Have you ever climbed a mountain?
I’ve climbed a few mountains in my time, and the last one was on my birthday. This mountain was HUGE! It easily dwarfed all the others I’ve climbed and, to top it off, I had to scale vertical rock faces to reach the peak.
As I stood at the mountain’s base I thought ‘Wow’, how am I going to do this?’ Honestly, I was so overwhelmed. Emotions swirled through me and I felt light-headed for a just a moment too. But then something beautiful happened: a sudden feeling of calm spread across my body – from my head to my toes – as I realised the only way I could do this, the only way anyone could do this, was one step at a time.
After my realisation, I felt strong and ready to conquer the mountain and its challenging facades. Of course, reaching the peak was totally worth it; the view from the top was absolutely amazing. I still remember taking a moment to breathe it in and thank myself for realising that I only needed to focus on one step at a time.
Thankfully, a few weeks before the climb, I read a post written by one of my mentors, T. Harv. Eker. This guy is a specialist in helping people take action – he’s extremely motivational. The post I read reminded me how important it is to break down big, daunting goals into small bite-sized pieces.
I know the theory is simple, and you’ve probably heard it before, but it’s the truth. You see, lots of us get an exciting idea, like writing a book or making a movie, only to find our enthusiasm waining after a few days, weeks or months because we realise the enormity of the task. Essentially, fear takes over.
Fear often keeps us from achieving our dreams. It’s that thought in your head that says ‘how can someone like me do a big thing like that?’, or ‘I’m not good enough to follow that dream’. Rather than looking for a way to break down the goal into actionable steps, we often settle for the safe and familiar routine that we so often long to break free from.
As T. Harv Eker says “It’s like taking a pill to alleviate pain. Instead of saying, ‘I can’t do this, I’m a failure,’ we say, ‘It’s not that important to me. I’m not interested in that anymore.’ “
Who knows, if I hadn’t read this post just before my climb, I may have turned away and decided not to tackle the mountain. What an amazing experience I would have missed out on.
My Learning: Create a huge vision. Break it into bite-sized pieces and take action one step at a time.
What’s your next step? Without focusing on the bigger picture of what you’re trying to achieve, consider the ONE thing you can do to move closer to your goal. Keep it simple.
