Dream big. Act small.
- At December 31, 2011
- By Nathan
- In Leadership
- 0
Having a sense of direction, knowing the next small step in the larger plan, can be very beneficial to individuals and organizations. This way, important projects can be more easily identified and accomplished in a specific period of time.
I once applied to work for a Christian-based organization in Canada that had a related problem. Numerous leadership teams had produced impressive mission-statements, but very little was ever accomplished. Or so I was told.
The plan may have looked good on paper, as they (whoever “they” are) say, and these men and women may have even had the best of intentions. But, for whatever reason, they struggled to practically guide a group of people towards a specific destination. They appeared to know where they wanted to go, but just couldn’t seem to get there.
That is sad, even tragic, because as this story repeats itself over and over around the world it means that millions of people are likely failing to fulfill their full God-given potential.
Organizations and individuals can become stuck, and this post is one small attempt to help you or your organization get out of the muck, as it were, and finally move ahead. But please, if you sense that this describes your situation, spend as little time and energy as you can in a state of mournful self-condemnation. No, you are not a complete failure, or a sorry excuse for a human being. Turn those messages off. Stop. Think. Learn. Adjust. And then, move ahead.
If you are looking for an easy way to remember the point of this discussion may I suggest the following four small words:
Dream big. Act small.
Complicated, varied, and shall be we say “highfalutin” management-type lingo can be part of the problem. I am not sure if I could tell you the difference between a vision-statement and a mission-statement, a strategy and an objective, a stage or a phase, if my life depended on it. I have been in boardrooms and participated in futile attempt to separate and define these various words. It is like nailing jello to a wall, as the infamous “they” people say.
Begin, rather, with the simple image of a funnel. Whatever language you choose to use, start big – at the wide end of the funnel – and slowly work your way down to the specific and small actions that can be taken. How big? I have read a lot of job descriptions, hundreds of them, produced by reputable organizations in many parts of the world. To be honest, it sometimes sounds like these groups are mainly concerned about their own survival. May I say, straightaway, that organizational or personal survival is not a large enough goal, or an appropriate place to begin. Yes, paying the bills is important. But you don’t exist primarily to pay bills.
What happens next, is often where more confusion takes place. For if the big beginning is big enough, it will feel overwhelming and nobody will know what to do next. Almost a century ago, Henry Ford decided that he wanted to build a car that ordinary Americans could afford. Where do you start? You start by putting a plan together that, if followed, will at least potentially transform the “big dream” into practical reality.
But there is so much that I cannot control, you say. True enough. And there always will be. In case you are wondering, I am not suggesting that planning is somehow a substitute for prayer or that it will guarantee success. But, at the same time, there is very often something small and tangible that you or your organization could be doing that you are just not in a position to see right now. Taking the time to put together a detailed and practical plan can help you perceive the possibilities.
If you do not have a grand vision or goal or dream, start with that. If you do not have a credible plan, take the time to produce one. If you are not intentionally following your plan, start today.
Dream big. Act small.
Might make a good resolution for the new year.
*Here are a few related discussion questions
© Career & Life Direction 2011. All rights reserved.
Until the cows…
Cows. Just great. I come here looking for timely insight that will potentially launch me in an exciting new direction…and this guy is writing about cows. Doesn’t he know that I am busy, stressed, frazzled, and a bit dazed from staring at this screen for hours? Really. I have places to go, things to do, people to see, more coffee to consume, etc.
Earth to blog-posting person: I need something clear, something quick, something practical that I can take with me into my hectic day. Okay.
Read More»Setting goals
- At December 27, 2011
- By Nathan
- In Career & Life Planning
- 6
Rather than drone on about the importance of setting goals, I have decided to tell you a little about my goal-setting journey as it relates to the development of Career & Life Direction. That way, you can gain a better sense of how identifying and clarifying goals could make a difference in a variety of areas in your own life.
So, here we go. I have 3 simple goals right now for this website:
1. To improve and expand the service that I offer.
2. To increase the number of people who are interested in this service.
3. To find a way to make this service profitable.
In other words, I am trying to provide a valuable service, to a growing number of people around the world, and eventually make a living in the process.
Read More»Feeling small
- At December 22, 2011
- By Nathan
- In Career & Life Planning
- 0
Spinning the globe, sitting on my desk just a few feet away, I feel small. I gain a new perspective. Yes, my home province, Saskatchewan, is bigger than many countries, but it is also just one of many places on this planet.
