Do one thing
Use the power of consistent progress to achieve your goals
By Jim Huling
December 2008
I’m totally overwhelmed,”
said Karen, one of my coaching clients. “Now that I know
what I really want, I can’t find
the time to pursue it.”
A successful partner in a
law firm as well as a devoted
wife and mother, Karen had
originally come to me because
she felt an unsettling longing
that something was missing
from her life.
Through a powerful coaching exercise, she uncovered a
passion that had been buried
for years — the desire to be a
writer. Although Karen was a
successful lawyer, often using
her writing skills to prepare
compelling legal documents,
she realized she was longing
to write fantastically imaginative stories for children. It
was a dream she held as a
teenager but had abandoned for a more financially rewarding career as
an attorney.
Like so many others,
Karen’s challenge wasn’t
only discovering her passion; it was finding time to
pursue it.
Start small
After years of postponing
her dream, Karen’s first
impulse was to write for an
hour a day, but a closer look
at her calendar revealed that
even an hour a week would be
a challenge — a conclusion
that left her discouraged.
To combat this, I had her
make a list of actions that
would move her forward,
while requiring no longer than
10 minutes each to complete.
Her list included more than 20
simple ideas, such as brainstorming two different titles,
writing a one-paragraph summary of her main character,
creating three possible
names for this character and
asking her children which
name they liked best.
Because each item on the
list was so easy to do, Karen’s
confidence was quickly
restored, and she was anxious to get started.
Are you longing to pursue a
passion but overwhelmed by
the whirlwind of your life? If
so, then make a list like
Karen’s and do just one thing
this week to begin. Although
each task may seem insignificant by itself, starting small
will enable you to take the
critical first steps.
Remember, whatever you’ve
dreamed of being cannot happen until you begin.
Stay focused
Karen continued to do a minimum of one thing from her list
each week, squeezing each
task into her schedule between
meetings or while sitting in
the stands during a soccer
game. She also added new
ideas to the list so that she
was never without an assignment for the coming week.
Week by week, Karen wrote
the first draft of a children’s
book, and before long, she
was ready to find a publisher
— an accomplishment that
only a year earlier she had
deemed impossible because
of the other responsibilities
in her busy life.
Consistent action taken
toward a clear objective will
let you accomplish almost anything over time. And like any
discipline, the more you practice it, the stronger it becomes.
By consistently taking small
steps toward your dream you
make steady progress. But
more importantly, you start to
believe in yourself and your
ability to make your passion
part of your life. Soon, the satisfaction you feel becomes
addictive, enabling you to sustain your consistency regardless of your circumstances.
See clearly
The real success in Karen’s
story was not the publication
of her book. It was in how she
learned to see herself.
The vague dissatisfaction
that originally brought her to
me was the result of abandoning her talent for writing.
When she learned to see herself as a writer as well as a
wife, mother and attorney, she
saw the complete person she
knew she was meant to be —
one who was using all the talents she had been given.
But more importantly, she
also learned to see herself as
a person who was willing to
follow her passion and
achieve whatever she set out
to do. The day Karen held her
published book in her hands
was one of the happiest she
could ever remember — a joy
that made her excited and
confident to begin creating
the next one.
The next time you feel the
downward spiral of believing
that your dreams will never
come true, just do one thing.
Each step you take will bring
you closer to your passion and
to becoming the person you
were born to be.
JIM HULING is CEO of The Jim Huling Group, a strategic consulting company enabling leaders and
their teams to achieve extraordinary results. Jim’s leadership experience spans more than 30 years,
including a decade as CEO of a company recognized four times as one of the “25 Best Companies to
Work For in America.” Jim is also the author of “Choose Your Life! a powerful, proven method for
creating the life you want.” He can be reached at jim@jimhuling.com.
