I was playing in the semi-finals of a tennis tournament recently and I and my partner were in serious trouble. We were a set and 5-2 down to good opponents who were playing well, which means we had virtually lost. I said to my partner let’s at least win our opponent’s next service game. We did. Then we said to ourselves well let’s at least get to 5-5. We did. And then let’s get to a tie break. We finally won the set and the match 1-6 7-6 7-5, and went on eventually to win the tournament.
My point is that when faced with a challenging or seemingly impossible situation in our work or leisure lives all you can do is try and work out the next small step to resolving the situation, and then try to achieve that. Worrying about the awful position you are in as a whole doesn’t really help.
Stephen R. Covey in his book the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (see this informative synopsis) advised: Putting first things first means organizing and executing around your most important priorities. It is living and being driven by the principles you value most, not by the agendas and forces surrounding you.
It also follows that the first step has to be the right one – it would have been useless in my example I suggest for me to have exhorted my partner to “play better”. What does that mean and how do you achieve it? I’s just rhetorical. See this articlein Forbes which discusses how The Most Successful People Take Small, Smart Steps Toward Their Goals.
While this article Taking Small Steps is the Key to Success in Entrepreneurshipcites the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu “Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small. The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step”. It starts as follows “One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” When Neil Armstrong walked on the moon and spoke these words, it was transformative. It was anything but “one” or “small.” Executing that first successful U.S. mission to the moon was composed of thousands, and maybe even millions, of small steps and victories.
You just have to recognise what that first step is and take it - and make it a smart step. As Vincent Van Gogh the great impressionist artist said “Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together”.
My point is that when faced with a challenging or seemingly impossible situation in our work or leisure lives all you can do is try and work out the next small step to resolving the situation, and then try to achieve that. Worrying about the awful position you are in as a whole doesn’t really help.
Stephen R. Covey in his book the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (see this informative synopsis) advised: Putting first things first means organizing and executing around your most important priorities. It is living and being driven by the principles you value most, not by the agendas and forces surrounding you.
It also follows that the first step has to be the right one – it would have been useless in my example I suggest for me to have exhorted my partner to “play better”. What does that mean and how do you achieve it? I’s just rhetorical. See this articlein Forbes which discusses how The Most Successful People Take Small, Smart Steps Toward Their Goals.
While this article Taking Small Steps is the Key to Success in Entrepreneurshipcites the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu “Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small. The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step”. It starts as follows “One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” When Neil Armstrong walked on the moon and spoke these words, it was transformative. It was anything but “one” or “small.” Executing that first successful U.S. mission to the moon was composed of thousands, and maybe even millions, of small steps and victories.
You just have to recognise what that first step is and take it - and make it a smart step. As Vincent Van Gogh the great impressionist artist said “Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together”.
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