One Step at a Time

There are times when some things feel too big to be completed. They seem like a mountain in front of you. They feel so overwhelming that it’s almost unimaginable to accomplish them. 

You feel – where do I even start? How in the world will it even get completed? It’s so huge that I can’t even think of starting it. 

And just because of that you tend to procrastinate it because you don’t want to confront it and look it in the eye.

This mountain could be something in your everyday life, like having tons of chores to do or having too much homework. Sometimes, even the issue of what to make for dinner may seem difficult to some (it does happen).

From what I’ve seen, every, and I literally mean every, person has experienced this situation at least once, and that is on the lower side. I have gone through it. In fact I go through it multiple times a month when I get a little too much homework or when I get a huge assignment that feels too difficult. Not kidding.

When we feel that an activity is too hefty to be done, we start to shy away from it. As a result, we avoid it and show resistance (reasons you can’t do it, if you wanna call it) to get it done.

The way out for such a case is simple. So simple that you might not take it seriously and fall again in the trap of things overwhelming you.

All you have to do is pay attention to the immediate next step. Just keep your focus on the next step. Only on the next step.

When you do that, your attention is not on the task, as a whole but on a part of the task. The next step gets your undivided attention which drastically improves your ability to perform it, since you’re now looking at a way smaller portion of work. The way forward becomes a short, clear path, rather than just haziness in a general direction. Plus, there’s less chance that you’ll get distracted because you only have to get done a small chunk. 

You can put this is to practice literally everywhere you feel overwhelmed. You have too many assignments? Just choose one and stick to it. Too much syllabus? Pick a chapter and go with it. The thought of working out daily scares you? Just work out today, and think about tomorrow’s work out later on.

This is literally what I have done with my blog posts. I’ve written 34 posts (including this one) over a period of time. If someone tells me today that I have to write 500*34= 17,000 words, I’d start crying by the sheer stress because of being asked to write 17,000 words. It’s going to drive you insane to look at it as a whole. What I actually did was write only 500 words per week. That seems way more digestible and doable, that is why it is being done.

The main effort is to just divide things into smaller chunks and focus on the next step that is in front of you.