You might remember hearing phrases like these from time to time:
You can eat an elephant one bite at a time.
Do it step by step.
If you’re like me you’ve heard these hundreds of times, they are in popular culture and we’re acclimated to them, and they can even get a little annoying. But the reason these phrases have stood the test of time is because they are true – that’s how it works.
One of the wisest things you can do is to learn how the world works, and then begin to operate based on how the world works. The great thing is, we don’t have to like the way it works in order to follow the system. All we need to understand is HOW it works. Not whether we like it or not. If I want to get where I want to go, all of that has to be irrelevant.
Let’s face it – if incremental steps didn’t work, we wouldn’t still be sharing these phrases. And it’s tiresome, because it’s obvious. Because we’re numb to these proverbs, they don’t grab our attention like they should. Maybe because we’re impatient.
But the truth is, if you lost two pounds a month, in one year you would be 24 pounds lighter. If you saved $100 a month, in one year you would have $1200.
So why don’t we always do it? Why don’t we act like it? I think it’s about 50/50 between these two problems.
We don’t trust incremental change will work the way we want it to.
Or we don’t trust ourselves to keep taking the steps (we think, why should I start doing this, I’d be wasting my time because I’ll probably quit before I’ve reached my goal.)
I used to get inspired to practice the piano, and I’d take a weekend, and practice for six hours that weekend. All proud of myself. Then 45 days later, I’d get inspired again. In those middle 45 days, I’d question my commitment to learning, and question my ability. Then it would fester and make me feel a little bit bad about myself every day, until that six weeks or so came around and I’d do another marathon practice.
I did not make leaps in progress until I began to sit down every day for 10 to 15 minutes and consistently work on the techniques I want to have, the skills I wanted to have.
I did the same thing learning Spanish. I’d get excited about the language, buy a new book, download and print 50 worksheets, then spend a few hours learning, until the excitement was all burned off, worked off. Then six months later I’d get the bug again. I didn’t make progress until I said “at least one lesson a day, every day. 5-10 minutes a day.” Such a small bite, but that elephant is getting eaten now.
I have a similar pattern with everything I’ve done. It’s easy to work when you’re feeling inspired, it’s harder to work when you’re not feeling anything. It’s fun to spend hours setting up a new business, it’s harder to look for clients, make the calls and experience the rejection.
The great new of the day is that you don’t have to trust yourself. You only have to put faith in incremental change, and take those small bites, those small steps. And then, only work on TODAY. Take the biggest step you can, TODAY towards your goals and desires. Doesn’t matter if it’s small. Doesn’t matter if it seems like much.
Little steps in the right direction.
As long as you keep taking even these little steps, you will begin to see progress – and that will inspire you to take larger steps sometimes.
Jim Rohn defined failure this way:
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