I recently joined a local toastmasters club after a long sabbatical. In my previous stint with toastmasters, I dreaded table topics. It was the segment I was most scared of. In fact I used to find excuses to avoid being called out for table topics. This time I decided to take it up as a challenge. Though I am not a master at speaking on the feet, I see that I have come a long way. I received the best table topics speaker two times in a row.
Moving out of the comfort zone is uncomfortable but the journey starts with a single small step. When I broke my goal down, it looked like this… Volunteering to take part, being comfortable standing in front of a crowd, holding my presence of mind, making the connection between the topic and my experience, delivering with a composed frame of mind, engaging the audience etc.
I followed the same approach for the leadership summit I am hosting. Pitching to world class experts and all the work around the summit seemed an audacious goal at the beginning. I had to deal with several stories and voices inside my own head. But when I broke my big goal down and started working on the smallest element, it seemed doable. I started making progress. I am really grateful to all the thought leaders who have shared their wisdom and helped me create an amazing summit.
When talking to Andy Molinsky, Business School Professor and author of two popular business books Global Dexterity and Reach during the summit interview, I discovered that we find reasons to procrastinate when something is uncomfortable. Key is to recognize that tendency and dig for the hidden reason and then take the next small step.
Chunk it down – Break the big goal down into small chunks of doable work and focus on the next small step!
Quoting Henry Ford, “Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs.”
It’s how creativity expert Eric Maisel writes his books. He doesn’t overwhelm himself with the thought of needing to write tens of thousands of words. In his book, “The Creativity Book” he tells us that he chunks his work down and only thinks of the small chunk he needs to do for the day and focuses on writing the next little part.
If your goal to become a world class speaker or writer or athlete or artist or whatever seems too big or complex, then break it down into doable chunks so your brain looks at it differently and then focus on the next small step.
What is it that you are procrastinating or telling yourself is hard? Think of the smallest component that you can start working on by chunking your big goal into bite-size pieces!
Remember, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.“ – Lao Tzu
Until next… Keep smiling!
Archana
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