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What is slowing us down in achieving our goals? What is getting in our way making us less effective and sometimes even stopping us in our tracks? And what it is – is the worry we often have about “How on earth I am going to achieve this goal”. Sounds familiar? We all experience this to a greater or lesser degree.
Instead of just seeing what is in front of us and taking the next step towards our goal we start to worry about the whole big goal or big project and think “HOW am I going to achieve this?” And exactly this gets in the way and slows us down.
And would it be good to be able to let go of this worry and see what is in front of you and take the next necessary step, and the next one and then the next one. And the thing is when we do this new opportunities come up and this accelerates us and makes us more effective in achieving our goal.
You do exactly this in some instances, for example when you set out to drive in a dark from one city to another (for example I used to go often from North Wales to Scotland, Edinburgh; this would take about 6 hours and I would usually do it in the evening or at night). So what do we usually do in this situation? We prepare whatever we can – fill the tank, get the weather forecast, the traffic report, get the snacks and the drinks ,(look at the map) – and this is it!
We set out to drive and we only see what is in front of us, which is about 20-30 meters with the head lights, and then we trust that we are going to make it to our end destination. Just by seeing what is in front of us and keeping going. Things might come up and we might experience delay but we are still going to arrive to our destination just by following this simple pattern.
I would like you now to look at your goal and start developing the same trust. If you see what is exactly in front of you and just decide to take the necessary step – to follow-up on that opportunity, to take the necessary action on that one thing – this might open up some other opportunities, and you’ll see other steps you can take. And then there might be other things opening up for you which you could not see from where you are now. And this will take you further and further towards your goal in a very effective manner.
I want to briefly mention one thing from my own life just to illustrate this concept. In 2010 I started to follow my passion of mentoring and empowering scientists around the world to become more productive and to live to their fullest potential. I was doing it first as a hobby and then part-time while still working at a University part-time – having a contract and my own research Fellowship.
I felt that I want to fully embrace this passion, grow my business and become a full-time entrepreneur. But I did not know HOW I am going to make this transition. I was tempted to worry about the HOW bit. Somehow it was starting to become a big concern for me. Especially because people around me were saying about the insecurity of being a businesswoman and that I am not going to be as appealing to my clients if I am not a scientist myself anymore. And then of course I was worried what my mother is going to say…
But I practiced letting go of this worry and just focused on doing things that are in front of me. And what happened this week was that my contract at the University was finished because of some external circumstances. It happened quite unexpectedly and maybe even a bit earlier than I was expecting to make this transition. But the thing is that I never needed to worry about HOW I am going to do this transition because it just happened FOR me.
In the end I got what I wanted, I got my freedom and I can now fully embrace my passion and continue to grow my business that I built on my passion. I hope this example was illustrating that I never ever needed to worry about the HOW and just needed to focus on the steps that are in front of me.
Your Productivity Assignment:
Look at your goal, and keeping it in mind look at what is in front of you. Ask yourself what one simple step you can make that would bring you closer to you goal? And just do that! It could be to follow-up on that recent opportunity – and you did not follow-up because you worried about the WHOLE thing. It could be to e-mail someone or sit and write for half an hour. So just do that. And see what other opportunities come to you after you do this!
Please share your experiences in the comments below
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