In the last article, I told you about a lunch I had with a notable leader. There was another lesson from that lunch that I want to share with you. In the lunch we discussed big ideas that can potentially make a national change on the political scene in the country of Lebanon, where I am originally from. We talked about ideas that seem to our current eyes aspirational, requiring much sacrifice and hard work. Then we talked about small steps we can take now.
My leader friend looked at me and said, “That’s what we have to do as leaders–think big and small. We have to keep the big lofty dreams before us. They cannot disappear from our mind. But these big dreams may not be ready to be shared with others, so we have to make the small actions happen.
I really like this imagery of leadership. Big. And Small. That’s what it should be all about. That’s a simple and elegant way to think about leadership. Many times, because the progress is slow, we abandon or never even land on the big dream. We don’t think we can do it, we don’t think it can be done, so we don’t dream of it. We don’t develop the habit of thinking big. It takes discipline and intention to create the “big” and keep it alive in our mind.
Similarly, many times we have a big dream, a big idea, but we don’t make small steps to create some sort of momentum. So, nothing happens. Small steps are needed to make the big dreams happen.
This is what I encourage you to do today. What are the big dreams God is putting on your heart? Nurture these dreams. Then think small, what are small steps you can take in the direction of the big dream?
Take the small steps, then see the big dreams come to life.
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