“The world’s too big, Mom.”
“Then make it small…”
This line is spoken by a young Clark Kent as he is experiencing the development of his powers that will one day define him as Superman…it stuck with me for the rest of the film.
Are you facing a challenge that seems too big? Have you felt the weight of the world on your shoulders, or maybe you have assumed that you cannot make a difference?
Maybe you have read the story about the Starfish that has been circling the interwebs for the past couple decades (my first reading was back when AOL was cool, and 56k modems were super fast!)
One day a man was walking along the beach when he noticed
a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean.
Approaching the boy, he asked, What are you doing?
The youth replied, Throwing starfish back into the ocean.
The surf is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them back, they’ll die.
Son, the man said, don’t you realize there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish?
You can’t make a difference!
After listening politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish,
and threw it back into the surf. Then, smiling at the man, he said
I made a difference for that one.
This story is actually an adaptation of an essay by Loren Eiseley, called The Star Thrower.
This message, like the struggle Clark Kent faced, reveals that we can always make a difference, with the first step often being to shrink the problem.
How do you shrink the problem?
Dan Heath, co-author of Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard gives a really practical example of how you can get started doing this today:
So now that you know that you can make a difference, and you are equipped with a tool to help you shrink the challenge, what are you going to make happen?
Leave me a comment below, I’d love to hear how you are making the world a better place.
It’s always easier to keep the momentum going than it is to get the momentum going. That’s so true. One of my most popular blog posts was on maintaining momentum so it’s fitting that this will be popular for you too.
One of the things that I do is simple, but important. I start.
In my job I get about 200 emails a days. it is easy for me to get overwhelmed with the amount of work coming in. When that feeling starts creeping in, I start with one email and then move to another, clearing them out as I go. If I looked at the entire inbox, I’d never get it done. If I take each email individually, I can clean it up and get to what’s important.
Start and get organized. That’s how I make big challenges, smaller.
Ellory – the onslaught of the email inbox is one of the most practical modern business problem examples of this nature.
I think we all can relate to the crushing weight of sitting down to your computer (especially after a vacation) and watching the unread count climb!
Haven’t heard this before, Jon. I like the video idea. To shrink the change, I am just going to start. Often, I find myself putting things off because of the dread, but like the video says, once you start and gain momentum, you just want to keep going to compete it.
Thanks Nick – the “5 minute room rescure” is a pretty sweet psychological trick.
Great video. Thanks for sharing this.
I find this to be very true in my work and have developed the habit of “just get started”. I find that once I suck it up and get started, I can ride the momentum for quite a while. “Getting started is half way there”.
So true, that first step can be so difficult, especially since results from our effort can take time. I have a little quote by my pc that says “Don’t fear moving slowly, fear not moving at all.”
I’m sure working for yourself, it can be harder to “just get started.” What do you do to just start?
Great post and video. Dan provides a great method. I’m going to apply it in my life, today! The key is to start then the momentum and motivation will come.
Thanks Dan – its amazing how much easier it is to start when the challenge is bite sized!
It sure is:)