To go big, you have to go small.
To become a master, you have to narrow your focus.
To grow your company, you have to narrow your target market.
To make your job profile stand out, you have to narrow (and perfect) the things you tell about.
It is counterintuitive, and that’s why so many people get this wrong. But the only way to go big, is to go small.
Not everything that you like, that you want to do, that seems interesting, that you are committed to, comes easily. Sometimes the pursue of that thing means you get stuck in other aspects of your life, simply because you are left with no energy for them.
And so, it might be a good idea to put that thing on hold, to wait for a better time, to progress on other fronts. There’s nothing worst than achieving something when knowing that all the rest has been left behind.
In dark times, solitude is never the answer.
Because in solitude the darkest narrative becomes the only possible one. There is no escape to negativity and self-pity if we don’t connect, don’t open up, don’t reach out.
The good news is, solitude is a choice.
It’s not a negative thing to question your strongest beliefs.
You might either get away with some new ones or with some stronger convictions.
Of course, it’s scary. Because for a moment, in the process, you might not know what to hold on to, you might feel lost, you might feel shaky.
On the other side, though, there’s a richer version of you.
We want something, and when we get it we end up being deeply disappointed, unexpectedly scared, ultimately sad.
It might be because that thing is not what we wanted (or needed), but often it’s also because we do not have a clear idea of what the thing will entail. What skills are needed, what resources are necessary, what it actually means to be in the situation.
So, before we move onto the next big project – the new thing we really, really want now – let’s try to be with our achievement for a while. Let it sink in, get used to its reality, make it comfortable.
It might as well be that a bit of routine and practice is all we need next.
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