Think Small!

We are often encourage to think BIG. And we should. Yet, there are times when we should think small. Whenever we have a project to complete, a dream to pursue, or a task to finish, we often get consumed by how big the project, dream, or task is. We begin to concentrate on how much time it will take or how hard it will be. Consequently, we never get started. By thinking BIG, we actually talk ourselves right out of doing something important in our lives.

For example, take a person who wants to lose a significant amount of weight. He begins to concentrate so much on how much weight he needs to lose, how much time it is going to take, and the amount of effort required, that he never gets started. He talks himself right out of losing weight! Or, what about the person who is in so much debt that she thinks she can never get out of debt? The pile of debt is just too BIG and it will take too much time to pay off. So she never gets started. And what about the student who wants to do something BIG with her life, yet, when she thinks about how BIG it is, how much time and effort it will take, she believes it can never be done.

Now, let's think small for a moment. What if the person wanting to lose weight did not focus how much he needed to lose, but simply started with one small step? A step that included exercising and eating right for just one day. And another step the next day that included the same thing from the day before. And what about the person in so much debt? What if she concentrated on paying off just one credit card...say the smallest one? Then, once that debt was paid off, she could concentrate on the second card. And what about the student who wants to pursue something BIG in her life? What if she thought small? What if she concentrated on the first step to accomplishing her dream, rather than how big the dream is? What if she broke her dream down into small steps every day? What would eventually happen in her life? Well, the daily concentration on one small step and one day at a time compounded over time will produce BIG results over the course of her lifetime.

Now, fast forward a year, two years, three years, and many years after in the lives of these people if they continue to do the small things they need to do each day. Take the small steps each day. These small things...small steps will add up to BIG results! How much weight could a person lose over time? How much debt could a person get out of? How much income could be produced? How much impact could a student have as an adult who launches a successful career with one small step done each day?

Now, what about you? What is that BIG something you want to accomplish? Pursue? Finish? Change? Don't let the bigness of it keep you from doing it. Think small. Start small...one minute, one hour, one day at at a time. By taking these small steps each day, strengthened by God, and doing them everyday, one day you will say "Look at this BIG accomplishment that was achieved". "Look at this BIG goal that was reached". Look at this BIG dream that was fulfilled". And for some, it may be as simple as saying," Look at this BIG closet that was cleaned out!"

There is a great verse in the Bible that says "He who gathers money little by little makes it grow." It is found in Proverbs 13:11. The spiritual principal of saving money little by little over the course of time with compounding interest can be applied to any endeavor. Don't focus on how much needs to be done, focus on getting it done little by little, one step, one day at time.

Regardless of how BIG the something is that you want to get done, don't get consumed by the bigness of it. Start today by taking the first small step and do it every day. Then one day, you will see that BIG something completed, finished, or accomplished. And if you would, let me know how thinking small is working for you!