Meet Big Dreams With Small Steps
How I'm Approaching Turning My Life Upside Down
As I stare out at my plan to leave my job and go full on nomad at the beginning of next year, after a life of financial reliance and work induced co-dependency, you can imagine I have some anxiety.
Scratch that - I’m f*king terrified.
My brain, which has been wired to control my authentic impulses and stuff down my dreams to fit in, thinks I’m crazy. It keeps pointing out how much I’ve worked for the stability I have and how I’m going to throw it away for some dream of sustaining myself through writing (got to love a bit of social conditioning).
Anyhow, the clock is ticking, the year isn’t going by any slower and I’m starting to think about a plan.
But prone to anxiety, I have to be careful because I can easily overwhlem myself if I try and tackle too much at once.
Take yesterday, for example, I was an hour deep in ChatGPT asking it for travel suggestions, 12 month plans, and blog growing tips; I was on hotels.com/airbnb looking at hotel prices, local gyms, and tourist attractions, until I froze up feeling helpless and inadequate.
I tried to hold too much at once, I stressed myself out, and crumbled under the weight.
My lesson to you:
When faced with a desire for big change, start small. Change is naturally anxiety inducing. You’re stepping into the unknown, and looking at too many unknowns at once will spike that anxiety until you don’t know where to start.
Yes, keep the big picture in mind - you should have a rough idea of where you’re wanting to go, but think:
What can I do today to get one step closer?
The Power of Small Steps
In taking smalls steps, fear and stress is minimised, increasing the likelihood for success. This is how we grow self-belief.
When I was starting a Youtube channel I was petrified - but I broke the big goal down into smaller goals:
I spent time (weeks) just recording videos to get comfortable with speaking on camera.
I then spent time editing those videos, to get comfortable seeing myself on camera.
Finally, I felt strong enough to post those videos.
All of it was anxiety-inducing, but because I’d broken the goal down it was bearable!
My Plan Moving Forward
With big changes on the horizon, I’m going to refrain from thinking too big.
I need to let some of my control-seeking go and accept the uncertainty.
So long as I’m taking small steps each day, I’ll feel more confident tackling the larger challenges (like moving across the world as a digital nomad!).
For now, on the Substack-side it’s all about creating, getting my newsletter into shape and brainstorming ideas.
Expect things to crank up a notch here - and your support has meant the world. Thank you. If you’d like to get on board and connect with me - subscribe!