By T. Harv Eker
A lot of my students come to me with their big dreams. They
come with an idea fully formed, eager to get started, but unsure of where to
begin. That’s the problem with a dream so big: what’s the next step when you
can already picture the end product? Today, I’m going to teach you how to hold
onto those dreams — while still creating a manageable next step.
How to Decide Your Next Step to Achieve Your Dreams
A lot of us will come up with a big challenging action and
get excited. We say, “I’m going to write a book” or “I’m going to start my own
business.” It’s a big thing, and that’s what excites us.
What happens, though, is that we often tend to lose interest
even though we were so sure this was gonna be it! Why?
One word: fear. We lose interest because it’s too big. We
lose interest because our mind-frick says, “You can’t do this. It’s easier to
just live the way you’ve been living already.” We go back into our old ways,
settling for less than what we really actually want to be doing.
Create Doable Actions
Instead of taking on a big challenge, a far easier and much
more effective way to get exactly what you want in your life is to create
bite-sized, doable actions.
I’m not saying to take smaller actions. I’m saying: think of
the first three things that you’re willing to do that will move you towards
your big vision. That way, instead of a grandiose goal, you’ve now created a
next step.
One of the reasons that we lose interest in big challenges
is because our programmed brain is trying to save us from fear of failure. It’s
easier for the mind to lose interest than to say, “I’m a failure. I can’t do
this.” It’s a safety valve. We don’t want to make ourselves look bad…even to
ourselves!
It’s like taking a pill to alleviate pain. Instead of
saying, “I can’t do this, and I’m a failure,” we say, “It’s not that important
to me. I’m not that interested in that anymore.” This is what we do.
To combat this, don’t create huge actions for yourself. You
can create a huge vision, but how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.
Just ask yourself, “What’s my next step?”
Forget the Goal, Focus on the Process
Don’t get into the big-thing idea, because, if you do,
you’re going to end up losing interest as a failsafe in order to not feel bad
about yourself. Instead, keep it simple.
People have asked me, “Harv, when are you going to write
another book?” I don’t know. I write for a couple of hours, or one hour.
Sometimes I say I’m just going to sit down and write, sometimes I just don’t
worry about it.
I bring that up to say that if you want to write a book, for
example, just start that way. It’s a lot easier, and you’re happier that way.
Of course, what’s going to happen is that you’re going to
have a conditioned mind that’s going to say, “That’s not good enough. You
didn’t do enough. You didn’t accomplish enough.” You just tell it thanks for
sharing and keep doing what you’re doing.
Give yourself some momentum. A body at rest will tend to
remain at rest and a body in motion will tend to stay in motion. Get yourself
into a tiny bit of motion.
How It Works for Me
I practice this own process myself when I am writing.
Sometimes I’m doing a bunch of other things. Let’s say I’m watching the hockey
game or a movie, and I don’t really feel like continuing to write.
Know what I do? My mind says, “Just relax. You don’t have to
write tonight.” However, I urge myself to just check one of the concepts that I
wrote on a post-it note and see where that goes in my outline. I tell myself
that it will be pretty quick, and then I can stop.
I pick up the next post-it note and think, “Where does this
one go? Oh, wow! That’s cool! This is actually starting to come together and
make sense!” Then I start writing maybe for five minutes. Sometimes it turns
into much more.
Guess what I’m doing? I’m writing.
I don’t need to prod myself, because I know I just need to
do one thing. I just need to go back to the keyboard, relaxed and easy, pick up
one post-it note, and enter it. That’s all.
One tiny little step creates momentum.
