***What Baby Steps Will You Take Today?

If you’re anything like me, with Christmas behind us, our minds are now turning to the things we’d like to accomplish in the New Year and to our resolutions. With the close of one year it seems natural to look at our accomplishments and our outstanding goals and dreams. Sometimes that reflection can bring a feeling of excitement, and sometimes it can create a feeling of overwhelming proportion when the mountain ahead of us appears too large to summit.

It’s critical when looking at any large task to remember one thing. You first learned to walk by taking baby steps.

The most incredible accomplishment imaginable can only happen by taking the first step. It can be a baby step, but we must take action and step in the right direction.

One of the greatest things about life is that in order to take the first step, we don’t need to have all of the answers, just enough to take the first step. We don’t need to know the HOW of life, just the WHAT. We’re not required to have a 10-page business plan on how we’re going to create something- it’s far more important to have the dream of what we want and take action in that direction.

Just take the first step, knowing that the next one will appear, and repeat daily. When you’re at the bottom of a mountain hiking up, you can only see the steps directly in front of you. As you wind up the mountain sometimes the path is hidden until you go around the bend in front of you. Life is the same way.

If you wait to climb the mountain until all of the steps are clear, you will never enjoy the vista from the top of the mountain.

Sometimes the mountain seems too big and we question, “Who am I to do this”? Instead, I would invite you to ask yourself the question, “Why not me?”

Someone has to summit this mountain. Someone has to cure the next disease. Someone has to be the next #1 NY Times bestselling author or an award-winning actor. Someone has to create the next new Fortune 100 company. Why not me?

By asking yourself that simple question, your world opens into the realm of possibility. Focus shifts, and as it does, your odds of success soar exponentially. Then, with the dream in place, you’re ready to take that first step.

The climb up the tallest mountain began with the first step. Some mornings when my “to do” list seems longer than the 18 miles of love and support we delivered to Iraq, I have to remember two words- Baby Steps. I can achieve anything if I can break it into manageable chunks.

Most of us have little patience and want our New Year’s resolutions to manifest in our lives NOW! The key is to remember… baby steps. For all of us, losing 100 pounds starts with first losing one. Stopping smoking starts with smoking one less cigarette today. Creating more quality family time starts with being home for dinner tonight. All things are achieved one action at a time.

Each day those baby steps add up, and just like putting one foot one step ahead of the other on your path, soon you will be on the top of the mountain, looking down at your accomplishment with pride.

I’m here today to help you plant the flag in the top of your mountain, by encouraging you to take the first step. Why not you!? You were born for greatness. You have a dream inside of you that only you can achieve. So, what will your first baby step be today?