Feel daunted and overwhelmed by what’s headed your way?
Do you feel like there’s simply way to many steps involved in the journey?
That’s because there probably is.
To get somewhere at all, take the first step.
Makes sense on paper but when it’s time to execute and implement the story is different.
It’s very easy to look at all the steps that’s to come and instead of taking one of them, you take none.
It’s difficult to start something new as it is and when there’s a million steps involved making the end objective seem really far away, it’s even worse.
We can easily feel overwhelmed by how far away something is from us and there will be times where we just don’t see a path of getting through it all.
There might be a lot of steps involved, a lot of obstacles to get by and a lot of question marks but often times these will solve themselves when we get there.
We worry about them now and think of how we’re going to solve every part of our journey way before it even started.
But the truth is, we can’t take the 100th step without taking the 10th step and we can’t take the 10th step without taking the first one.
We shouldn’t even be trying to do it.
This wastes a lot of our energy and time and is distracting us from what we need to do.
It distracts us from achieving what we want.
The book “The Boy The Mole The Fox And The Horse” by Charlie Mackesy demonstrates this well.
The boy was overwhelmed by all the trees they had to pass and saw no way through it.
The horse then came to the rescue and got the boy to focus on one single step to start off with.
The boy said “I can’t see a way through”.
“Can you see your next step?” asked the horse.
“Yes” answered the boy.
“Then just take that”.
That’s right, in whatever journey you’re about to embark on, there is a first step that needs to be taken.
Whether you see it or not, it’s there, and without it, you’ll not be able to take your 10th one either.
Instead of trying to solve any issues that might come your way on the 56th step you should focus on making all the steps prior to it first.
I’m once again a very good example of failing to take the first step because of focusing on the millionth.
When I was at my lowest points in life, I saw no light, no end to the very dark tunnel.
I had very unhealthy habits and none of them were going to lead me to where I wanted to go.
I felt so overwhelmed by all the steps I had to take, everything I had to overcome.
I was very much focusing on the 100th step waaay before even thinking of taking the first one.
I guess I wanted the ride to be smooth sailing throughout the entire journey and I thought that by having it all figured out beforehand, it could go smoothly.
It obviously didn’t go how I expected.
Because I wasn’t at my 100th step, there was just no way for me to know what situation I would be in by then and trying to work it out was a complete waste of time and energy.
There just was no point in thinking of everything that could potentially happen.
I guess I was afraid of change, afraid of doing something new and outside my comfort zone.
I didn’t realize it then, but that’s literally what was necessary to achieve something I currently wasn’t.
And it was to do something I currently wasn’t.
You want to know the funny thing?
Out of all the things I worried about happening to me during my journey, guess how many of them actually happened.
Yes, that’s right, None.
Hilarious, I know.
There really was no reason to worry then was it?
I just thank myself every day for realizing it as early in life as I did and actually decided to do something about it.
We can blame our surrounding things for not going our way, things which we have no control over, but it is certainly how we respond and react to those situations that determines how far we get in life.
It’s our own conscious choices that shape our future.
I could’ve just sat there feeling victimized and waited for someone to come rescue me.
Who knows, I might’ve still been waiting.
There was something that got me to realize that I was the only person in the world that could get me out of this loophole.
Funnily enough, it was social media.
And no, this didn’t lead me to liking social media and I don’t encourage using it, it just happened to be the thing that gave me the nudge I needed.
Not one specific person or channel, but multiple together, bringing me to the realization I was in need of at the time.
One thing is definitely for sure, you won’t even get to your second step if you never take the first.
Don’t let the start become a dead-end of your amazing life.
Don’t let the start be what stops you from living.