Most people, the other 6.99 billion or so, who live on the Earth’s vast network of large and small islands, likely hardly know this place exists. The nerve of some people, not noticing me and my place! But it does almost seem too far north to even notice if you live in Peru, and much to far away if you hail from Madagascar. And what do I really know about life in far away places? To what extent do I care?
My limited number of days in this world are measured by the constant speed of this spinning planet. Does the Earth have cruise-control? I don’t know, but eighty or ninety trips around the Sun at this speed, and that will be about it for me. Generations come and generations go. It has been going on like this for years. Planting and harvesting. Life and death. Like a passing cloud, a vapour, a sun-burnt flower, people say. It is over before you even know what it is all about; you fall asleep before you even wake up. Husbands, children, wives, homes, money – all gone, eventually.
It all seems pointless at times to me. King Solomon said as much back in his day, studying, straining to see the answers.
Must leave something of value behind, then. A memory. A legacy. Something that says, “My life mattered.” To come, and see, and conquer must count for something. That must be how you get an “Important” sticker stuck to your life. Or so some say. If it didn’t feel like it mattered much the first time, maybe it will the next time around. One way or another, our lives – we are told – will carry on…through our music, our families, etc. So says The Rankin Family in “Rise Again” – a beautiful, famous, and desperately sad song
Christ’s birth took place in such a way so as to add dignity to people who are feeling small
I don’t know about you, but I find that I have a fondness for things I have helped to create, and a special fondess for things that are small. And looking at the globe to my left once again, it is almost as if I am assuming God’s perspective. Why should it matter if a country is comparatively large or small, if a life is long or short, if memories linger of not? I can see that God would care regardless. And I can understand that God would surely be extending the possibility of a positive purpose to everyone on this planet.
Christmas is coming and I still have shopping to do. But that will have to wait. For now, I need to remind myself (and maybe a few or you) that Christ’s birth took place in such a way so as to add dignity to people who are feeling small. Jesus was born in a barn, to poor parents, in a place of little consequence. The angelic announcement was made to sheperds, to men who didn’t get much in the way of respect. The creator of the world paid a visit as a helpless child. And for the most part, nobody really noticed in Bethlehem that night or understood what was going on.
If you are wondering how all of this applies to your desire to clarify your career and life direction, may I just say that it does? I think you see how it does.
Merry Christmas fellow small people!
© Career & Life Direction 2011. All rights reserved.
Belief and doubt
- At December 16, 2011
- By Nathan
- In Career & Life Planning
- 2
When it comes to choosing a career or life direction you will often, if not always, have to deal with “believers” and “doubters”.
In my experience, these two words were usually brought up in the context of discussing the truth claims, or at least the perceived claims, of Christianity. The implied message I often picked up from many of the power-people in my culture, was that “doubt” was by and large a good word and “belief” was bad. The connection was so common, it was almost like a children’s story about what sound a cow made, etc.
Read More»Holding hands
- At December 12, 2011
- By Nathan
- In Career & Life Planning
- 2
It doesn’t matter who you are or where you live. Your computer might be parked in Germany or France, New Zealand or Australia, China or Japan, Lithuania or Latvia, Norway or Sweden, Canada or the United States, etc. It really doesn’t matter. If you are a human being, you need other human beings in your life.
I was reminded of this obvious and yet neglected truth after reading Robert Schullers’ account of 75 years of life and ministry in his autobiography entitled My Journey.
Robert Schuller, like Micheal Jackson and Elvis Presley, Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin, Billy Graham and Mother Teresa, is a household name in many parts of the world. When you think positive thoughts and picture a cathedral in California that looks like crystal…you likely also imagine a small, pudgy, poor, farm boy from Iowa standing on the platform. Or maybe not.
Read More»Life purpose coaching
- At December 08, 2011
- By Nathan
- In Career & Life Planning
- 0
Picking up the phone to talk to your very own “Life Purpose Coach” may strike some of my fellow Internet travellers as quite a strange thing to do. “What kind of ‘New age voodoo’ is that?” I can hear some old-timer say.
Can’t say that I blame you. When I first hear about this type of coaching I was both intrigued and skeptical. Is this some sort of money-making racket? I wondered. But then again, wouldn’t it be nice to move ahead in my own life with more of a sense of clarity and focus and direction. What’s next…hiring a Grocery Shopping Coach, etc? I mused. But here I am…wandering in the wilderness, so to speak; might be a good idea to look into this a little more and get in touch with a real live Life Purpose Coach.
So I did. And this is what I discovered:
Read More»