Pursuing our goals and dreams can often be slow, tiring and hard work.
Whether it be leaving behind the corporate world to start a business, end a relationship or start a new one, or just generally starting to take ownership of your life and the way you live it – the prospect of so much to do can be enough to put you off even getting started.
It can seem impossible to get from ‘current situation’ to ‘desired future’ because sometimes they can be so hugely different from each other.
But imagine a ship, or a plane following a route of 90 degrees west.
It only needs to change by 1 degree in order to arrive in a totally different destination, with time.
1 degree. That’s all it takes.
One email.
One meeting.
One conversation.
One healthy meal.
One hour.
One event.
One phone call.
One action.
Sustainable change isn’t drastic. It’s incremental.
One degree today. Another degree tomorrow. And the next day. And the next. One degree repeated over.
It reminds me of one of my inspirations who shares his story of giving up alcohol. He couldn’t imagine giving up alcohol for the rest of his life. So his therapist told him,
“I’m not asking you to not drink for the rest of your life. I’m just asking you to not drink today. Can you do that?’
'Of course', he said, 'I can make sure I don’t drink today.'
He’s not drank alcohol since.
One step, one day, one action at a time.
Furthermore, don’t believe what you see on social media – the supposed instant-success stories and the ‘only 3 things you need to do in order to have the best life ever’. As Biz Stone, founder of Twitter said, ’Timing, perseverance, and 10 years of trying will eventually make you look like an overnight success”.
It’s 10 years of implementing effort, just 1 degree at a time, multiplied by 10 years, that got him to where he wanted to be. It didn’t just happen instantly.
So this is for you, when you’re tired of trying. When you’re on the verge of giving up. Or if you’re contemplating not even starting.
What’s the one thing you can do today to take you in the direction you want to go? What’s your one degree?
Aimee C. Teesdale is a life and mindset coach who works with people who want to live life on their own terms but are standing in their own way of making it happen. She enables people who are holding themselves back from achieving their dreams, to develop the confidence, courage and mindset to become the person they want to be and live the life they'd love.