How to Accomplish Anything: Moving in the Direction of Z

What holds you back from your dreams?rnIt is usually not lack of ability or talent. rnOften, what holds us back is fear. rnFear of failing.rnFear of being successful.rnFear of not knowing how to attain our goals. rnIf you can think of achieving your goal not as one big action but as a series of steps, it becomes more manageable, more possible, more do-able. rnI like to think of the process in terms of the alphabet, taking each step one letter at a time. rnTRY THIS:rnImagine the alphabet as a series of stepping stones on a long, winding path. rnImagine you are standing on stepping stone A. Your vision of your dream is far off on stepping stone Z. rnThere is no possible way that you can jump from where you are to where you want to be in a single step. There are 24 letters in between. rnSo the only thing you can do is take one step at a time. rnWhen you are standing on stepping stone A, you can only think about how to get to stepping stone B. rnThen, when you are on B, you will know how to get to C. And so on. rnBy the time you are on stepping stone X, Z will be so much clearer and reachable. You will know how to get there. rnSo ask yourself, rnWhat is your ultimate goal? Your stepping stone Z? rnWhere are you right now? What is your stepping stone A? rnAnd what is your next step from where you are right now to take you in the direction of Z? rnMaybe your dream vision, Z, is that you are a successful author and you travel around the country meeting people, giving workshops and readings and book signings. rnStanding at A, you have an idea of what the book is about. You can envision yourself at Z, sitting at a table in a large bookstore, signing books and talking with your readers. rnYou know that somewhere around letter M you will need to publish the book but you have no idea how to do this or how much it's going to cost. You know that between M and Z you'll have to market your book so that people will invite you for the lectures and signing but you don't know the first thing about marketing. rnBut that is not your focus right now. Because you are standing at A and your book is still just an idea. rnInstead of panicking about all that you don't know, come back to where you are right now and ask yourself, rnWhat is your next immediate step? rnIf standing on Step A is wanting to write a book, then your Step B is to write. rnMaybe it's not even to write your book, but to just write. To get into the practice of writing every day, opening to your creative energies, creating the space for your ideas to meet the white page. Maybe your step B is to simply reconnect with the art and passion of writing. rnSometimes we may stand on a step for a while until the next step becomes clear. Other times one step leads to a hop and a skip to the next. rnIt all comes back to being in the present moment, standing where you are, and paying attention to everything right here, right now. rnAnd asking yourself, again and again, what is my next immediate step?