Why baby steps are the key to big progress.

I bet you have good ideas all the time. Ideas about inventions you should create, businesses you should start, books you should write, and funny comebacks you should have said (#TheJerkStoreCalled).

We all dream of writing a best seller and starting the next cover-of-Forbes business. Unfortunately, for most people, these are never more than dreams. Because most people have no idea how easy it is to make their dreams a reality.

Baby Steps

There is one simple element that changes dreamers into doers. It’s action. To make a dream come true you simply need to step towards it. You don’t need a giant Giannis Antetokounmpo or Stretch Armstrong-size step. Any baby step will do.

Launching My Business

When I really wanted to start my own advertising agency I started taking little actions that moved the idea forward. First, I bought and read books about starting and running a business. I followed the advice in the books, and actually wrote down my plans. Then I started following the plans. I met with entrepreneurs and harvested their insights and advice.

None of it was hard. Within months I had started a business in my spare time that would support my family. All because I kept taking baby steps.

More Baby Steps

Over the past 2 weeks I have taken small but meaningful steps forward on several new projects:

1. I have created a growing monthly meet up with my college track and field teammates that I think could have a major impact on many lives.
2. I started writing a script for a live show that I think could become a template for live entertainment shows in every city in the world.
3. I have taken steps forward to create a new food brand, because I recognized a wide open opportunity that no one else was grabbing.
4. I contacted a publication and told them I was interested in writing a regular segment for them. I now have a meeting with the publishers in 4 days.
5. I have started writing 2 different books.
6. I have been actively studying real estate investing. Not just thinking about it.
7. I have been sketching out new t-shirts I want to create.

What Happens Next

I am thrilled to have started all of these projects. But they are not reality, yet. They all require more action. In fact, none of the 8 things I started can or will move forward without me. So the baby steps have to continue. But if I keep moving I will have a new line of t-shirts to wear and sell, a food brand you could find at grocery stores, a real estate business, 2 new books, a regular meet up group format that could be repeated around the world, a regular column in a publication and a crazy live show you would pay money to see (even though everyone wears clothes).

Key Takeaway

Action is everything. It is the different between dreams that come true and those that vanish into the ether. Talk is cheap. Action is magic. If you just keep taking baby steps, before you know it, you will have completed a marathon of progress. So, when you get an inkling that you should create or do something, take a baby steps towards it. It’s how I created my advertising and idea agency. And it is how I’ll be able to bring all the other ideas to life too.

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