walking man
I don't try to jump over seven-foot bars; I look around for one foot bars that I can step over
(Warren Buffet)
REAL STORY: I have a client who has been unhappy in his career for a long time. Whenever he thought about the future and what he could do to get to a better place, he would get stuck. A different way of living and working seemed nearly impossible to get to. The picture of what he wanted was becoming clearer, but the path to get there appeared insurmountable. A few weeks ago, we had the discussion about one small step. "What would be one step you could take that would move you closer to your ideal future? It doesn't make any difference that you don't know what the next step will be or how many steps you have to take; what's important is that you take one step in that direction. Take a step and trust (my religious friends would say "have faith")." He did take a step and guess what? The step opened up conversations that are leading down a path at a fairly rapid rate now.
ANALOGY: Taking one small step thing can work for any part of your life. Some of you want to change yourself physically. Others of you want to get to a different emotional place. Yet others want to get your financial, social or spiritual life to a better state of being. I used to work with a woman who suffered from fibromyalgia and was extremely overweight. The non-stop pain she endured had made her a prisoner in her own home. Her doctors all told her that in addition to the medications she was taking, that she needed to get out and exercise and she had to lose weight. She understood that intellectually, but she was so far from being able to go and work out in a gym (her dream) that she didn't do anything besides sit around, sleep, and feel badly about her situation. One day, she decided that maybe she could wait until her neighbors had all left for work and with nobody looking out their windows at her, she could walk down to the end of the driveway and get the mail from the mailbox. ONE SMALL STEP! She did it one day - then another day - then it was a week of walking down the driveway - next it was going to the end of the block. You know where this story goes ... she ended up losing 150# and while the fibromyalgia never went away, she got in great shape and changed her life. It started with one small walk down to the bottom of the driveway.
CHALLENGE: We all have something that we want to be different in our lives. Don't let the HOW kill the WHAT! Pay no attention to the steps you don't know ! You know what a first step would be. Take it - I dare you!
