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Big Ambitions, Small Steps

Don't try and jump across the pond

By Connor WarmanPublished 3 years ago 3 min read
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I had no idea what I was going to write about today until I opened up my computer and sat there for a minute and just thought about it. I'm tired, I'm stressed, I'm nervous, the list goes on. In reality, some days are great and some days are terrible. Some days I feel like I'm on top of the world and everything is going right and the others I'm borderline depressed. I never talk about anything like that but that's the truth. But you know what? Do you know what keeps me going day after day, failure after failure? My drive to build and my drive to succeed according to my own standards. Not some BS standard established by the society that I surround myself with nor what other people want and expect me to be. This is me. People can take it or leave it but this is it. What you see is what you get and I try and be as genuine as I possibly can all the time.

One of my high school football coaches would always tell us something on the sidelines that I still think about to this day. "There's going to be highs and there's going to be lows but we stay in the middle". I'll give Coach Helzer a quick shout out that because that's legit. And it's true. I could allow myself to get super high when things are great and start pounding on my chest and talking about how great I am and all the stuff I'm doing and accomplishing. On the contrary, when I'm at a low it would be easy for me to put my tail between my legs and surrender. To give up and just settle in. But that's not who I am either. I try my best every day to remember Coach Helzer's words and to actually live them. To stay in the middle not letting myself get complacent and lose my drive and hunger or to not let myself get too low and out of it. It's not easy, I'm still working on it. Like most of the things I write and talk about it just takes time, practice, and discipline.

If you have big grand ambitions that you're pursuing you're bound to be on an endless rollercoaster of highs and lows. It's inevitable. Let the big picture of your ambitions drive you to actually get there but don't get caught up in thinking about it too much. Instead, focus on the small steps. The 1%-ers as I like to call them that'll truly move the needle in the right direction and keep you on the path to that big ambition. As I'm sure you've heard me talk about before focus on heading in the right direction and don't put all of your stock in the goals you set to get there. Goals are great and are absolutely necessary but understand that it is possible to set bad goals and don't let yourself quit when you haven't achieved your goal in the timeframe that you initially set out for yourself.

Take small steps. Think of it as stepping stones across a pond. Don't just take 10 steps back and run and jump and try to clear the thing. That'll lead to nothing but burnout and you probably getting wet. Yet, too many of us try and do that. We try and streamline the process to our ambitions and goals. Even though we know it doesn't work like that we still try and try and try.

Stop it!

Simply start by stepping on the first stone. For those whose goal is to work out at 5 am this might be as simple as laying out your clothes for the morning and putting a protein shake in the fridge. For those trying to start a podcast, this might be as simple as hitting the record button on your laptop computer or phone and just freestyling it. Don't let your mind get ahead of itself by thinking about the discomfort that workout might bring or how tired you might be later in the day or what people might think of that podcast you recorded. When you start skipping steps and creating all sorts of "what-if" scenarios in your mind you might just talk yourself out of doing great things.

Forget that!

Take the first step, then the second, third, etc. But don't try and skip steps because all you're doing is setting yourself up for failure. Take it slow, focus on each little task, and then watch as those tasks quickly add up and get you closer and closer to where you want to go.

Get After It.

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About the Creator

Connor Warman

A CrossFit Coach and Podcaster's perspective on life.

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