Big picture or teeny picture?

Only this time last year I was struggling with what at the time seemed like the decision of a lifetime.  I had been accepted into Grad Law School but was really undecided as to whether I would take it on or just chill out, relax and enjoy a quieter (less study-filled = less stressful) life.  Typically, I chose to take on the harder option (no chilling out) and embarked on another University degree.

This year the struggle isn't whether or not to take it on, it's how much to take on.  Matt's blog has a great article about taking baby steps when setting goals and it dawned on me that this is a problem we all have; the bigger picture and the endpoint seems so far away that we struggle with the baby steps and instead want to take giant leaps ahead of where we are.

It seems that most of us freak out in January about our goals, plans and what we really want.  Thank god I am not the only one.  While I am not one for New Year's Resolutions, I do make mini-goals almost daily but often they're more of a checklist of "To Do's" as opposed to goals that work towards my bigger picture (i.e. finishing my law degree, becoming a lawyer, owning a house etc). 

My problem is swinging from one extreme to the other:

January: freaking out about the bigger picture; the time it will take to finish my degree etc, lack of money etc.

April: back to the teeny picture; OMG too much reading, too many assignments, can't cope, can't see past this day, week, weekend, mellllllltttdowwwwwn. 

July: big picture again... damnit still 4.5 years to go - argh!

November: *exhale* another year down... forget uni for 3 months (or try to)

January: big picture AGAIN... damnit still 3.5 years of being poor... fobbing off social events, working half a week, studying half a week, how many more subjects can I jam into this year to cut the length of the degree?

It's really a vicious cycle.  So am I big picture or teeny picture at the moment? I'm a bit of both.  Uni - big picture - hoping to speed up the process - doing 3 subjects and working 3 days a week.  Diet/exercise - little picture... lost 3kg of my 5kg goal for this month then keep it off.  Personal - lots of fun things planned for my birthday in February as well as a girls weekend away.  So I don't think I'm doing too badly.

Are you big picture or teeny picture right now? What will you be tomorrow, next week or next month?

Elle