Next Step by Jim Stovall
The journey of a thousand miles does, indeed, begin with the first step, and the journey to your destiny begins with your next step. I have millions of books in print among my 40 titles, and every book has my contact information in it, so you can imagine how many people I have reaching out to connect with me as I welcome you to do using the contact information below.
Probably the most often-asked question from people who have contacted me over the last 25 years is, “How do I get started?” Many people have a general goal or vague idea of where they would like to be in their life, but it remains somewhere off in the distant future.
My mentor and friend, Denis Waitley, is fond of describing a place he calls “Someday Isle.” Someday Isle is a beautiful tropical island where there is no past and no future. Nothing has ever been done there, and nothing ever will be done there because people around the world constantly invoke the name of Someday Isle as they declare, “Someday, I’ll…” If you or I have a dream, a goal, or an objective in our lives, it was put there for a reason, and there is something we are supposed to do today that will bring us closer to our destiny. I am saddened as I meet people who have had goals for many years or even decades that they’ve never really embraced as a reality and taken that first critical step.
Any goal worthy of your time, effort, and energy will invariably be beyond your current capacity. You may not know how to do it, where to do it, when to do it, who to do it with, or where to get the money, but it doesn’t mean that you can’t start today. Knowledge is power. If you can begin by educating yourself on all elements of reaching your goal and begin connecting with people who have achieved what you want to achieve, you will be well on your way.
My late, great colleague and mentor, Dr. Robert Schuller, was fond of saying, “Starting is halfway there.” Dr. Schuller was intelligent enough to realize that if you have a goal to go around the world, the act of simply starting doesn’t literally transport you halfway around the globe; but what he meant was, if you establish an objective and simply begin right where you are, you are way ahead of most people who will never begin at all.
Failure rarely occurs at the finish line. Failure happens in the starting blocks.
If you will think of your most grandiose and awesome dreams and goals and simply begin moving toward them, they will become a part of your reality and your future.
As you go through your day today, don’t let the sun go down before you have taken that first step.
Today’s the day!
Jim Stovall is the president of Narrative Television Network as well as a published author of many books, including the Wisdom for Winners series. He is also a columnist and motivational speaker. Follow him on Twitter (@stovallauthor) or Facebook (@jimstovallauthor).