The desire to achieve your dreams can be overwhelming. Maybe you’re trying to stop spending so much, or maybe you’re trying to write or paint more, or maybe you dream of running your own home business. It’s easy to see the big picture, but what about all the little pictures that make up the big one? That’s where the overwhelming feelings come in and where it’s important to remember that every little bit helps.
Setting goals is great. Taking time to plan out the little steps is great, too. But finding the motivation to complete all of those little steps can be daunting, especially when you see your end goal, and it’s really, really, reeeaaally far away.
That’s where I tell myself, “Every little bit helps.”
My grade 10 math and computers teacher, Ms. Schindler, also headed up the environmental club at our school. It was important to her that anything we wrote finished with “every little bit helps.” She’d apparently read research that proved this sentence actually increased charitable contributions. I don’t know what research she was citing, but the sentence stuck with me.
“Every little bit helps.”
So I took ten minutes one morning and quickly wrote a short kids’ story. I didn’t set up a schedule to do one every day or even every month. I just did one. If I didn’t write another story for a while, that was okay. It turned into a fantastic new bedtime routine with the kids.
So if you’re waiting for that moment when you suddenly feel inspired enough to paint your first portrait, write your first novel, or start up a home business in one day, stop waiting. That moment is now, it is all the time.
Sketch something on paper, write a quick story, jot down some ideas for a business. If you have nothing to write or draw with at the moment, dream your sketch, your story, your business idea. Just do it now. Even if you only have ten seconds before you get off the bus, out of the car, or run out the door, do it now.
Every little bit you do will help you succeed, and when it comes time to the bigger steps, you’ll be ready for them.
Thanks for the encouraging words. Sometimes I wonder what holds us back — it’s ourselves. I needed some inspiration on this gray day!
Glad I could help. If you think of grey days as every-little-bit days, you’ll probably accomplish more than letting the big goals take over (which they seem to do on grey days). Good luck with whatever you’re doing!
yeah, good way to look at it.
I really like your advice. Now I think I know what people mean when it’s said we’re scared we might fail.
Thanks. Fear of failure is pretty big, and I’m certainly not immune to it. Glad you found the blog post useful.
Love your last two paragraphs! Inspiring.
Thanks, Heather. It’s funny how we forget that goals can be small and that we can still achieve them, especially if they take only 10 seconds.
Exactly! You’ve cut to the heart of it. 🙂
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