Taking the first step

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
Lao-tzu

Do you have a dream deep in your heart that you want to pursue? If you do, have you taken the first step necessary to achieve it? Taking the first step is perhaps the most difficult thing to do in achieving a dream. There are a lot of mental obstacles that make it difficult to take that first step.

Here are some dont’s to help you solve the mental obstacles:

  1. Don’t wait until the situation is perfect.
    You should not wait until the situation is perfect because the situation will never be perfect. No matter how or when you see it, there will always be something that make you think again.
  2. Don’t wait until other people agree with you.
    Just like you shouldn’t wait for the situation to be perfect, you shouldn’t wait until everybody agrees with your idea. There will always be opposition, and that is perfectly normal. If you wait until there is a consensus, you will never start.
  3. Don’t wait until your skill is good.
    We might think that we need to have good skill before we start doing something. But the truth is, you will learn much more by doing than by waiting. Doing allows you to hone your skill much faster than just learning the theory.

As you can see, the three points above have “don’t wait” in them. So here is the bottom line: the best time to start is now.

I learned this in blogging. When I started my blog, I didn’t have the skill to create good content nor to market it properly. But I started blogging anyway. The first months were really tough. After blogging for four months, I got only ten subscribers. Thankfully, the experience taught me a lot. While there is still a lot of room for improvement, I’m now amazed to see what I’ve learned along the way.

Here are some more things you should do to successfully take the first step:

1. Believe in your dream.

Believing in your dream is essential to get the motivation you need to achieve it. You simply can’t fool your own heart. Deep down inside you know whether or not you can believe in your dream. Is the dream worth pursuing? Is it something that you want to pour your heart into?

2. Visualize your dream.

Can you imagine – in detail – how the world will look like when your dream comes true? Visualizing your dream will energize you because you can then see how the world changes for the better and how people live a happier life because of your dream. The energy and excitement is there for you to feel.

3. Expect a hard way ahead.

While it’s not impossible, achieving your dream is definitely not easy. Don’t expect an easy way; expect a hard one instead. Having the right expectations from the beginning will make the journey much easier for you. That way, you won’t be surprised and lose heart when you encounter obstacles along the way.

4. Take one bite at a time.

Your dream may be big (it should be!) and that might make it seem overwhelming. But, like the saying says, “When eating an elephant take one bite at a time.” So take a small portion of it that you can handle. Think about something that you can do within one week, and then think about what you can do today. It could be as simple as calling a more experienced friend to ask some questions.

There is no doubt that you can eat the elephant. But the key is to take the bites early and often.