Inspirational Quote – Lao Tzu

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
-Lao Tzu

Sometimes when starting on a new journey, we may become paralyzed and overwhelmed by its seeming insurmountability, whether it’s getting out of financial debt or finding a place to live…. We look at how huge it is and want to quit without even trying. But we need to remind ourselves that significant accomplishments don’t happen in one day. All you have to think about is today and what one single specific action you can take now that will bring you closer to your goal.

Those of you who know me have heard my story about writing my dissertation. It was a massive project, and whenever I started thinking about it, I got overwhelmed and just wanted to quit right away. After months of doing exactly that and then feeling guilty and beating myself up, I came up with a better idea- I sat down and outlined the whole project, including all of the chapters that had to be written, data collection, and so on. Then, I took each chapter and broke it down further. I kept breaking things down until it was down to very small specific tasks that could easily be accomplished in an hour. Next, I took my calendar and scheduled each small task for a particular day of the week and promised myself that each day I would only look at that day’s specific task without thinking of the whole project. That was easy enough and doable. My anxiety immediately went down, and I got to work!

And that’s how day by day I accomplished what in the beginning seemed impossible. Try to do this with any big project looming over you. Take this one first step today- it may be as simple as telling one of your friends about your project and asking them for ideas or reaching out for social support and asking for help, or writing down everything you will need to do to accomplish this plan. I promise it works!

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Dr. Anastasia Zyuban

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