take one step today

If there’s one common denominator among people who are extremely successful in their chosen line of work, it’s this: They embrace the work that they love and are passionate about and take consistent, aligned actions to move themselves forward. 

In The Bhagavad Gita, Krishna promotes both the paths of knowledge and action but clearly favors action. He instructs Arjun, “The yoga of action, being easier of practice, is superior to the yoga of knowledge.” While we should equip ourselves with knowledge and information with respect to our passion, we should not limit ourselves to this. It is more fruitful to take tangible action that pushes us forward in this path. 

It’s amazing how we humans have the tendency to often get in our own way. The unfortunate truth behind why most people fail at accomplishing their big goals is that they get overwhelmed by their loftiness. They become like a deer caught in the headlights paralyzed by the mightiness of what they want to achieve. In order for you to not succumb to the same fate, all you need to do is focus on the key behaviors that you need to do on a daily basis. 

When we let go of the need to accomplish our mighty goals and conquer the proverbial mountain, we start making progress. Little progress every day can lead to big achievements. As Coach John Wooden has said, “When you improve a little each day, eventually big things occur. When you improve conditioning a little each day, eventually you have a big improvement in conditioning. Not tomorrow, not the next day, but eventually a big gain is made. Don’t look for the big, quick improvement. Seek the small improvement one day at a time. That’s the only way it happens — and when it happens, it lasts.” 

It’s best to not get intimidated by the loftiness of what we want to accomplish, rather we can just take that single step. It’s these tiny steps that get the ball rolling and bring us significant accomplishments and big, bold life changes over time. As the Chinese philosopher, Lao Tzu said, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

Take one step today. Make good use of your precious resources and just focus on doing the work that you love. Even half an hour a day can make a big difference over time. 

Focus on cultivating daily discipline, and put the Compound Effect into action. The key to getting further in this epic journey of success is to, as the Nike brand puts it, just do it. 

So today, renew your commitment to showing up every day and just doing one thing that gets you closer to your final destination.