Five hours. That’s how long it took me to paint the spindles on my staircase. For the record, there are 31 spindles. Why 31 and not 30? The world will never know. I decided to paint the spindles because it looked like they hadn’t been painted in years: they were dirty, dusty, and thanks to my super careful (NOT!) flooring guy, now speckled with floor stain. I had to repaint them. Also for the record: painting is hard and it takes a long time and not everyone is good at it—in fact, most people aren’t good at painting (me!). When I started the job, I thought it would take me an hour tops. But as the hour passed and I had only painted four spindles, I became overwhelmed.
Looking up at the staircase and balcony in my home, I counted the thirty-one spindles, and thought about giving up. It would take me all day, and I had other things to do. But if I didn’t do it, who would? And if I put it off, I’d end up having to do it another time, maybe when I was even busier or even more overwhelmed with responsibilities. It was best, I decided, to bite the bullet and do it now, focus, and not finish until the job was done.
As I sat for five hours painting the spindles, and as my hand started to go numb (really, my fingers and toes have been numb from all the labor I’ve put into my new home), I tried to focus on the small picture rather than the big picture.
I have two strategies when it comes to achieving goals, and they contradict each other.
Strategy 1: focus on the big picture and ignore the small details.
Strategy 2: focus on the small job and ignore the big job.
The trick is to know when to put either strategy into place.
When a job or goal seems so big and overwhelming, I feel like giving up before I start, I employ my strategy 2: I focus on one small task, one day at a time. For instance, pursuing a career in an extremely competitive field, which I’m less likely to succeed at than I am to win the lottery, might cause me to decide I’ll fail anyway and just give up. Instead, I stick to my strategy of completing small, achievable tasks every single day. “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step,” said the wise Lao-Tzu (if you’re a Type A like me, I suggest you read the Tao Te Ching for some perspective). I make a list of things I can actually do, and do them. Eventually, they accumulate, and I know that one day I’ll reach the finish line.
When a job seems to be filled with tiny intricacies, menial tasks, piles of details, I look beyond tiny specks to see the movable mountain. Jobs like cleaning an entire house, moving an entire house, decluttering an entire house… when you look closely, you can see all the tiny details, the minuscule flaws, the millions of pieces of things you own. When you look beyond it, at the whole, you see that the job is simple, and it’s very possible. The whole picture is easier to see than the tiny brush strokes that compose it.
Either you break large tasks down into small, achievable goals, or you clump the trillions of dust particles into one big pile and sweep it away.
Everything is possible, every job can be completed, and every goal is achievable when keep your eye on the prize, focus, and never quit. Small bites, big bites, you decide. Stay determined, stay positive, and focus on the relief and pride you’ll feel when the job is over.
Brigit
