High-achieving people use this 1 hack to stay motivated, says Hollywood producer and author of 'Who Better Than You?'

After graduating from college with an electrical engineering degree, Will Packer switched gears and decided to pursue a career in filmmaking.

Now, Packer is known for producing multimillion dollar blockbusters like "Ride Along" and "Straight Outta Compton," but at the time he had no name and no real funds.

To get his first project off the ground Packer set a goal to raise $1 million. But, he quickly realized it probably wouldn't happen in a timely manner, if at all. So, he shifted his target.

"Instead of saying, 'I'm going to shoot this movie when I raise $1 million' I said, 'I'm going to shoot this movie in June, and whatever I've been able to raise between now and June, that's the budget of the movie,'" Packer tells CNBC Make It.

With $75,000 he shot his first movie.

"Not saying that it was great," he says. "It didn't win a bunch of awards, but I actually had gotten the first step off the ground."

The experience taught him that progress doesn't always look the way you imagined — and oftentimes our idealized milestones are more of a roadblock than a catalyst. This is one of many lessons he outlines in his new book "Who Better Than You?: The Art of Healthy Arrogance & Dreaming Big," which publishes later this month.

"Don't make the first step to climb to the top of the mountain or even halfway there," he says. "Make it literally a first step."

For Packer, getting that first movie out, even if it wasn't just as he pictured it, was motivating and helped him build some momentum. "I had a calling card that when people said, 'Show me what you've done.' I had something to show," he says.

Whether you're pivoting to a new industry or competing for a promotion, a lot of the work it takes to reach your long-term goals won't be flashy.

"We think that every accomplishment has to be lofty, has to be some big, social media post-worthy accomplishment and that's not the case," he says.

Sending a few networking emails or tightening up your resume aren't going to land you a new gig tomorrow, but that doesn't mean they aren't important.

"Focus on what you're doing because it's the work you put in when nobody's watching that makes everybody pay attention later," he says.

And be sure to celebrate the small, seemingly invisible steps you take everyday to reach your goals. Eventually, they will add up.

"Sometimes you have got to generate some momentum, even if you're fabricating that momentum," he says. "Even if it's incremental, even if it feels like it's not substantial, you have got to do something to tell yourself, 'Yeah, I'm moving forward.""

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