Taking "Baby Steps" - The Importance of Thinking Small to Think Big

I have often seen individuals in life who desire to do amazing things.  They come up with these grandiose plans of how to be successful and then begin to pursue this dream over the course of time.  What often happens, however, is they end up falling flat on their face as they begin to become overwhelmed with the multitude of different endeavors that they have taken on to achieve their goal.  While ultimately, we should push ourselves to achieve great goals by stretching our focus and desire, one of the greatest things that I have learned help one to "get moving" towards a goal is to not ALWAYS think so big.  I read Donald Trump's "Think Big" book many years ago and agree with many of his beliefs and advice.  However, one should not forget the tremendous advantages that "thinking small" provides us as we work towards our large goals. The benefits of thinking small are:

THINKING SMALL PREVENTS YOU FROM MISSING "MINOR" DETAILS
Anyone who has ever planned a large event will tell you that one of the things that can turn an event from an absolute masterpiece into a total disaster are the small, seemingly insignificant things that will be overlooked in the midst of tackling the big problems - Forgetting to make sure to order backup food in the event more people show up than anticipated;  not having a solid contingency plan if there are any hiccups with the participants or workers; not anticipating that you will need overflow parking in the event more people attend than originally projected.  All of these small things can be an event killer and can easily be prevented by starting small with the planning of anything major.  The same can be said for planning out the strategy for your business or endeavor.  By starting with the small things first, you will ensure that you don't forget some legal document that must be filed on your behalf or some significant aspect of a vacation trip that might be forgotten as an afterthought if you don't take the time to start with the small things first.

THINKING SMALL IS OFTEN MORE REALISTIC AND EASILY ACCEPTED BY OTHERS
While it would be nice to present your idea to a group of angel investors and ask for a million dollar loan to get your start-up off the ground, what is more likely, and somewhat easier to accomplish, however, would be to create a smaller prototype of what you desire to do and start with less money upfront.  When attempting to procure the support of others, if you begin your discussion with how your new social media site is going to be the largest thing since Facebook and have a billion users in less than a year, they will probably look at you as a little nutty and not think you are someone with whom they would desire to invest their money.  However, if you give a more practical solution that is focused on a more realistic outcome (thousands of local users as opposed to billions of world users that is focused on a more niche' market), you will stand a much better chance of getting the support you need from others who will see your goals as more realistic -which in turn will increase the chances they will receive a positive return on their investment.

THINKING SMALL WILL MAKE IT EASIER FOR YOU TO GET MOVING
Many people have plans of such momentous size that they often become paralyzed with not being sure where to start.  Their end-game of what they desire to accomplish doesn't give them any true sense of how to get started.  By taking a minute to break down the endeavor into smaller, more manageable steps, one will have a much better chance of actually moving in the right direction to achieve his/her goals. If you have a dream of opening up your own bakery, start taking one day of the week to begin working on your baking skills. If you want to open up your own night club, start reading a book on how to open up a night club. It is these small things that will get you moving in a positive direction that will push you forward to your ultimate dreams.

I often think of how little babies begin life not being able to move in any manner and eventually grow from lying around to crawling to taking those first steps to walking to running around the world. When thinking about how you will achieve your life dreams, remember to take "baby steps" to keep one foot in front of the other until you can eventually get your stride right to sprint to your life's desire.

Ken Middleton is an Account Executive at TEKsystems that specializes in IT staffing and services. He is a graduate of UNC-Pembroke and current MBA student at Scheller College of Business at Georgia Tech.

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