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This
Newsletter
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is a quick tip ezine for Managers who believe in "Results
Derived from Within"
Written by:
Vickie Bevenour
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March/April
2006 – “The Longest Journey on Earth Begins with a Single
Step”
"The
longest journey on earth begins with a single step."
Lao Tzu, 6th century Chinese philosopher
I
recently saw this quote again and it made a tremendous impact.
I printed it out on a single page and just stared at it.
From this single line all of the recent interactions that I
have had began to flood back to me in the form of questions.
How many people do I know, how many Clients do I work with,
how many Executives are frozen in time because they will not
take the single step?
My
coach, Jennifer White always used to say to me, “Vickie,
change is messy”. I have learned through the years
that, not only is change messy, but it is hard and sometimes
even hurtful. So why is it that there are so many self
help books on the shelves of our local book stores?
Because human nature’s basic instinct is to get better, to
make changes, to try to improve on what we have. In
order for change to truly take place in one’s life, the
motivation to achieve the goal has to be so strong, or the
return on investment so great, that the initial step can be
taken.
So
here is the question for each of us:
What
New Year’s resolution did we make this year?
What
one thing do we want to accomplish for ourselves that would
improve our life?
How
are we doing in accomplishing this task?
If the answer is, “Not too good” then the question
becomes,
“What is holding you back? Have you taken the first step?”
There
are some schools of thought that say, ”Plan Big”, “Think
Broadly”, “Go for the Big Dream”.
In
my experience, I say “Start Small, Think Miniscule”, and
you will be successful. Making reasonable resolutions
that allow you to take small steps towards your ultimate goal
will give you many win-win situations and get you to your
final target.
The
idea is all about “the
slight edge”.
Everyday
we make many choices. Making the “right” decision,
every time, even on the smallest of things, is what will give
you “the slight
edge”. Making small decisions and taking
the first step that will inch you towards your goal, will end
up catapulting you far forward in the end.
Think
about the decisions that you made in the last week. Hopefully they went something like this:
- “I
will call that customer who had the product problem to see
if they are happy with the resolution.”
- “I
will take a solid hour first thing this morning to tackle
that difficult budget issue.”
- “I
will leave a voice mail for the person who coordinated the
meeting and thank them for a job well done.”
- “Instead
of waiting for tomorrow, I will work out today.”
- “I
will have the salad instead of the cheese-burger for
lunch.”
- “I
will work through lunch and deliver the report 3 hours
early."
By
taking the first small step everyday, and many of them, you
will begin to create positive energy.
Energy
is truly an amazing thing! The more positive the energy is,
the easier it is to build on it, to duplicate the movement and
to get things done. Every time you have a decision to make,
take the high road: take the single step that moves you closer
to your ultimate goal. Be relentless, do not stop, and
build on your last positive decision. You will be amazed at
how quickly your first steps compound into great
accomplishments.
Whatever
your New Year’s plan, whatever your resolution, whatever
success looks like to you in 2006, begin with a single step.
Congratulations, you have taken the first step to deriving
results from within.
If
you like the tip, let us know but more important, share it
with a friend or colleague. As always, YOUR SUCCESS IS MY
GREATEST PLEASURE.
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Volume
4, Issue 3