Dream Big, Act Small – TPW390

Taking small steps each day can help us achieve our big dreams.    Slow and steady wins the race in the achievement of our hopes and dreams I ran across a quote on social media that really caught my attention... “It’s the small habits. How you spend your mornings. How you talk to yourself. What you read. What you watch. Who you share your energy with. Who has access to you. That will change your life.”  ~ Michael Tonge It got me thinking about the interplay between big dreams and small actions and how both have a role in productivity and making a life that matters. Where’s the balance between dreaming big dreams and making big strides, and taking small steps little by little? You've probably heard the story of the tortoise and the hare. Both had the same goal: to win the race. The winner wasn’t the one who made the big splashy start, but the one who persisted in taking small steps. Slow and steady wins the race. Dream Big Big dreams - many of us have them. Maybe it's to start a business, get a degree, or write a book. Perhaps we want to run a marathon or take that dream vacation. Or maybe even build a house, build a family, build a career. Dreams, big or small, are an important part of a meaningful life. Eleanor Roosevelt is quoted as saying, “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” “Dream big dreams! Imagine that you have no limitations and then decide what’s right before you decide what’s possible.” ~ Brian Tracey “When you cease to dream, you cease to live.” ~ Malcolm Forbes Act Small * We reach our big dreams by small habits.  James Clear, the author of Atomic Habits (discussed in TPW230 as part of our recurring Productive Reading series), says in a post on his website: “Your life today is essentially the sum of your habits. How in shape or out of shape you are? A result of your habits. How happy or unhappy you are? A result of your habits. How successful or unsuccessful you are? A result of your habits. What you repeatedly do ultimately forms the person you are, the things you believe, and the results you enjoy. It is so easy to overestimate the importance of one defining moment and underestimate the value of making better decisions on a daily basis. The daily choices we make shape our teams, our societies, and ourselves. Change your habits and you’ll change your life.” Bold steps and audacious actions are great and can kickstart our progress toward our goals, but are not sustainable.  Most of us have multiple commitments (mom, friend, caretaker, employee, wife) and cannot regularly allocate to one goal or dream the time, energy, and attention it takes to make huge leaps. One article put it this way: “The truth is, nothing that can be acquired immediately is sustainable, and if you want to make a true impact on your life, you have to put in the work that is required. If this weren’t true, everyone in the world would be physically fit, rich, and happy.”  * Small steps, taken consistently, get us where we want to be. “Even if you can’t just snap your fingers and make a dream come true, you can travel in the direction of your dream, every single day and you can shorten the distance between the two of you.” ~ Douglas Pagels