How to get anything done without being overwhelmed
“It always seems impossible until it is done.” Nelson Mandela
One year ago on May 8th, 2014 we purchased a gross house and said we were going to turn it into our dream home. We gave ourselves a year to do it. This past Friday was the one year mark and….we did it!
It reminds me of what a guy told me recently. He was delivering literally tons of stone, mulch, and dirt and he caught a glimpse of my bewildered face as I stood there in disbelief knowing that I was going to be moving it all and he said:
“Do you know how you eat an elephant?" I shook my head no and he said, "one bite at a time.”
Not only did it make me laugh but it also helped me put everything into perspective. When we focus on the elephant it scares us because it’s so big. It makes us want to run away, put off starting, and simply freezes us into inaction.
And inaction never gets us to our dream.
Putting our focus on small ‘bites’ keeps us moving forward and eventually we look down at our plate and it’s empty!
Seeing our vision for this house and cutting the projects up into bite-sized pieces worked! Each day we took action on something; some days the action was super small like calling one contractor, and other days we would work hard from sun up to sun down.
It reminds me of a favorite quote from my man Zig Ziglar, “When you are tough on yourself, life is going to be infinitely easier on you.”
We were ‘tough’ on ourselves in the sense that we took action even when we didn’t feel like it and now life IS infinitely easier. We don’t have anything looming over our heads, no guilt, and no ‘what ifs’. We get to live on easy street and it feels great!
What is your dream? Do you have a big project or goal you’ve been putting off because it feels overwhelming?
Only two things to remember and I promise you will get there:
- Eat that elephant one bite at a time
- Eat at least one bite (or more) each day depending on your appetite