Stepping stones

We have officially made it into a new year. By now, the fireworks (should) have stopped, the excitement of the holidays is beginning to fall away, and we are all going back to the familiar lull of our lives. I'm sure that most of us have set new goals or set our sights on different heights and things we'd like to achieve, and those are all very fine and good, but it's important to remember the words of Jim Rohn when approaching your new year: "In order for life to change, you've got to change." Setting goals and aspirations are all fine and good, but they are merely the fuel for our engines; they give us the "juice" we need to get where we want to go.

As we all no doubt know, adding fuel is easy, but getting to your destination involves work. But just as a journey of a thousand mile begins with a single step so a road trip of two thousand miles begins with the turn of a key. My point is this: knowing the destination is paramount, but we get there a bit at a time.

Where most people give up is not in adding fuel to their vehicles, not in the goal setting, but in the unrealistic expectation that what they seek to achieve must be achieved now or in two weeks. While some things are attained quickly, others, most worth-while things in fact, take time.

For example, I have been waiting on my book, Stones of the Earth, (shameless plug) to get published since 2017. While two years is a fairly normal length of time to wait for a book to be published (especially for a first time author) it feels like I have been waiting forever. But this book is not an ultimate goal, it is a stepping stone.

My ultimate goal is to become, more or less, a full time writer. Stones of the Earth will help me achieve that.

Additionally, I have other stepping stones in place to help while I wait for the ultimate publication of my first novel: I have written a young readers novella, a book of poetry, and a children's book.

These small(er) stepping stones help keep me going; they help me use the fuel in my tank and give me some scenery to look at on the journey to my ultimate goal. And my daily stepping stone, the thing I use to give me just a little more momentum is to write every day. Just something, whether it's 19,000 words (yeah right), one, page, a blog, or a two line poem. Just a little something each day to help me change and grow.

So, what are your stepping stones? How are you allowing yourself to make incremental progress? How are you changing yourself in little ways so that your life can one day change in a big way? If you don't have any, take some time today and give yourself some stepping stones.