If You Focus On Results, You Will Never Change. If You Focus On Change, You Will Get Results

We have all heard the phrase “can’t see the forest for the trees”, but have you ever really thought about what that means. It means that if you look at things one at a time, you might not realize that a bunch of separate "trees" go together to make a "forest". Too often, we are so bogged down in the little things in life that we forget to look at the big picture. Additionally, most of us tend to want to look ahead at the results rather than what it takes to achieve those desired results.

Our lives consist of many moments of learning, each of which enables us to develop more abilities and knowledge. With each nugget of information we retain, we become more comfortable doing things that previously we would have never thought possible. While very few of us remember taking our first step, those of us who are parents vividly remember the excitement on the face of that son or daughter when they were finally able to walk towards us without any assistance. Just like that small child, if we learn to put one foot, one task, or one new idea in front of the other, we will accomplish results that we never previously could have dreamed possible.

Early in life, I struggled in math, and looking back, I realize that my difficulty wasn’t that I did not understand how to solve the problems, instead I was focused on the answer before the problem. Only when I realized that complicated math equations could be solved by breaking them down into simple problems, did I overcome my problems in that important subject.

Every day we need to focus on the little things that can make our lives, our jobs, our relationships, and every facet of the lives of ourselves and every person around us better. If each of us focuses on true and real change in our lives, then there is no limit to what can be accomplished to the benefit of our communities and for ourselves personally.

In business we have goals, and we should also be setting goals in our personal lives as well. Will you join me today in not only setting goals that challenge us to grow and be better, and then focus not just on the goals themselves, but the baby steps needed to accomplish those goals?