Big ideas, big dreams, big accomplishments, big goals…they are just so compelling, so fun and interesting and exciting to think about.
What if? What could be? What’s possible? It will all be so much more (fill in the blank) when that happens!
We fall in love with the idea of the end state, not so much with the next step.
And because of that, when it comes to taking that next step, we find that we are stuck. Why? Because the big thing is only a concept, an abstraction of a future state, lovely in the imagination but that’s about it…for now.
The next step, on the other hand, is concrete, real and do-able. It makes the big thing that much closer which induces our resistance to say something along the lines of, What if it doesn’t turn out the way I envision it? (It won’t) or “What if I find out I don’t have what it takes to get there? (You probably do, but you might not).
And so the next step, the small next step that you really can take, ends up becoming a huge mental leap when really, it’s still just a step.
Small steps for big dreams. Small steps for big ideas. Small steps for big accomplishments. Small steps for big goals.
Dream big. Step small.
DAVID BERRY is the author of “A More Daring Life: Finding Voice at the Crossroads of Change” and the founder of RULE13 Learning. He speaks and writes about the complexity of leading in a changing world.
