When I was in graduate school, I had a coursemate who, just like me, worked full time and was studying full time. The difference between us was that he was more advanced in his career. He had at least 20 years on me and was the director of some social welfare programme in New York City. His time was stretched.
He invited me to his house for dinner one day and I took notice of how clean and tidy his apartment was. Not a speck of dust anywhere. Well, I had to ask if he had a maid service and how much it cost because my weekly Saturday cleaning routine was wearing me out, physically and mentally. When he said he did not have a maid service, I asked how he managed to keep his apartment so clean and tidy with his schedule, and he said that he just did a little bit of tidying every day.
Twenty plus years on, the lesson from that conversation still resonates with me. Sometimes when we are faced with tasks or decide to pursue a dream, the magnitude of what it would entail to get on the other side of the task or dream can consume our will to start. We are paralysed by the thought of what is ahead of us. But we do not achieve anything if we do not take the first step.
Our goals are only impossible if we don’t try, and no matter how big those dreams are, we can achieve them if we approach them in phases – one manageable bit at a time.
I read a Chinese parable about a young man on a journey to the top of a mountain. On his way towards the mountain, he saw an old lady and stopped to ask her how long it would take for him to get to the top of the mountain. The old lady ignored him. As he walked away, the old lady called out to him, telling him how many days it would take him to reach the top of the mountain. When he questioned her about her initial silence, she replied that when he asked her the question he was standing and doing nothing. When he started walking, she then could assess his pace and stamina, and give him an answer. The moral of the story is that help comes when we show seriousness in the course of our journey towards our goals, dreams, etc. Consistency is key. Show up consistently. Consistently take steps toward your goals, and little by little you’ll get there.
A Chinese proverb says, “the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step,” so take that first step and get going!
