It is so easy to be scared of your big dreams. They can be exciting and overwhelming at the same time and that’s usually when we give up. Big dreams like going for a PhD, running your first marathon, recording your first record, or writing your first book – they’re all scary. You probably ask yourself the usual questions, “where will I get the time?,” “how will I learn how to do this?,” or “where am I going to get money?” Richie Norton in his book The Power of Starting Something Stupid shares a tip on how to overcome these fears. He says, you have to break down your big dream into small projects. Or as I call it, think bricks, not walls.
Don’t Be Scared and Start a Project – Start With Bricks
Don’t be scared of big dreams. It’s like building a brick wall. You have to think bricks, not walls, if you want to build anything.
When we dream big the goal can sometimes seem like this overwhelming wall that seems impossible to build. How could you ever write 300 pages for a decent novel or run 26.2 miles for your first marathon? These are big things that can seem impossible for someone who has never tried. Richie writes that the way to overcome this fear-induced paralysis is to break “our big-picture goals into smaller, more manageable projects – projects that have a beginning and an end. Suddenly the very ideas that we didn’t think we could possibly begin don’t seem nearly as daunting. This simple change in identification transforms an abstract thought into an actionable task or assignment.” Once you see you can accomplish a smaller project, the bigger picture begins to seem attainable.
It’s like your goal is a giant brick wall. It’s high and long and beautifully constructed with some cool gargoyles on the tops to add some style. And the only way to get this to be a reality is to pick up a brick and then another and so on. It’s almost like you have to forget about the wall and just think about bricks and nothing else. See yourself as a brick master, not a wall master, and suddenly you’ve built something great. You’ll be amazed at what you can do if you just get to work. Don’t be afraid, just get started.
Richie explains this and many other great ideas in much more detail in his book. You can pick it up here.
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