behavior | Leading Like A Champion

One Small Step For A Man

It was 10.15pm on Monday the 21^st day of July 1969. Many of you reading this blog were not born then. After travelling non-stop for three days, three hours and forty-nine minutes, Neil Armstrong took the next and final step to become the first man to step on the surface of the moon. In his own words broadcast live to more than 450 million listeners or one out of every eight persons on the of the earth, he described this as ‘one small step for a man and one giant leap for mankind’.

Dream Big

To grow your life and grow your business you need to dream big. In 1961, US president John F Kennedy’s goal of sending an American to the moon was an ambitious one. You have big ideas you have been playing with for many years. Right there in your imagination, you have created the products, written the books and grown the business idea. Despite the planning, anticipation and excitement, when the time comes for you to take action, you freeze. You remain immobile and the opportunity passes you by. Time and time again you hesitate at the point where action is needed. How do you go about building the industry changing Business Empire you have in your head?

Take small Manageable Steps

The key to your success as an entrepreneur is to dream big and then take small manageable steps in the direction of your dream. Dream big, but start small. There is no room in your imagination for small dreams. Yes you may be running a small business right now, but think of that as one of the small steps in realising your big dream. What small next step can you take today to bring you closer to the dream enterprise or the dream job that keeps you awake at night?

There is only one obstacle in the way of achieving your dreams…YOU! Get out of your own way! Dream BIG and dare to fail!

Experiment with small Steps

Dream big, start small and be willing to experiment with your small steps. Every experiment carries with it a risk of failure and very few adults want to fail. Our education and upbringing has thought us to avoid failure and so as adults we remain rooted in the same dull, boring and unproductive job for years because we are uncertain of the outcome of our next move. A small step affords you the privilege of failing forward and makes each unsuccessful attempt at change, growth or expansion a chance to learn what works and what does not work at little financial cost.

In my career as a businessperson, I have taken several small steps and none of it resulted in my being disqualified from the race. While working as a consultant some year’s back, I got together with some of my friends and we felt the next logical step was to start our own consultancy company. We all contributed money, started the company and employed a manager to run it. We had big dreams and we started small. After a year and a half of not making much money, we closed the place down and I moved on to my next experiment. So dream big and start with small manageable steps.

Ten small steps you can take today to bring you closer to your dream.

Make that long planned phone call to that person.
Submit that business proposal even if you think it makes no sense.
Ask that person for help today.
Do something different with your evening rather than spend it online watching movies.
Apply for that job
Sign up for that webinar
Get out of bed early and get to work on time.
Work on your book project today.
Read that book
Speak your mind at that meeting today.

Why not spend time today, think of the little things you can do to take you closer to your dream and then do it.

We were dwarfs on the shoulders of giants, so that we can see more than they, and things at a great distance, not by virtue of any sharpness of sight on our part, or any physical distinction, but because we are carried high and raised up by their giant size. ~ Isaac Newton

I sat through a one-hour lecture on 4000 years of management history with great difficulty as I asked myself the question, “What is the relevance of this to me?” On a deeper reflection I realized how myopic I was in my thinking.

Here I was unable to appreciate the energy, effort and passion that had produced this amazing intellectual work. While I find no immediate use for what I heard, there are countless of others who will. This made me think differently about the work I do, the decisions I make and the actions I take. Everything is important and everything is relevant.

Today, tomorrow or 4000 years to come, someone somewhere will have a chance to build on your work and will thank you for making the effort.

What value do you put on the work you do? Beyond yourself, have you stopped to consider the effects of your thoughts, the implications of your decisions, and the consequences of your actions?

Yes it’s not about you. It’s about those coming after you. To leave a legacy is to think beyond yourself and have some consideration for those who will inhabit this world after you. As long as there is breath in you, you cannot resign yourself to your present circumstances or get complacent about your station in life. There is more to be done and you have a unique role to play. Yes, there is one more mountain to climb.

What inspires you to keep going when all that is inside of you wants to give up? After 27 years in prison, Nelson Mandela said “I found inspiration in a poem that helped me stand when all inside me wanted to lie down”. What inspires you to get up and move on?

I draw strength from the achievements of those who have gone before me, whose accounts and thoughts I glean from the books I read. I look beyond myself to the many I can assist on their journey just like many have helped me on my journey. You must find inspiration from outside of yourself. You must look around you at the things in your world from which you benefit not from your direct effort but from the effort of those who went before you.

You have available to you an enormous amount of information, knowledge and wisdom. That which took several men and women the whole of their lives laboring and sweating to investigate, learn and understand is now available to you at the click of a mouse. To who much is give, much is expected.

You can be more, do more and achieve more than you can think or imagine, you only need to make the required effort to climb on the shoulders of those who have gone ahead of you.

As you acquire and leverage knowledge, you can take advantage of opportunities unseen by many simply because you are standing on the shoulders of giants.

Leading Like A Champion

Developing Tomorrow's Leaders Today

Tag Archives: behavior

Dream Big and take Small Steps

Standing on the Shoulder of Giants