🧍 The next step
Book of TREE 2.59
You might think of your path as a predetermined route you are destined to take through life or as a thing you create by going where you choose to go and doing what you choose to do. I think it’s a mix of both. The clearly defined ends of that spectrum are an illusion.
No matter what you or I think, both of us will face times of needing to figure out what to do next. Here are two super practical ways that I discover/choose my next step when the next step isn’t clear.
1. Talk
You might not know what to do next because your thinking is in a tangle. Talking is a good way to detangle, especially if you can talk to someone who is good at listening and reflecting. (What you don’t want in this situation is a fixer/advice-giver.) Before long, the tangle will become a line you can follow and you will know what to do.
If you haven’t got one of those people handy, just talk. There’s something about getting your thoughts outside your head that helps create clarity. Writing until you have clarity works a lot like talking.
As soon as you have clarity, take action.
2. Chop
Sometimes you know what you need to do but it’s so big and impossible that you don’t know where to start. Start by chopping it into pieces, then do the piece that comes first. The first piece may still seem overwhelming. Chop it again. Keep chopping until you get a first piece that’s small enough to do today. Then do it.
This grabbed my ears on Friday
Grow slowly
Jeff
