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Start small

There are several reasons that good ideas or intentions never come to fruition. The resources aren’t available or circumstances change. But often it’s in the implementation; if you get the first step wrong, the greatest idea is doomed to fail.

Several times this has happened to me, and it’s been my fault for not starting small, simple, and clearly. I’ve had the full vision in mind, and just new it was going to be amazing. But the vision has to be clear to everyone trying to implement the plan, and it has to be easily started.

When there is a big plan in place, aligned with your priorities, you truly need to back track it to the first simple step. There are a lot of sayings around this for a reason. Start slow to go fast, the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step, find your lead domino, etc…

Make the first move the smallest, simplest task that can be completed. Early gains, that won’t overwhelm the team you are working with, that can be clearly communicated and accomplished relatively quickly will get you much farther than the whole plan communicated at once where people are confused where to start.

Celebrate that success, then move forward to the next small step in the journey!


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