Have you ever watched a baby learn how to walk? Witnessing this take place is one of the cutest things that you’ll ever see. First they’ll start to pull themselves up with the help of various objects. If the couch is low enough then they’ll try it there. Basically, anything that’s low enough for them to grab is fair game. Eventually, they’ll try to do it on their own. They don’t have a lot of strength in their legs when they start off so when they first attempt it, all they do is wobble for half a second before falling straight down on their butt. But after they keep on practicing, they eventually gather up enough strength to stand for more than just that half a second. Next they’ll make an attempt to actually move their legs. Ultimately, that will end up having the same effect that standing on their own did the first time that they tried doing that. So, they fall, but this doesn’t stop them from doing it again. Sooner or later they’re able to move one foot and bring the other foot along with it before they fall down. And before you know it, they’re able to take more and more steps. Parents may even try and give them a goal to reach while they’re walking. They may stand away from them and encourage their child to come to them. Once the child reaches that point, they’ll back up, and once they reach that point they’ll back up even further, and they’ll keep doing that until one day their baby is able to travel all the way across the room without any help. That baby never gave up which is why they were able to learn how to walk. They took little steps and each step was able to move them a bit closer to their final destination.

But just because they know how to walk doesn’t mean that they still won’t fall. They’re going to fall many times before they get the hang of it. And that’s because they’re still new to this activity. When they’re overly ambitious they’ll try to walk too fast and then they’ll end up falling again just like they did the first time that they tried to stand. They may really want to reach whatever it is that they have their eye on and because of that they don’t want to take the little baby steps that they have been used to taking. They want it now, and they’re not willing to wait, and that’s when they end up getting hurt. However, if they go back to taking small, slow baby steps then they can reach their goal unscathed.

The same thing goes for you when you’re trying to achieve a new goal. Because it’s new for you, you have to take your time. Get to know everything about what you want and how to get there before running straight ahead for it. It’s exciting and you’re going to want to rush to get there as quickly as you can, but taking baby steps is the better option. If you go to fast then you’ll end up falling, and depending on how hard you fall will also depend on how much more time it will take you to reach the goal. If it’s a small fall then you can get up and brush yourself off and learn from it as you continue forward. However, if you go down really hard you may need a bit longer to gather yourself and keep going. You may have to put everything on pause for much longer than you anticipated just so that you can regroup, and you probably don’t want that to happen.

Positive thinker, it’s okay to take things slow. I know that you want to get to your goal as quickly as you can, but it doesn’t matter how long it takes you to get there; it only matters that you do end up getting there. I may not know you personally, but I’d be willing to bet that you would rather get there with as few difficulties as possible. Slowing down will allow that to happen. Just remember, you will reach that goal eventually. All you have to do is take it one day at a time.