Part of life’s challenge is staying happy in midst of struggle. Pardon me while I use another hiking analogy. Imagine you are on a rough trail with the heat beating down your back and the sun piercing your eyes. Do you take a deep breath and enjoy the ride or do you speed up?
If you ask me, I’d try to get to the end as soon as possible. The process is not enjoyable for me.
But neither is tolerating difficulty, boredom, uncertainty and the other valleys in our lives.
Our struggle is fighting the urge to rush to get to the top. Maybe it’s an internal desire in us to believe that “bigger is better” or that winners are somehow more worthy than losers. Whatever it is, sometimes we’re too much in a hurry to achieve greatness to be appreciative of what’s going on in the meantime.
Let’s role play for a minute. I’ll imagine you asked me, “What’s the worst that can happen by wanting better for myself?”
Well like adrenaline, when there’s a right amount, you actually do better. Adrenaline and dreaming of success are motivating.
But on the other hand, sometimes wanting too much too soon can have the opposite effect-it can be paralyzing. Losing 20 pounds, for example, feels overwhelming but having a goal of losing a pound of week seems more doable.
This is why it’s better to do one small thing than to wait for a life changing moment to take action. If you want to be a successful paid blogger, for example, start small by trying it out as a hobby before you quit your day job. Or if you’re anxious for your small business to be a big success, focus first on your products and company before you decide to branch out to bigger and better things.
Every thing has its time and place. Sometimes we try to rush our experience because the not knowing, or the feeling like we might never accomplish our dreams scares us and either paralyzes us or pushes us too quickly into unknown territory.
The cure?
Start small. Take every moment as it comes. Dream big but pursue it with baby steps. You want to know how to get to the top? Put one foot in front of the other and over time you will eventually get there. Just be patient, wait and see!
Thursday, September 24th, 2009, 3:08 pm | 
Following your dreams | 
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October 1, 2009 at 1:05 pm