I think the vast majority of people have had BIG dreams or BIG goals. We have all had something we desired that seemed out of reach, whether an object, job, accomplishment or something else entirely. I mentioned the concept of taking bite sized chunks out of our goals in a past post but I think this concept deserves a little more consideration.
Maybe you want to loose 120 lbs, or get out of over $25,000 of credit card debt, or start your own business, or find a soul-mate, or anything else that seems way out of reach. We all run into the very real obstacle of being overwhelmed. When your house has been trashed by the kids, or you think of that crushing credit card debt, there is a feeling as if you're drowning. You feel the crushing wait and you know you can't do it. So, like most people we don't even try. We are overwhelmed, don't know where to start, and we're also scared of failure.
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Ultimately we have two major road blocks that stand between us and our dreams / goals. I truly believe if we can manage these, every other obstacle is cake. Here they are, Despair/Overwhelmed and Failure.
Overwhelmed: How do we tackle the big stuff in life? How do we get past this mountain of an obstacle? One bite at a time. One baby-step at a time. I know this sounds simple, probably even cliche but, it's true all the same. I have had the dream of being a published author, of owning a business, or being debt free. For the longest time I never tried to accomplish any of those things because they seemed too big and impossible. Because it seemed to big, I made no plans, took no steps, and did not sacrifice at all. So after years of being a quitter and not trying I realized I was not progressing in these dreams. So what have I done differently? I started taking little manageable bites. Instead of saying to myself I'm going to write a huge novel, I just focus on writing one chapter at a time and one blog at a time. When my wife and I decided to get out of debt we were looking at over $15,000. This made me feel like it couldn't be done at first. But we started taking little bites out of it. We had to sacrifice going out to eat, buying coffee, and having an I-phone, but we were able to pay back 25.00, 50.00, 125.00 dollars at a time bit by bit. Now, in less than a year we have gotten it down to $10,000. And through that time we have moved several times, been without a job for a month and gone through a couple of career changes. All this to say, if you want something, small steps are exponentially greater than no steps. Whats seems to be out of site is not so when we have walked a few thousand small steps.
Failure is not fun, well at least not for me. I think if we knew we were going to be successful at what we put our hand to we would not hesitate to move forward. "What, I can do whatever I want and I know I will accomplish it? Sign me up!" But, we're not guaranteed success. We're not protected from failure, from falling short of the goal.Now on the flip side we often tell ourselves this. "I know I'm not going to succeed, so I'm not going to waist the time." And so we don;t even try. That brings the possibility of accomplishing the dream down to 0%. We have to assume we will be successful, it's just a matter of time and effort.
Take whatever it is that you want to accomplish and stop procrastinating. Stop making excuses. Don't worry about failure, because some of the most successful people in life have failed several times before they "made it." Look at failure as a set back you must go through to get closer to success. Don't let yourself become discouraged by the size and scope of your dream, but instead put your head down and take one step at a time. You know what happens then? We get to where we wanted to go faster than we ever imagined possible. The clip below sums these concepts up nicely.
So, what is stopping you from moving forward to your goal / dream? Is it fear of failure, or the weight of it feeling overwhelming? What is your dream? Can we help to encourage each other to keep taking those small steps forward?
Loved the "Facing The Giants" video. Coach kinda freaks me at about the 20 yard line - but I love the truth & heart behind the scene. ; )
Brock was a leader on this team, an example. This implies he had already learned many hard lessons as a football player. He had learned the fundamentals and experienced heavy doses of failure on the field. He had let his coach and teammates down. He had forgotten his role during crucial plays. The team had probably lost a game or two due to his lack of competency or effort. But at this point that was mostly behind him.
Personally, I'm not too concerned about the "Brocks" of the world because they've already hit the proverbial wall - many times. And they've gone through it, tasting the fruit of success. They've executed the strategic block. They've kicked the winning field goal. They've carried 160 lbs across the field blindfolded on all fours. They've learned their role on the team and their need for teammates.
My concern is with the millions of "Brocks in the making." Every reality show I've seen gets this wrong. The viewer is invited to suspend belief by accepting this season as our shiny new contestants' first rodeo. But in TV land, it's rarely a "first" for these beautiful/talented people. The first rodeo is ugly. We don't want to watch ugly. We want to watch Brock. But real "Brocks" are made in the crucible, tasting the dirt of the practice field before basking in the glory of stadium lights.
"If something is worth doing, it’s worth doing badly.” - GK Chesterton
ReplyDeleteLoved the "Facing The Giants" video. Coach kinda freaks me at about the 20 yard line - but I love the truth & heart behind the scene. ; )
Brock was a leader on this team, an example. This implies he had already learned many hard lessons as a football player. He had learned the fundamentals and experienced heavy doses of failure on the field. He had let his coach and teammates down. He had forgotten his role during crucial plays. The team had probably lost a game or two due to his lack of competency or effort. But at this point that was mostly behind him.
Personally, I'm not too concerned about the "Brocks" of the world because they've already hit the proverbial wall - many times. And they've gone through it, tasting the fruit of success. They've executed the strategic block. They've kicked the winning field goal. They've carried 160 lbs across the field blindfolded on all fours. They've learned their role on the team and their need for teammates.
My concern is with the millions of "Brocks in the making." Every reality show I've seen gets this wrong. The viewer is invited to suspend belief by accepting this season as our shiny new contestants' first rodeo. But in TV land, it's rarely a "first" for these beautiful/talented people. The first rodeo is ugly. We don't want to watch ugly. We want to watch Brock. But real "Brocks" are made in the crucible, tasting the dirt of the practice field before basking in the glory of stadium lights.