I think I have shared with you before that I have some home projects I've been working on. Over the weekend I got one of them "finished." There are still some smaller items that need to be done, but for the most part, the project is complete enough that it is usable and working!
During the weekend we had some friends stop by and we gave them a tour of the project because they had some interest in a similar idea. As we were showing them around, I found myself almost standing at a distance and listening to myself describe all of the steps that were involved in the process. Hearing all of that and knowing the amount of time that has passed during the journey, I realized this was no small undertaking!
That got me reflecting on how we got to this point of "done" in this project? As I thought about it, I realized it didn't happen because of some huge effort or massive push, but because of the persistence of just continuing to take The Next Step. In order to do what I did this past weekend to "finish," I had to do the stuff last weekend that was the step before this one. And before that I had to do the step that was necessary in order to keep moving forward to get to that point.
You see what I mean.
There is the big project, the overall objective, but that doesn't happen all at once. It gets accomplished through a series of small steps that build on each other. As a result, I think that sometimes it's easier to just think about The Next Step. If I stay too focused on the overall project or objective, I can get discouraged at how slow things are moving. But if I can focus on The Next Step, it makes it easier to just work on that knowing that the step after that will reveal itself in due time.
The truth is, there were steps I ended up taking to get this project accomplished that I didn't even know I would need to take at the beginning. And if I had known how much was going to be involved from the very beginning, I may not have even started! But by focusing on The Next Step along the way, we eventually got there!
How could you take this idea of The Next Step and apply it to your life? Is there a large task you are facing that feels overwhelming and daunting? If you were to think about what just the very Next Step is in keeping that project moving forward, what would it be and how could you tackle just that? Are you leading a team in a significant advancement? Could helping them to focus on just The Next Step reinvigorate a project that feels stalled or totally overwhelming?
Here's to focusing on just The Next Step this week!
Be Well,
Stephen
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