If you’re like me you have a gazillion things on your to do list ranging from stuff that needs to get done, stuff that should get done, goals, dreams, fun, oh and work stuff. Probably in that order!
Seriously though, one of my biggest weaknesses is to get paralyzed in procrastination–not because I’m lame duck Joe-ina who can’t add 2 + 2 and come up with 5…I mean 4 (gotcha!) 🙂 But rather, are my ideas, especially the biggie goals, so huge I get overwhelmed and a whole lotta mucky muck fear gets in the way and haults me–or tries to–and often a whole day, week, even a couple weeks, and at times even several months–before I’ve done squat toward reaching the goal.
For 5 weeks now I’ve watched Berkeley develop a very interesting relationship with his toys basket. He growls at it, nudges it with his nose, pushes it into the shelf and always finishes off with whimping and whining for his squeaky lobster. He loves that thing.
And I’ve given in so many times it’s tough to admit….til recently I thought “Ya know, he’s a big boy. He’ll figure this out.”
So for a few nights, I haven’t budged at the whimps and whines. It’s been hard. I’ve spoiled him silly. But for nights he’s indeed taken a baby step forward. And with each one, gained some progress on mastering control over this toys basket.
Tonight, something connected and his nudging the basket led to pawing it over on an angle, which gave him more room to lean over into it. And sure enough, within a few minutes, he grabbed the lobster and ran over to me to play fetch. Success! Victory! And all it took were a few baby steps.
Now surely there’s varying degrees of importance to this lesson. But there’s a simple reality and reminder it brought home to me tonight:
Whatever’s looming be it grandiose or not so huge, whatever you’re feeling overwhelmed by, take one baby step toward doing anything remotely productive toward that goal, even if the one step is writing the goal down:
“I will climb–and peak Mt. Everest–next week.”
KIDDING! Seriously, you gotta write down something doable..and in a measureable, practical, realistic time frame:
“For the next hour, I will write some paragraphs of what will eventually become my collection of stories for my memoir.”
See? Something like that. I can surely commit to an hour. I can surely commit to several paragraphs. It’s a quantifiable goal, a practical step. And what’s more, I can breathe. It’s doable. I can visualize what a few paragraphs looks like. I know that 60 minutes is an ample time frame (because I guarantee you I will stand up and pace or use the bathroom or do several things mobile while I’m thinking–because that’s how I write).
The other thing I’ve noticed time and again is how vital it is to self defend whenever setting out to accomplish a baby step.
What do I mean by self defend?
I mean advocate for yourself spiritually. Defend what is influencing you, inspiring you, evolving in you this desire.
That source–which I often write about as the infinite Mind–never drops you off and says ‘See ya.”
It’s accessible 24/7 in thought and it’s always at hand outlining each and every single one of your moments.
All that’s needed it to still thoughts and listen.
Taking a baby step from a place of self condemnation and fear and doubt and guilt can surely halt even the best intentions. So you need to get into your thoughts and proactively squelch the fears and doubts, even admidst their attempts to convince you that you’re hopeless to want to do this or you’re inadequate and no way will you ever get that done. Or who are you kidding to think you can achieve that? or who the heck are you to want to accomplish that?
These blaring doubts, fears, and whatnot are not the ideas of the infinite Mind, and you do not have to be misinfluenced by their suggestions.
The more you get in and thwart off these influences with radical conviction that you can not be misinfluenced, the more their attempts to do so will cease.
But it takes thought by thought practice…that self defending, that getting into your thoughts, arresting all the muck, rooting them out, and then letting yourself hear the ideas that are always there outpouring inspiration..
Every moment we have the ability to hear the next baby step…and the next…and the next. And in hearing it, we have to take the step. Doesn’t matter if it’s getting a blank canvas on which you intend to paint a masterpiece, or writing the first sentence of the novel you’ve dreamed of writing, or even still, calling the person you’ve intended to reconnect with for months or years.
Everything can seem as tough as peaking Mt. Everest next week if we let it.
But getting into thought, silencing the condemnations, and doubts, and fears and listening intently for the inner knowing we each have that comes from Mind’s nudge, this is the most important step toward accomplishing that huge seeming unsurmountable goal that you can ever take…one baby step at a time.
And little by little, you will feel liberated from a sense of procrastination or feeling overwhelmed or too scared or too uncertain or too whatever to move forward.
Just remember: Berkeley figured out how to lean into that basket and grab lobstah-mahn.
It’s really that simple, that doable, and you already have all you need to make that single baby step. So go take one and leave a comment saying what you did and how it went! Have fun!