There is no one step solution to anything; every achievement worthy of that name is a journey of incremental progress. We find that fact easy to acknowledge when it is stated this way but so easily forget it when we set goals for ourselves.
Adjust Your Mindset
So many ingenious and potentially life-changing plans fail to ever make the transition from paper to reality. Why? Because the person behind the plan goes too far into the nitty gritty and gets mired in the details. They begin to anticipate problems and then project solutions for each one, gradually getting further from actual implementation.
Of course, that does not mean that the best alternative is to jump headlong into every promising idea. This is simply a reminder that no successful plan was conceived in a perfect, immediately-implementable form. It was launched, and the stakeholders dealt with the bumps in the road, constantly refining their product or service.
Stay the Course
Dealing with setbacks is never easy. After you put your provisional plan in place and encounter the anticipated wall of pushback and naysayers, you must commit to staying the course. You will be given ample reasons to quit, to admit failure, and to abandon your dreams. They are not valid reasons.
Address each issue as it arises, put out the fires as expected of you, and never lose sight of the reasons that first drew you to your ultimate goal. That will keep you motivated at the times when you may be tempted to see the whole exercise as pointless.
Learn as You Go
People you trust may fail you while others from whom you did not expect much perform miracles. Agreements that seemed set in stone may unravel as Hail Mary ventures take off. Small details may undo major efforts. There is something of value to be gleaned from every situation, negative or positive.
Be open to learning those lessons, to allowing your experiences to guide and mold you, just as you learn from the people with whom you interact. Stay in the present and experience each moment, good or bad, for what it is. By paying attention when others are not, you will perceive details that they miss and it will afford you an advantage at some point in the future. Contact me today if you need help setting the course for progress, not perfection.
