My head has been all over the place recently. My thoughts have been racing about all the things like their future and being successful. I wasn’t thinking about the present at all. Realizing this, I was able to identify and shake my thoughts away. I remembered that in life, it is a best practice to take things one step at a time.
We Don’t Just Take Things One Step at a Time
One of my biggest flaws in life is sometimes my mind is in one-thousand places that it shouldn’t. The best way I can describe how this feels is if you are driving to work and suddenly you can’t remember if you shut the stove off or locked the back door. That anxiety at that moment is not fun to deal with because your brain begins to run through a thousand scenarios like:
- You did close the door and shut off the stove so there is nothing to worry about
- Maybe you closed the door but left the stove on, so you’re going to come home to the charred remains of your house.
- You left the back door open but closed the stove but you’re going to come home to your house being robbed.
Most people have experienced this. But in this situation, your main focus should be not dying while driving to work.
My “One Step at Time” Mindset Approach
The way I deal with this and similar situations are to tell myself to take one thing at a time. I unconsciously learned and perfected this way of thinking when I used to play lacrosse. Most people that played sports or performed in any pressure situation can relate so please follow along and substitute my situation with your example.
Storytime -Sophomore Year Spring 2014
The main objective of lacrosse is to win the game. During my Sophomore Year of college, we played some of the best competition division 2 had to offer week in and week out. Heavyweight matchups every weekend. These were games where my heart was in my throat and I felt like vomiting in the locker room before the game while I waited for the adrenaline to kick in.
One of the life lessons my coach used to preach during practice during the build-up to these big games was to “slow your mind and speed up _________ “(feet, stick or whatever skill your practicing). The part that stuck with me was slowing the mind. If your mind is going 1000 mph, you’re going to mess up when it matters. I practiced the skills needed to be successful in games hundreds of times and I knew I was capable of doing it, I just had to go out and do it. Just because it was a game and people were watching, really nothing else had changed.
In the practices leading up to the big games, I began to break down the main objective into bite-size pieces of what I should focus on while practicing. I knew the main goal was to win the game. The only way we can win is to play as a team. You can contribute to the team by doing your job. What was my job? I couldn’t miss a groundball or let my matchup score easily. So what did I focus on during practice? Ground balls and playing good defense. I broke down what I needed to do to be successful during the game and took the necessary actions be successful, one step at a time.
More Relatable “One Step at a Time” Application
Applying one step at a time to an everyday application, let’s say you are applying for a new job. The job process is a total minefield to navigate at times. First finding the perfect job, analyzing your qualifications against the job description, and then building resumes and cover letters, you can feel overwhelmed quickly.
Instead of thinking so much about the end goal, break it down to little steps. For example, instead of not working on the job hunt because you are concerned about your qualifications not matching up against your dream job, why don’t you work on your resume just to get the process started. Life should be like a snowball rolling down a hill. The snowball will get larger as it rolls down the hill You need to build up to your goals by taking the little steps to achieve the bigger goal at the end.
Final Thoughts
Telling yourself to take things one at a time has worked well for me. It helped me refocus my thoughts and get them in the present and what I need to be doing. It gets the end goal in sight and helps you snowball toward your final goal.
