Big success from little steps
Want the secret to big success? Take some advice from Linda Alvarado’s mother.
Linda is the owner of Alvarado Construction. Today, the company is a large commercial general contractor, construction manager, and development company with offices in four states.
Linda built her company by following her mother’s advice. Her mother said, “Start small but think big.”
When Linda started out, in the 1970s, the odds were stacked against her. She was a Hispanic woman who wanted to create a big company in an industry dominated by white men.
She couldn’t do everything she wanted all at once. So she listened to her mother. She kept the big vision, but she started small. Her first company did sidewalks.
Over thirty years she’s done a little more and a little more and a little more. It’s been small steps on the way to a big goal.
That’s a great strategy. And there’s good science behind it.
Dr. Ellen Weber, of the MITA Institute describes the process this way in a post on her Brain Based Leaders and Learners blog. “Researchers found that when we break complex problems into simple steps – we add motivation for better solutions.”
In other words, when you go after a big goal using small, achievable steps, you get two benefits. You make progress with each action step. And you build both confidence and motivation.
That sounds easy, but there’s one more thing you need to know. Small steps that stay inside your head don’t count.
I’ve had too many coaching clients who wanted to do steps like “Think about marketing plan.” That’s not an action step. Thinking about action is not action.
An action step is something that produces evidence. It’s outside your head.
So, make a call. Or make a list. Do something positive, visible, and small that moves you toward that big goal.