Nobody who became big did it instantly.
I was just watching a video of Bo Sanchez sharing the journey of his ministry. Today, the community he built with his family and friends has grown big and is now present all over the world. But it did not happen in a snap of a finger. They started in their small garage.
They took baby steps.
The problem with most of us is we want to become big immediately. We are just starting and we want to hit the big stages, big deals, and big income.
The truth is nobody has become big overnight.
I was guilty in wanting to be big immediately. When I was starting to give talks and trainings three years ago, I would get disappointed and discouraged if I only get a handful audience until it happened the third time. I realized that small audience was actually a gift – an avenue to be able to hone my craft and develop my character. This first stage is preparing me to become better and ready to be on bigger stages. It is part of the process.
Now I embrace and enjoy every audience I serve – big, small or very small. Sometimes, I even prefer small crowds because I get to interact with each of them and we can go deeper with each other.
It is important to take baby steps.
There are people who want to enhance their communication skills and so they were invited to visit Toastmasters. When they see the small meetings that we do, they don’t see the value in it. They want to have a big crowd immediately. They want to see the lights and sounds as seen on TV. But things do not happen instantly. It has to go through a process. In Toastmasters, it would be one short speech at a time, one small meeting at a time. And later on, walk to bigger stages, bigger meetings and longer speeches.
It is important to take baby steps.
All of us have different dreams in different fields. In different levels, we want to be big. But things can be overwhelming if we are looking at giant steps. We stop because we think we cannot do it. Or we give up because we try to do a giant leap, we fall, and experience unnecessary hurts, debt, and wounds. And so we stop.
But today, we are reminded to take baby steps. Continuously. Consistently. And in due time, the results will come. After all, you deserve it. It starts with those baby steps.
(Chris Dao-anis, CPA, ACG, ALB is a speaker and trainer on communication and personal leadership. His third book ‘Living Large in the Little Things’ is available at Mt. Cloud Bookshop, Casa Vallejo, Upper Session Road, Baguio City. For talks and trainings, email him at chrisdaoanis@gmail.com or visit his website at www.chrispoweracademy.com.)
