Every big goal is accomplished one step at a time, no matter how small the step. While choosing to take massive action to achieve your goal can bring success, that may not be the right choice for you. Choosing to take a small step today is better than taking a massive step tomorrow.
Learn more about rescuing starfish and eating elephants in this week’s Goal Success by Choice.
Amuse Bouche
Before we get to today’s post, I offer you this light “amuse-bouche” to entertain your mind before we get down to business. Like any other amuse-bouche, you may hate my “dad joke,” but it is worth every penny that you paid for it, right?
Three statisticians went duck hunting… a duck came flying out, and the first hunter grabbed his shotgun, fired and missed the duck. His shot was 10 feet too high. The second statistician said, “I’ll get ‘em!” He pulled out his gun and also missed. His shot was 10 feet too low. The third statistician exuberantly cheered, “we got him!”
Goal Success by Choice
Do you have dreams that you are trying to make come true? Do you have a goal that you are trying to crush? Success doesn’t happen by chance. Success is a series of choices that can make you unstoppable. Goal Success by Choice helps you make these choices to move you closer to your goals.
This blog is my gift to you. I hope that it helps you choose to be successful and bring your goal to life.
Are you ready to help build a world where no goal dies of loneliness?
Big Results Aren’t Possible Without Massive Action… Oh, Really?
One may walk over the highest mountain one step at a time.
John Wanamaker
Have you ever heard the tale of the starfish?
There once was a family who took an ocean-side vacation. One morning, they all went for a walk together along the beach. The beach was littered with thousands of starfish that had washed up on the beach in a storm.
Every time the family’s young daughter saw a starfish, she would pick it up and walk it down the beach to place it back in the water.
Lots of people were watching the little girl and laughing at her futile attempts to rescue these starfish. One older gentleman said to the girl, “Why are you spending your time doing this? You cannot possibly save all of these starfish. Your efforts to save a few are never going to make a difference.”
The girl seemed slightly deflated by the man’s remarks. Then she defiantly picked up a starfish and hurled it as far into the ocean as possible. She looked back at the man and said, “well, it made a difference for that one!”
Time To Eat Your Elephant
Take a quick look at the world around you; do you see anything wrong? Of course, you do. There are broken things, pain, injustice and other problems all around.
- Our changing climate is threatening our very existence.
- The rise of extremism and political power grabs are jeopardizing our democracy.
- Racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia and many other inequities are causing our friends not to be able to create the life of their dreams.
- Inflation, supply chain issues, corporate greed and threats of a recession are creating economic anxiety and pressures everywhere.
These items are just a tiny sampling of the daily headlines about the problems we face. Any one of these problems feels overwhelming, so the aggregate effect can be paralyzing if we let it happen. Many of us want to make them better, and most of us want to make our mark on the world around us. But, how is that possible with the magnitude of these problems?
Wanna know a secret? You can make a difference. You can take action to help fix these problems.
You just have to eat an elephant.
Ok, not literally. I am sure that elephant meat is tough, expensive and definitely illegal.
Figuratively speaking, if someone challenged you to eat an elephant, could it be done? It absolutely is possible!
I see the doubting look on your face, so let me explain. If you want to eat an elephant, you just need to do two things. First, you need to eat one bite at a time versus trying to eat it all at once. Pretty obvious, right? Second, take your time and continue taking small bites until the elephant is gone.
Hint: this is a perfect metaphor for project management!
Every small bite adds up, and each one has an impact. The tale of the starfish is a parable about the power and impact of taking small steps to bring about change. As silly as it sounds, this is an important reminder for us all.
Pick any of the big issues I described above and think about which bites you can take or which starfish you can return to the sea. Can you reduce your own carbon footprint and recycle? Can you commit to voting in every election? How will you treat your friends who are different than you? Are they equally as important to the world as you?
There is an endless list of small steps you can take to be the change you want to see in the world. While your one step may “never make a difference,” it will make a difference to you … and maybe to a few others too!
Just take one bite at a time!
Massive Simple Action
You may be wondering how this topic applies to choosing to be successful with your goals.
Actually, because you are an ambitious, high-achiever, I am guessing you have probably already jumped way ahead of me. You could probably write the rest of this blog. But, please don’t stop reading here.
Many of the biggest stars in the self-help industry (especially the celebrities) talk about taking massive action toward your goals.
The premise of massive action is that once you commit to doing something, taking a big step to get started will help you build momentum. This momentum will help carry you all the way to achieving your goal.
Massive action isn’t wrong, and it isn’t bad. It is often a great approach.
But, the massive action approach isn’t necessarily right for every person in every situation. For some, the massive action approach can actually cause your goal to fail.
Wait! How can it both not be wrong and cause your goal to fail?
Two words: analysis paralysis.
When you have a big goal or problem that you are trying to figure out, you may not know what massive action to take. Unfortunately, you can get so focused on finding your massive action that you take no action at all. While trying to figure out a big step to clearing the beach, you never pick up that first starfish.
Analysis paralysis means you never move at all because you are too busy thinking and analyzing the situation. This paralysis is one of the leading causes of goals dying of loneliness. You don’t fail because you never take the first step.
Instead of taking time to find a massive action, just take one tiny step.
Toss that one starfish back into the water.
Take that first nibble of the elephant.
In other words, a small step towards your goal today is better than a big step tomorrow.
Once you take the first small step, take another and another until you celebrate crossing the finish line.
Want to test it? Try performing one small act of kindness for one person. Did you make a difference?
The Leadership Snowball
One of the other advantages of taking an immediate small step today is that it can cause a snowball effect. Your small step can be contagious!
If you are taking small steps to create the future you want, other people will see you taking those steps. Your steps will likely inspire others to take their own steps. Your small step can quickly become a massive movement.
Taking the first step and inspiring others to come with you is called leadership. We can all be leaders in the world every day.
The Rest of the Story
I actually left out the ending of the starfish story above. So, here’s the rest of the story
The man listened to the little girl’s reasoning about saving one starfish. He was moved. So he too started picking up starfish and returning them to their home, thereby saving their lives. As the crowd of onlookers saw this happen, they joined and started returning starfish to the ocean one by one. In less than an hour, there wasn’t a starfish to be seen.
So What
Every big goal is accomplished one step at a time, no matter how small the step. While choosing to take massive action to achieve your goal can bring success, that may not be the right choice for you. Choosing to take a small step today is better than taking a massive step tomorrow.
Are you pursuing a big goal? No need to be overwhelmed by it. Simply ask yourself what small step you can take right now that will move you closer to the life of your dreams. Then do that! Then repeat until you are where you want to be.
Do you need help figuring out your small steps or massive actions? Let’s chat!
Click Here to learn more about my Operation Melt coaching services.
Beware of the Robots!
Was this post helpful or interesting to you? Do you want to read more? Don’t trust it to the social media algorithms.
Defeat the robots by joining my email list below and get these posts delivered directly to your inbox every week.
