Success in Steps

"The key to realizing a dream is to focus not on success but significance - and then even the small steps and little victories along your path will take on greater meaning.." -Oprah Winfrey

It is a very refreshing and calming thing when you have achieved success. You breath easier. Your shoulders relax. Life just seems to be perfect at that moment.

But like the sweet smell of fresh cut flowers or newly baked bread, the aroma lingers but for a while. It drifts and suddenly you find yourself looking to take the next step on the journey.

Some folks I know recently achieved a milestone of success. On their road to achieving a goal, they reached one important step. Every road to reaching something big requires reaching many smaller ones. Sometimes if a small one is not met your whole journey gets rerouted. But if you do get to key ones along the way, then your journey makes a huge step forward.

For two film makers and an actress, the first small step was to secure initial funding. Fun, intense, frustrating and relief are some words they may use to describe the result.

With their funding in place now, they can smell the sweet aroma of success. But they each know that the journey has just begun.

If you want a visual, think of it this way;

Vision: deciding that sitting on the couch forever is not an option
Action: getting up off the couch and walking out the front door

These folks have simply gotten through the gate at the end of the walk. A destination is out there waiting for them. There is a destination out there waiting for you as well.

Take your success in small steps. Consider each and every step towards a goal as a success. Savor each one of them but only for a short time. The next milestone will smell even sweeter.

One Small Step

"Sometimes its the numerous little steps we take that move us further then the giant leap." ~Joseph Primm

We grab hold of a vision or dream in our life. The power of it becomes so strong that we fly out the door in pursuit of it. We run to the highest hill and scan the horizon in search for a direction. As we turn, far off in the distance, maybe to the north or possibly to the west, there it is.

Even though it looks so small, it feels as though we could reach out and touch it. Or with one large leap, we could step over the valley and stand right next to it. It is in the valley where the hard work, the setbacks and those naysayers await you. It is those things we may want to skip past.

So we stand there trying to figure out a way to reach our goal in one giant step. We may even try to make a running jump from the hilltop only to find that gravity (also known as life) takes over. You tumble down the hillside and find yourself not at all where you wanted to be.

You dust yourself off at this point. But don't head back up the hill to reconsider or try jumping again. Dust yourself off and just start walking towards the dream.

Reaching the dream requires that you live the journey; living each step along the way. The good and the bad will happen but each can thrill you and also weigh upon you. Each and every small step adds to your life while placing you closer to the dream.

With many small steps you will eventually find yourself standing next to what was once a dream. You will be standing next to the reality of your vision. You will be standing high upon a new and higher hill. From there you will be able to look back across the valley to where you once were.

And standing high upon this new hill, you will scan the horizon for your next dream. And from that high hill you will be able to see that next dream.  And from that high hill you will begin putting those small steps together again.