I don’t know about you but I save the excuse, ‘it’s too big’ for the things I really, really want.  Somehow the more I want it, the more unobtainable it seems.  There’s a clue in there somewhere on how to move past this excuse.  Generally speaking this excuse is a euphemism for ‘I don’t know where to start.’ There are too many variables and pieces that the goal seems more like a giant ball that will roll away if you touch it, instead of a path where any step will move you forward.

The thing is, it is a path and any action will reveal more actions along with more insight as to which ones will be the most effective.  I was doing some reading this past weekend on a completely different topic (online marketing) when I came across the story of the one red paperclip and how one guy who wanted to own a house got there with a single paperclip, some patience, and creativity.  I doubt he really knew where to start either so just took a stab at it.

Sometimes the wild and wacky method is really effective, sometimes not.  For example finding true love – a large and unwieldy goal for a good portion of the population.  You can’t buy it, and there is lots of conflicting advice out there so where do you start? Is it really to big to be an achievable goal?   I don’t really think it matters where you start just so long as you do something other than give up – it’s more a process of a elimination.  Online dating will work for some and not for others as will church, Home Depot, traffic accidents, and a few others that I’ve heard of.  While I wouldn’t recommend staging a traffic accident or anything else that isn’t authentic behavior, you can’t say it won’t work if you haven’t tried it. Or looked at a college website if you’re thinking about switching careers or gotten a map if you’re thinking about moving somewhere you’ve never been.  Do just one thing and see what presents itself.

Next week: ‘I’ll lose interest before it’s profitable / it won’t be worth it’

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