One Bite At a Time

by Cindy R. Williams

I am luck to have a sister-in law who is more like a sister than an in-law. We often share with each other our latest break throughs and insights in life. This week she shared with me an "Ah ha" moment that is helping her in a big way. Read this next sentence closely or you'll miss it. Just do ONE TINEY THING toward your goal today. That's it. If you do just one tiny thing each day, soon those tiny things add up and one day you will wake up with goal accomplished.

My sister-in-law was in pickle. Her daughter, my neice, is leaving for the Provo MTC in about a week to prepare for her mission in Boston. She and my my sister-in-law need to sew numerous outfits to take with her. (My neice is 6'1" and weighs 110 pounds and that's is if she's wet - store bought clothes drape like tents on her. - side note . . . I wish I had that problem.)

For the past month, my sister-in-law has put off even beginning to sew because her sewing machine is covered with so many unfinished projects and material that it qualifies as an official small mountain of mess. She didn't know where to begin. It was absolutely too big of a task to have to clean all those things off, put them away or someplace else so that she could begin these new clothes. It was so overwhelming it made her stomachache.

She heard a self-help talk that gave the advice to just do one tiny thing today toward your goal and so she did. She decided she could certainly tidy up one corner of the sewing table. She called me shocked. Once she gave herself permission to not have to organize everything in order to begin sewing, she found that within a very short time, the ENTIRE sewing table was clear and she had even begun to sew the first outfit. And this was all as a result of her choice to do just one tiny thing today.

Often the greatest truths are the simplest.

This brings to mind the old question, "How do you eat an elephant? Answer: One bite at t time."

How does this relate to our writing?  You probably have already figured that out, but just the same, I need to tell you so this posting will come full circle.

We are taught to set our goals high, higher, highest! and we do! Then we become overwhelmed. How about if we each do just one tiny thing on our writing project today. Stop reading this blog and do JUST ONE TINY THING RIGHT NOW.  Please come back in a day or two and let me know what magic happend for you.