Many of us go big, when we dream about our dreams. We see ourselves at the ‘end’ of our path, or years down the track; we see the vision we’re brewing and drawing, mapping and sketching. We refine the details, we hold it close to our hearts and wish it would come true with all our might. We decide that this is how things should go.
But what we don’t always do is remember that while it’s wonderful to dream big, the way to get there is by starting small.
Starting small is about seeing the bigger vision and holding it in your sights, as you start carving out the path to get there. Starting small is about taking one step, and then another, so that when you look back you can see the path you’ve been carving out—the one that’ll take you to your dreams (or something better).
You can’t always map your path until you’ve walked it, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t start.
Mapping your path is about relinquishing fairytale notions about what it’ll be like to work towards your dreams and goals, and doing the work with heart anyway. It’s about feeling the overwhelm but recognising that it isn’t a barrier to success. Just like fear, your overwhelm can show you that you’re doing something big, something that you need to do.
Go big, but also trust and know that it’s beautiful to go small.
All the small steps add up to the big, and the big is where your dreams lie. So start small; map it out in baby steps; dive deep into the overwhelm, so that clarity rises to the surface as you take deep breaths to guide you on your way. See your bigger picture in front of you (in baby steps) and behind you (in the path you’ve already trodden). Trust you’ll get there, or somewhere better, all in good time.
Okay, in seemingly direct contradiction to what you’ve just read, this is where I invite you to start where it feels big. But the difference is that this is in relation to your deepest creative work.
I invite all my clients to do this, when they feel the pull to create something, to do something they’ve maybe never done before, but don’t know where to begin. That’s when I say, ‘Start where it feels big.’
It feels big whenever it feels like you’ll be doing your deepest work.
It feels big whenever it feels like this is what you came here to do, even if it terrifies you and lights you up in equal measure. (That’s because you can feel expansion and fear at the same time.)
It feels big whenever you feel the most resistance—the resistance that says, ‘You can’t’, to which you reply, ‘Oh, but I can.’
Your biggest work is the work that calls to you in the silent moments in between; where lines you’ll later write drop down into your consciousness; where words float through your mind and you grab onto them with your pen, inviting them to live with you on paper. It’s the work that needs you, and only you, to call it through; to channel it, create it, and cultivate it through your words, your work, your energy, your intentions and your commitment to create.
If you start where it feels big, you’ll do the important work first (even if that means starting small).
When you do the important work first, the little voice that says ‘I can’t’ starts to fade. The more you start where it feels big, and the further into yourself and your creativity you roam, the more you’ll hear the whispers of ‘Oh, but I can’, over and over until they transform, slowly but surely, into ‘See? I could’.
For me, this writing project felt big. I think that’s because this work is in the deepest part of me; it’s what I’ve always known, explored within myself, and aimed to do through my work and self-expression. However, that doesn’t mean it’s always been easy to do. My first two books called on me to understand new parts of myself, through the experiences I went through when writing them. This book, however, simply (and overwhelmingly) called on me to embody what I already knew to be true; to deepen how I already live; to continue to clear away fears (and clear them away, and clear them away); to more fully commit to what I already create, write and believe; and then to help you to do the same.
So, what feels big to you? It’s often where you feel the most resistance, but it can also be where you feel the most fear, the most joy, the most tension, or the strongest possibility.
When you start where it feels big, you get to lean into and use all of that fear, joy, tension or possibility. And then you create ‘big’, because you start where it matters most.
The little things that feel urgent can be a distraction. They are the molehills that feel like mountains, but they don’t move you closer to your dreams. Whereas the mountain that’s calling you won’t recede into the distance, until you start climbing it.
If you can’t start where it feels big or small, just start. In the words of author and entrepreneur, Seth Godin: It’s easy to fall so in love with the idea of starting that we never actually start. So just sit down and do the work.
This morning, I bumped into a friend as I was getting coffee. He asked what I was up to, and I said I was diving back into writing this book, as I’d taken a long break from it.
‘Sometimes that’s good though, right?’ he asked.
‘Yes, it’s very good, but I’m now ready to get back into it,’ I replied. ‘I’ve left it for long enough, and if I keep leaving it, nothing will change.’
The idea of starting can be intoxicating. It’s like that feeling I used to love before a new school year started, when I’d go to the stationery shop with my mum, to buy new pencils, a pencil case, new notebooks and folders. The newness was intoxicating and irresistible (even though I also knew it really signalled a whole new year of school!).
Sometimes the newness and brainstorming and planning and energy of being ‘nearly ready’ can energise us; but it can also halt us. Sometimes we just have to dive in before we’re ready. It’s the only way we’ll know if this new path is for us. It brings our dreams and desires out of the ether and into reality and practicality. It makes us intentional in our thoughts and actions: How can I rise to meet this dream of mine?
So, just start. Give yourself the chance so many people don’t, because fear and smallness and insecurity and procrastination get in the way. Let your overwhelm be the catalyst that fuels you; let your perfectionism be a mirror, guiding you through what’s not working, into what does.
Close your eyes; place one hand on your forehead (covering your Third Eye chakra, the space between eyebrows) and one hand over your heart space.
Take a deep breath in and out of your nose. Centre and ground your energy.
Visualise yourself taking one step in front of the other in the direction you wish to go, leaning into what feels like the next best step for you, trusting whatever guidance or insights drop in. Really feel into what this might look (or feel) like for you.
Spend another few moments here, and let any other guidance or inspiration drop in.
Open your eyes whenever you’re ready, letting yourself feel more confident and capable, knowing you can start from exactly where you are.
I let myself take one step in front of the other, in order to weave the path that’s most aligned to me. I do the work that feels big; the work that calls to me the most; the work that won’t let me forget it.