ll still be able to enjoy and value nearly the same amount of enjoyment and value throughout the years of progress.

You can make timelines for anything you want and begin working on them.

Another example is 5-star hotels, which might look like this:

1. Stay in a cheaper place nearby
2. Walk through the hotel
3. Get a cocktail at the bar at the hotel
4. Do happy hour in their restaurant
5. Use Rewards Points to Stay in the Hotel
6. Stay in a Suite

In particular, there is one hotel that stands out to me. The Mandarin Oriental in Bangkok.

While living there, I literally had nothing and was very frugal (read: cheap).

Yet a handful of times, I’d go to Bamboo Bar at the Mandarin Oriental – one of the most expensive hotels in the city.

I’d order a single cocktail, usually about $10, and I’d feel really guilty about it.

I’d nurse that cocktail for two hours, get three or four refills of the free nuts, and listen to some of the best jazz musicians in the city.

At that point in my life, just being there gave me much of the same benefit as staying there would have, and surrounding myself with that thing, I wanted to motivate me to work towards that goal.

Months later, I booked a room at one of the nicer hotels in the city. It was still a fraction of what the rooms at the Mandarin cost, but it gave me a similar experience—and, once again, provided motivation.

My wife and I at the Lebua. We stayed in the one “splurge” hotel room for a grand total of $140 for one night.

Then, we used miles to book our honeymoon years later in the Maldives.

Now, I’m still working to have that kind of travel experience all the time, but you can see how stair-stepping your goals can lead to increased motivation and provide much of the same value during the process rather than having to wait for a big payoff at the end.

Make Your Own Stair Step Goals

So those are a couple of my stair-stepped goals.

Think about some of the dreams you listed earlier. Now, think of ways you can break those into 5-7 steps that can help give you much of the same enjoyment and benefit without necessarily having to go all in on the ultimate dream today.

This can apply to everything from work travel, material items, charity, general experiences – literally anything.

I’d love to see what you come up with.

This post was updated in September 2024 for more accuracy.

Sean Ogle

Sean Ogle is the Founder of Location Rebel where he has spent the last 12+ years teaching people how to build online businesses that give them the freedom to do more of the things they like to do in life. When he's not in the coffee shops of Portland, or the beaches of Bali, he's probably sneaking into some other high-class establishment where he most certainly doesn't belong.