Change Small, Change More Often

"How do you eat an elephant?"
One bite at a time.
Have you heard that before? The idea of eating an elephant is overwhelming. But anyone could eat one bite. Forget the part about the elephant getting really really mad because someone bit him.
Does the goal you'd like to set seem unrealizable, impossible? Perhaps the goal is to lose 25 pounds. Or 30, 40... It is daunting.
But could you lose a pound in a week? Certainly. And the next week? Yes. And the next, and next.
What if you gained a few pounds one week? Get back to it. But keep changing. Change small, change often.
Wouldn't you like to be a millionaire? Who wouldn't? Can you imagine having a million dollars in stocks, or a mutual fund? If you think about your condition as it is- what you earn, how much you have saved- it sounds ridiculous. Yet if a person 25 years old were to put $100 a month into a Roth IRA, or a bit more than $3 per day until age 70, he could save a million dollars at an 8% growth rate. Amazing. A friend of mine used to say, "Slow and steady wins the race."
Recently I struggled with an elephant. We moved and the garage suffered the brunt of it. Everything that didn't have a place to go seemed to end up in the garage, along with what did belong there. Once the dust settled, the garage struggled with stacks of boxes, furniture, camping gear, motorcycle parts and tools, all vying for space. The mess extended to every corner.
But I determined to get two cars and three bikes in the garage. Three times in two weeks I walked into the garage to tackle the project, and three times I walked out without doing a thing.
Why?
It looked impossible.
Finally, I ventured in and took care of three boxes.
Okay. Not so bad.
Nevertheless, the amount of success seemed like a drop in the ocean.
Or one bite out of an elephant.
Three more boxes. Progress appeared glacial.
Three more.
I could see some floor.
Three more. I made a path to the driveway.
And so it went. Next I set up shelves, stacked things away, and what do you know?
Room for two cars and three bikes.
One box at a time.
One pound at a time.
One dollar at a time.
One bite at a time.