Just Do What You Need to Do

With that being said, I’m sure there are a bunch of inspiring stories along Michael Jordan’s journey but I bet most of his stories are very predictable. He woke up early to practice, he shot extra free throws after practice, he spent countless hours dribbling, he kept his body healthy by drinking water, working out, and eating right, and he gave it his all at practice.

Overthinking

It sounds way too simple but most pathways to a dream or a goal are generally straightforward, we just lack the discipline, drive, and determination to get there. If you want to become a doctor, your path will look like countless hours in the classroom, studying, clinicals, labs, and hours of paying your dues at work to just name a few.  There is no way around it EXCEPT that some people may only need to study more or less along the way. Regardless, the path is still the same depending on their God-given abilities. Just for fun I’m going to rattle off a few more dreams. See if you would come up with the same steps to get to the final goal.

Top of your head:

• Get $50,000 out of debt - Track your purchases, cut the extra vacation, eat in, no new clothes, get a side job, baby steps ¹
• Software Engineer at Apple - Code, more coding, algorithms, coding projects, work on leadership and soft skills, keep coding
• Start a Podcast - Pick a topic, start recording, figure out how to upload your recording to the different podcast platforms, keep recording

I’m sure your steps look pretty similar to mine and we didn’t even leverage some simple yet very usual resources.  Google, podcasts, mentors, books, blogs, etc.  There are plenty of people willing to share their journey and the steps they followed to achieve their goals.

The Right Dream

It’s also important to ask yourself, Why do you want this dream? Is this your dream? Your parents dream? Is it just what you think the world wants you to do? Really dig into the why of your dream.   It could take months but you don’t want to wake up towards the end of the finish line, then start to thinking “what am I doing here?”.

The Right Goals

Let’s say your goal is to write a book that makes it to The New York Times Best Seller list but you’re disappointed because your goal was to make the list and you only sold 200 copies. First off, celebrate because you wrote your fist book! That’s huge. But if your “why” was to get on The NY Times best seller list immediately, you’re in it for the wrong reasons. A better goal may have been to write so that “x” amount of people can read your book. A goal like this is a better baby step towards the big goal and may even help you to find more joy in the process. Then, after writing the first book, see how you can improve your process with the next one to try to hit that NY Times goal!

How do you eat an Elephant?

We all deal with self-doubt, the feeling of being overwhelmed, or just the straight-up fear of failure.  No matter how big or small your dream is,  you will need to tackle it the same way you would eat an elephant:  just one bite at a time. ² This is the principle of compound interest or getting 1% percent better. If you focus on improving small habits, you will see a massive impact in the long run.

That Nike Slogan

So just as Michael Phelps just swam, Taylor Swift just sings and Beethoven just hammered away at the piano, so can you just do what you need to do.

I love inspirational videos, quotes, and stories. You name it, it’s fired me up. One of my favorites is a YouTube video titled “How bad you want it?”. The guy says in it, "When you want to succeed as bad as you wanna breathe then you will be successful.” ³ Get off that couch and be a doer in life! Take action, get courageous, take risks and fall forward yet don’t lose faith. You got this. Just do it.

“We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort.” Jesse Owens