Ideas are good, putting an idea into action is great.
What is an idea alone, but words on a paper or screen. It is when someone takes those words and accomplishes something with them that the tangible power of them is realized.
You can be an idea machine, creating thousands of ideas, but if you never bring any of them to fruition what good are they?
I’ve always had ideas. I have seen others with similar ideas become successful with them and thought to myself “That was my idea, I should be rich.”
It was only the past year that I have started to finish an idea. I had an idea to form a product based on what I know about personal finance and the struggles others have with it. I have spent the last five months developing it, creating bonus materials, writing training materials, writing marketing campaigns and setting up the web site and infrastructure.
It has been way more work then I originally anticipated. I have wanted to quit many times due to frustration, procrastination, fear and reluctance to work, but I push through each of these moments because I have the faith that it will all work out and I can celebrate my first sale.
I instead focus on doing some activity every day that helps get me there. At the end of every month, I review what I accomplished, and enjoy the thought that I am 30 steps closer to my end goal. Each step may be insignificant, but taken in whole, I can travel a great distance.
I have a wallpaper on my computer screen that has two spots on opposite sides of the screen. One spot shows “my comfort zone” and the other shows “where my dreams happen.” I heard this from someone else and thought it really captured the essence of going after your dreams. Dreams are sometimes so far away from where we are right now and even though where we are right now isn’t ideal, it is comfortable and we get scared to venture away from it because we fear to lose that comfort.
I read about a man that was over-weight and could not develop a routine to exercise. One day he got off the couch and walked to the front door and then walked back to the couch. Not a huge task but it was a start, and every day he went a little further; day two he opened the door and stepped on to his porch, day three down to the sidewalk, day four down to the corner and so on. These little steps got him to the point that he was walking several miles per day and he never missed his workout.
I like to climb mountains. It is tough for me as I live close to Chicago, which is only about six hundred feet above sea level and I like to climb mountains over 12,000 feet tall. My body is not acclimated to the altitude and every step above 10,000 feet is a chore. Many times I want to quit because my body says it can’t take it anymore. I can’t breathe, I’m exhausted, my legs are sore and I’m mentally wiped.
But two things keep me going; one, I know eventually I will get to the top and two, I keep telling myself “one more step”.
Continuous action on my goal combined with the faith that I will make it there.
It hasn’t failed me yet and I keep pictures of those moments to remind myself, pictures of me on top of the mountain with a big ‘ole smile. Even if no one else knows the struggles or the thrill, I know what it took to get there and the sheer joy I had at that moment.
SUMMARY
Want to achieve any goal? Take small steps every day and have the faith that you will achieve it and you will reach your goal. The steps can be tiny, really tiny, but do something every day.
What will you do this year and commit to seeing it through to the end?