Success Strategies: Running the Three-Foot Marathon Towards Your Success Today
Success Strategies: Running the Three-Foot Marathon Towards Your Success Today
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step”
~ Tao Te Ching
You and I both have Big Dreams. Something that lights us up—something that both scares and enlivens us.
Our Big Dreams may involve our business or career, our finances, our relationships or our health. Depending on our stage of life, our Big Dreams may involve accomplishment, freedom, adventure, meaning, or legacy.
You and I might know exactly what our Big Dreams are. You and I might have vague insights into what our Big Dreams are. Or, you and I might feel as though we have no clue whatsoever what our Big Dreams are.
For many of us, our Big Dreams are like the words that escape us in the moment we need them most, tantalizingly on the tip of our tongues yet just out of reach. It matters not; what matters most is to be willing to step into your Big Dream, and clarity will come along the way.
Start With The First Step
Most of us have about a three-foot stride. From the back of our back foot to the front of our forward foot is roughly 36 inches. And, for every man, woman and child in human history who has ever run a marathon, they’ve done it three feet at a time.
I have a friend and client who runs ultra-marathons. Annually, he runs 24-hour, 100-mile races. I asked him once, “How do you run a 100-mile race?” His response was, “I don’t…I run from water station to water station. I know that the next one is 6 miles away, so I just focus on those six miles. Sometimes, I can’t even focus on those, so I pick a spot in the near distance, and run to that point, then another, then another. Sometimes, when the sun is behind me, I chase my shadow. But if I tried to run a 100-mile race, I’d defeat myself before I started.”
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” This saying, taken from the Tao Te Ching by Lao-Tzu, reminds us the longest and most challenging journeys have a single starting point. Even if you don’t know what your Big Dreams are, take that first step today. Just one step.
Willingness precedes all Big Dreams. If you and I are willing, the way reveals itself. Hasn’t this proven true in your life? Hasn’t there been one or more times that you’ve begun something—something important, something meaningful, something fun, something difficult—without a sense of how it would end and no clue of all the steps required along the way, only to surprise yourself by your willingness to keep moving until you reached that end?
Your Big Dream is not waiting for you to analyze and outline all the steps along the way and wait for the “right” time, your Big Dream is waiting for you simply to BEGIN—to willingly take the first three-foot stride so that your Big Dream can show you the rest of the way.
Practice: How to Begin
In order to break-through towards your Big Dreams (whether they are business, financial, relational, health or career), focus on what's within your power, authority or influence:
Do a series of one to two things each day—big or small—to make yourself available for more opportunities for your Big Dreams to show up
Reach out to someone(s) you have been hesitating to reach out to and simply connect
Look for partnership opportunity that someone has mentioned in the past that you haven't accepted, and accept it
Three things to remember about Big Dreams:
They require proper time and small steps daily in order to develop and unfold
They require us to grow beyond where we thought was our edge (comfort zones)
They will never, ever be a straight line (the breakdowns serve to grow us)
Focus on your Big Dreams and small steps this week and take your three-foot stride!
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Brian Evans Coaching: Guiding Executives, Leaders and Business Owners to solve essential problems and create dynamic growth. For more information or to discover greater successes, contact me for a complimentary conversation
