ordinary. Just to arrive at work most people do quite a number of repetitive and seemingly dull steps. Yet without those steps being taken – switching off the alarm, getting out of bed, washing, cleaning teeth, having breakfast, getting things together, travelling to work, etc – the goal of arriving at your place of work would not be achieved.

Many of the things we want to achieve will entail hard work. Often we cannot see how the little boring

“Do not confuse motion and progress. A rocking horse keeps moving but does not make any progress”

- Alfred A. Montapert, American Author.

You have heard the saying “Getting nowhere fast”. For many this is their experience in life. We have or have had dreams and plans. We have followed some course of action that we hoped would get us closer to our dream. But the more effort we put into getting there, the further away the dream or goal seems to get.

We can be like a rocking horse that “keeps moving but does not make any progress”. We may have plenty of action. We may be expending plenty of energy. We may be tiring ourselves out with what we do in the course of a day, yet when we look back over the 24 hours, what have we achieved?

Effort and energy need to be focused if any goal is to be fulfilled. But that is it! So much of what we do is not focused because it is not directed towards a goal. It may be that we do not have a goal set or that what we do most of the time has little or no relevance to our goal. A lot of what we do in life is necessarily mundane, for that is the reality of life for most of us. But even in the mundane things of life, we need to have a vision before us of how the things we do can help us attain our goal. The reaching of a main goal consists of taking many smaller steps along the way.

Thomas A Bennett said: “Having once decided to achieve a certain task, achieve it at all costs of tedium and distaste. The gain in self-confidence of having accomplished a tiresome labour is immense”. I remember receiving an email at the commencement of a new year in which the suggestion was made that during the course of the year one should list 1000 small steps to take towards achieving a major goal. Now many of those 1000 small steps would be dull and ordinary. Just to arrive at work most people do quite a number of repetitive and seemingly dull steps. Yet without those steps being taken – switching off the alarm, getting out of bed, washing, cleaning teeth, having breakfast, getting things together, travelling to work, etc – the goal of arriving at your place of work would not be achieved.

Many of the things we want to achieve will entail hard work. Often we cannot see how the little boring t

s to get.

We can be like a rocking horse that “keeps moving but does not make any progress”. We may have plenty of action. We may be expending plenty of energy. We may be tiring ourselves out with what we do in the course of a day, yet when we look back over the 24 hours, what have we achieved?

Effort and energy need to be focused if any goal is to be fulfilled. But that is it! So much of what we do is not focused because it is not directed towards a goal. It may be that we do not have a goal set or that what we do most of the time has little or no relevance to our goal. A lot of what we do in life is necessarily mundane, for that is the reality of life for most of us. But even in the mundane things of life, we need to have a vision before us of how the things we do can help us attain our goal. The reaching of a main goal consists of taking many smaller steps along the way.

Thomas A Bennett said: “Having once decided to achieve a certain task, achieve it at all costs of tedium and distaste. The gain in self-confidence of having accomplished a tiresome labour is immense”. I remember receiving an email at the commencement of a new year in which the suggestion was made that during the course of the year one should list 1000 small steps to take towards achieving a major goal. Now many of those 1000 small steps would be dull and ordinary. Just to arrive at work most people do quite a number of repetitive and seemingly dull steps. Yet without those steps being taken – switching off the alarm, getting out of bed, washing, cleaning teeth, having breakfast, getting things together, travelling to work, etc – the goal of arriving at your place of work would not be achieved.

Many of the things we want to achieve will entail hard work. Often we cannot see how the little boring

ted towards a goal. It may be that we do not have a goal set or that what we do most of the time has little or no relevance to our goal. A lot of what we do in life is necessarily mundane, for that is the reality of life for most of us. But even in the mundane things of life, we need to have a vision before us of how the things we do can help us attain our goal. The reaching of a main goal consists of taking many smaller steps along the way.

Thomas A Bennett said: “Having once decided to achieve a certain task, achieve it at all costs of tedium and distaste. The gain in self-confidence of having accomplished a tiresome labour is immense”. I remember receiving an email at the commencement of a new year in which the suggestion was made that during the course of the year one should list 1000 small steps to take towards achieving a major goal. Now many of those 1000 small steps would be dull and ordinary. Just to arrive at work most people do quite a number of repetitive and seemingly dull steps. Yet without those steps being taken – switching off the alarm, getting out of bed, washing, cleaning teeth, having breakfast, getting things together, travelling to work, etc – the goal of arriving at your place of work would not be achieved.

Many of the things we want to achieve will entail hard work. Often we cannot see how the little boring

mas A Bennett said: “Having once decided to achieve a certain task, achieve it at all costs of tedium and distaste. The gain in self-confidence of having accomplished a tiresome labour is immense”. I remember receiving an email at the commencement of a new year in which the suggestion was made that during the course of the year one should list 1000 small steps to take towards achieving a major goal. Now many of those 1000 small steps would be dull and ordinary. Just to arrive at work most people do quite a number of repetitive and seemingly dull steps. Yet without those steps being taken – switching off the alarm, getting out of bed, washing, cleaning teeth, having breakfast, getting things together, travelling to work, etc – the goal of arriving at your place of work would not be achieved.

Many of the things we want to achieve will entail hard work. Often we cannot see how the little boring

ordinary. Just to arrive at work most people do quite a number of repetitive and seemingly dull steps. Yet without those steps being taken – switching off the alarm, getting out of bed, washing, cleaning teeth, having breakfast, getting things together, travelling to work, etc – the goal of arriving at your place of work would not be achieved.

Many of the things we want to achieve will entail hard work. Often we cannot see how the little boring task we are working on at this moment will affect what we want to achieve. Yet we know that in the broader picture it is vital. We would do well to seek to pat ourselves on the back when we achieve even the smallest and most seemingly mundane task, recognising that it is getting us one small step closer to our goal.

So what will this day mean for you in reaching further towards your goal? Alexander Woollcott said: “There is no such thing in anyone's life as an unimportant day”. At the beginning of the day you can greet the day with a sense of expectancy and look for the unusual and unexpected to brighten an otherwise ordinary day. At the close of the day you can look back and recall moments worth noting or cherishing from the day. Whether you find this easy or not, you can know that this day has added something to the inventory of actions and thought processes that will take you closer to the fulfilment of your dream.