The only way to get anything done
One step at a time.
Life really is a series of tiny steps that have led to where you are now. It’s really that simple.
Every seemingly overwhelming problem you’ve faced and overcome, you’ve done so by breaking it down into smaller pieces. You don’t get in shape or establish yourself in a particular field or become close friends with someone in one fell swoop.
Over the course of your life, you’ve travelled untold kilometers (or miles), a distance that would be impossible to cover in a day or week or year. But you’ve done it, and you’ve done it by covering that distance gradually, over time, in little pieces.
We all know this, or maybe you haven’t thought about it but of course it’s a concept we can all very easily understand. But this is still really important to remember, and that’s because it brings you closer to the present.
By that I mean you do yourself no favors by trying to think about the next 100 or 1,000 miles (or kilometers) ahead of you. You just need to take the next step, at which point, it’ll probably become clearer what the next small step after that should be from there.
The mistake I make is thinking that I can figure out a bunch of future actions or decisions before their time has come, and actually I cannot. It never works. My ability to predict the future sucks. I can only reliably figure out the little thing right in front of me.
Every step brings new information, and I feel a little different at each stage of the journey. When I put it that way, it makes sense that I should not project so far into the future because how will I know how I’ll feel then?
All it takes is that next little decision or action, and the light will shine just far enough ahead of you… for you to do it again. And again. That’s it. That’s how it goes. It’s how I’ve gotten this far. It’s actually how you’ve gotten this far too. And it’s how anyone who has done anything ever, has done it.
So don’t make my mistake and try to do more than anyone else has ever accomplished. Just take that one next step.