Break it down

In part, a great deal of our frustration comes from wanting to do too much. Hell, not just too much but everything. And often at the same time. A burst of motivation strikes after watching a YouTube video, reading a book, attending a webinar, or getting the New Year New Me-fever. We see ourselves clear as day achieving all the things we’ve ever wanted: quitting our vices and bad habits, getting fit, traveling, starting that project, and so on. Then you get to it; start coming up with a plan, only to realize it’s actually a lot of work. Suddenly the once strong sense of motivation and clarity has become an anxiety-packed trip of overwhelming cluelessness in the face of so many possibilities.

After such a reality check, the precise dose of discomfort you needed has been administered, prompting you to turn the other way in search of that nice, warm, fuzzy feeling. Finally, in the aftermath of such a rollercoaster, you take a cold, hard look at yourself after the dust has settled only to find that you’ve reverted back to your old self.

Fortunately, we have the Stoics to remind us of what we already know, yet somehow refuse to put into practice.

Take the whole of it, break it down into pieces, and start working on each of those individual pieces, one by one. The lowest hanging fruit is where to start. What comes next is a chain reaction of consistent action, which breeds confidence, which breeds bigger, better, higher quality results, and that becomes your identity or character, and your character in many ways predicts your future.

Bite-sized pieces are swallowed nicely. Uncooked, raw, and unsliced? That’s a certain way to choke nicely. Would you attempt to eat a whole pineapple, a steak, or a whole fish, all in one bite? No. But cooked, marinated, sliced, bite-sized? Of course. It’s the same with our goals.