One small change is all it takes. One small change to change a life, to change paths, to create a new destiny. One small change is indeed all it takes. From the first small change, which can be the tiniest of changes, can grow a momentum that can move mountains.
We often look at changing our lives from a big picture perspective; what the ultimate dream is. Although this is important, it can also be totally overwhelming. If your ultimate dream is to live an inspired life, helping others, making loads of money, travelling the world, driving a new luxury car, having your own successful business and married to your soul mate, yet you are living alone while working a crappy job you hate and still not covering the basic bills and necessities financially, the dream can seem completely unreachable and unrealistic. So unrealistic, that for many, not a single thing is done towards achieving it.
So many dreams go unrealised because of this one small thing, when all we have to do is, something… anything. It almost doesn’t matter what, so long as it’s different to what we have been doing. There’s a famous quote;
“If you keep on doing what you’ve always done, you will keep getting what you’ve always gotten”
Some credit Henry Ford with saying this although there is no actual record of it. The point is that all it takes is the first step. A simple, easy change to make and it will have a ripple effect. Even a small change will give different results to what you are currently getting.
For me personally, I was in a place where I was unhappy the majority of the time. I don’t recall ever wanting to be “happy” as such, but I did want to lead a more positive and successful life. One that inspired me, where I could genuinely help other people rather than continuing the fairly self-centred existence I had been living while working in the film industry. It frustrated me for a long time because I had no idea how to make it happen. This frustration stemmed from the fact I was focusing on the end goal, rather than the first step.
Then one day, something clicked into place. I don’t recall why, maybe I read something. Knowing me, it was probably a meme on Facebook (bite-sized wisdom for the 21st-century attention span). To be totally honest, I didn’t even connect this to my big picture aspirations until much later. My first step was to take ownership of my thoughts. To stop blaming others and outside influences for them. To know that the thoughts were mine and my choice to have them.
This is such a part of who I am today that it seems crazy to think I was ever any different. From this first tiny and simple step, the ripples began. In recognising that my thoughts were mine and mine alone, I realised that I had choice with them. No longer were there things in the world that upset me, there were things in the world that I was choosing to be upset about. From there I could choose not to be upset about them. And so it rolled. One step after another after another.
Have the big dreams. Have stupidly crazy big dreams that are so big that no one can imagine you achieving them. With dreams comes direction that we also need. Then, once the dream is set and has given you the direction you need, let it go. Stop focusing solely on them as they are the end game, the big picture. Focus on one small change you can make today, right now, that will give you more control over your life. One tiny change that will set you off in the general direction of your dream, pushing you from the shore of what has always been. The more control of yourself you have, the more empowered you are to steer your life in the direction you choose. The direction of your dreams.
