I was putting on a pair of my new Dockers pants yesterday when I noticed they had a saying inside the waist band, “One Leg At A Time”. It got me thinking about my life and blogging, so stick with me on this ride as I attempt to explain.
I’m not sure who first coined the phrase, but if you think about how that tagline applies to your life outside of actually putting on pants, it can be rather profound. Let’s take a look…
Tackling Your Life One Leg At A Time
For many people, the timeline of their life can be overwhelming. I speak from experience on this one as sometimes my long term goals can seem too large to tackle or stepping out of that comfort zone is being stopped by usability to take that first step. At that point in time, I remind myself that every step in life and business is taken one leg at a time.
Most projects, business decisions and general blogging is tackled in steps…not all at once. Do you see yourself jumping straight into your pants both legs in one shot?! Sounds hilarious when you really think about it but so often bloggers try to tackle the big tasks in their blogging all at once.
When you start to plan projects, you need to lay out the steps necessary to achieve your goals. You then take on each of these steps and watch them add up over time.
Applying The Phrase To Self Image
Unless you are a cocky SOB that thinks you are utterly wonderful and the world is graced by your presence, you have probably had certain “I’m not like those guys” or “I’m not good enough” feelings as it pertains to success.
Many people will look at more successful people in life or business and wonder what the secret is…what did they do differently…how to I get on that gravy train? The secret…they put their pants on one leg at a time everyday and they do that consistently.
What most people don’t realize is that what separates the successful from those that aren’t is the ability to try over and over again without being scared of the result.
Applying This Theory To Blogging
As you start to look at how you can apply this theory to your blogging, you need to take a serious look at your plans and your goals.
- Where do you want to be by the end of the year, month, week?
- What is it going to take to get there?
- What time requirements are there?
Now that you have laid it all out, start taking the steps down one leg at a time. You will be surprised at the result as you are working your plan, just like you do every morning when you get dressed and don’t realize it.
After you start eliminating the barriers to success, you have to start realizing that there is nothing special to “top bloggers” in your field. They took the same steps you are to get where they are today.
With the willingness to believe you can actually make it and you are good enough…you will be unstoppable. The enemy of most bloggers is their own mind in the pursuit of their dreams.
In the end, we are all doing this “one leg at a time” regardless of niche or business model. Hit it up!
Thinking about the scope of my long term goals can freak me out, which then leads to overwhelm, which in turn generally leads to me eating ice cream instead of working on my projects. The “one leg at a time” or “baby step” way of doing things helps me a lot. I love what I do, and when I focus on the process of doing it vs. the desired outcome, I enjoy myself and get a lot done. Thanks for reminding me of this!
There is nothing wrong with eating ice cream. I highly recommend it for good mental health!
My boss used to say the same thing about famous and rich people “They put their pants on the same way as me, one leg at a time”.
Breaking your goals down into little, bitty baby steps is the best way to achieve them. But then again, jumping in both feet at the same time can be fun and exhilarating… as long as you know how to swim!
I have a tendency to jump in with both feet a lot. :ahem…new site design
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Hey, I sent you an email by the way. Don’t know if you got it!
Where did you send it? I haven’t seen anything come across.
I sent it from your contact page.
Hi Robb,
As I’m in the process of self-publishing my first book, I’ve found myself frustrated at times with all the details and decisions required to actually get this thing from idea into print.
Someone once told me that writing the book was the easy part…I was still in writing mode at the time, which seemed pretty challenging, so I took that advice with a grain of salt.
Now I know what they meant…putting one leg on at a time has allowed me to step through a multi-factional learning process and stay on track to complete this project. As Jean wrote, it’s so easy to get overwhelmed when taking on large projects like writing and publishing a book and or blogging for a living.
And this is why 95% of the wealth is owned by 5% of the population…95% of people give up before they succeed…as you indicated, it’s a shift in mindset!
Write On!
There is a lot that goes into that process outside of the writing. It is amazing how many little tasks add up! Keep at it!
Robb,
Thanks for laying this out. I’m in the process of thinking about possible product launches and “one leg at a time” is really going to be a useful way to think about things. When I first started think about an ebook, it started to feel a bit overwhelming, but seeing it from this perspective makes me realize it will get done if I take this approach.