We’re still in construction mode at The Company’s new schoolhouse. My goal is that every week the apprentices can look and say, “This is better than it was last week.”
We’re now moved in and all of the main spaces are safe and functional.
But there’s still a lot to do.
There’s finishing work like baseboards and light fixtures. Some things still need painted.
We also have boxes still to unpack and spaces to organize. Decorations need hung.
The outside of the house still needs a lot of attention—siding repaired, paint, the list goes on.
But little by little, each week it’s better than the week before. Most of the time each day something is a little bit better than the day before.
In the span of weeks, we’ve made dramatic progress. It’s a huge project, basically to rebuild an entire house, but little by little it gets done. On a small timeline it can feel frustrating and like nothing’s happening, but on a long timeline, it’s absolutely dramatic and amazing.
Just one small step at a time.
This is my same prayer for your writing.
As humans, we tend to overestimate what we can accomplish in the short term, but severely underestimate what we can accomplish in the long term.
Your lofty goals for this week will probably still be on the list next week. You probably won’t finish writing your book, or launch that website, or get married.
But if you work diligently and intelligently, you’ll be amazed at where you can be two years from now. All of those things will just be part of your story, done and done. Spirituality, career, family, finances—whatever you decide you want to do, your life could be completely different in two years.
But it’s going to happen one small, unimpressive step at a time.
This week at the schoolhouse, I hung a television on the wall, finished wiring a couple of ceiling fans, and finally stored some chairs in the closet where they belong. I’m not going to win any awards for most productive week ever. But in the past month, I’ve done twenty-five tasks like that, and people literally ask, “How do you find the time to do all of this?”
Fifteen minutes at a time, that’s how.
Sometimes I hear people say things like, “I’d do anything to be a writer.” OK, then do that. Do anything.
Literally do anything.
Make progress on anything today, and those small tasks will add up into big results.
Sometimes I have so much to do that I feel paralyzed. I can’t decide what’s most important. Or I know what’s most important, but I just. don’t. wanna. You know that feeling?
In those moments, I tell myself, “just do anything.” Anything that’s on mission will move me, overall, towards the outcomes I’m hoping to achieve, even if it’s not at the top of my list. It would be best to do the most important thing, but it’s better to do something than nothing.
Today, do anything that serves your mission.
- In a week, those anythings will add up into something.
- In a month those somethings will add up to major progress.
- In a year, that major progress will look like big results.
But it starts with doing anything today.
Four months ago, this house was an empty shell. Now it’s functional. Four months from now, it will be beautiful. And it’s all happening one unimpressive day at a time.
Today, do anything. You got this.
