Author of Manifestation Miracle
“I don’t know where I’m going, but I’m on my way.” ― Carl Sandburg
My teachers never considered me a model student back in elementary. At best, I would get character achievement awards such as “Most Enthusiastic” or “Most Cheerful”. But as far as academics went, I was never really at the top of my class.
However, there was one time when I was pretty proud of myself. I suddenly needed to take on a big project which is really overwhelming at first.
My friend’s house burned down and they lost pretty much everything. Their family didn’t really have anyone to help them start over so I thought of doing something.
I thought “How can I help them? I’m just one kid and I don’t have any money.” So I got the idea of holding a garage sale to raise some cash and give what I could. That weekend, my parents helped me quickly put together all the stuff that we didn’t need but were still in good condition.
It actually went very well and we sold almost everything we put up. But then, I had that same sinking feeling because I knew that what we made still wouldn’t be anywhere near what my friend’s family needed.
So then, I had another thought: “if one garage sale won’t make a difference… how about a hundred?”
If each of the families at my school would contribute even just a handful of items to sell, then we’d have enough “inventory” to set up an even bigger sale.
After handing out hundreds of flyers at school, at the park, or any other public place I can think of, All of us somehow managed to contribute to the most epic garage sale in our town.
I felt that it was a great achievement for me to basically start out with nothing but end up with really spectacular results and help my friend in the process.
Big things grow from small things
It’s funny how one feels at the beginning and at the end of a journey. You don’t really know how far that first step will take you, but you put one foot in front of the other anyway with faith that you’ll end up somewhere amazing.
Stephen Duneier explained the importance of taking small steps in his TED Talk. Here’s the video:
While most of us take for granted the things we do every day on a micro level, Stephen illustrates how the sum of these adds up on a macro level.
He said, “…because of the continuous and compounding nature of all those millions of decisions that we face on a regular basis, even a marginal improvement in our process can have a huge impact on our end results.”
So Stephen gave some very vivid and entertaining examples of how making small adjustments to those micro-level decisions can exponentially increase our probability of success.
Creating the ripples of change
Think of when you throw a pebble in water. At first, you wouldn’t think that such a tiny thing would mean much.
But once it hits the surface, you can immediately see that small ripples it creates actually expand the further they go.
And that’s just one pebble. Imagine if you gathered a hundred of them. Wouldn’t that make an even bigger splash?
In the same way, never underestimate the handful of “tiny” changes you make in your life on a daily basis. For instance, you might scoff at the habit of setting aside 15 minutes a day to read a book you’ve been wanting to finish.
But if you think about how it adds up every day of the week and over the course of a month, you’ll see that those 15 minutes actually mean a lot. So, when it comes to making incremental changes, always consider how they fit into the long game.
You can apply this way of thinking to just about any endeavor you want to tackle, no matter how intimidating they appear to be.
How to change your life, one pebble at a time
Is there something you’ve always wanted to do, but got discouraged after thinking about the mountain of tasks needed to get it done?
If you feel overwhelmed, think of all the “pebbles” you need to gather. Make a plan to get as much as you need to create that big splash in your life.
It could be in the form of listening to a half an hour of Japanese lessons during your daily commute to work to learn the language.
Or it might be replacing one unhealthy thing from your meals every day of the week to gradually eat better.
On their own, these habits and changes seem mundane or underwhelming. But the more you stack these small changes over time, so will your success.
The reason why most people give up their dreams is that they can’t reconcile those ordinary steps needed at the start with the extraordinary results that come after.
My friend for example, went from being dirt poor and thousands of dollars in debt to creating a thriving seven figure business. The surprising thing was that he didn’t need to turn into a different person overnight to radically transform his life.
Thanks to a series of small steps he did every day, he was able to gradually change his very thought patterns. It was like getting a brain transplant and inheriting the mind of an ultra-rich CEO!
I have included a FREE REPORT that will help you Reprogram Your Brain Into a Powerful Money-Making and Wealth Generating Tool (Quiz + Free Report)
Don’t let your dreams elude you, take control and make them happen starting today.
Yours,
Heather