I once read the following statement and it continues to shape my decisions in times of uncertainty:
“The most important step for you to take is the next step. The next step forms a crucial connection between your past actions and your future results. If you fail to take the next step, all the steps you’ve taken before will be wasted. If you do not take the next step, all the steps you’ve so carefully planned to take cannot be reached.”
The statement reminds me constantly that success is achieved by those who are always willing to take the next step, whatever that step may be. Life’s greatest accomplishments are never magically created all at once, but are built one step at a time. In the gospels, which record the works of our master teacher Jesus, we read of many instances where He instantly heals someone. We forget the many years and countless hours of development, of prayer, meditation and taking the “next step” in the process.
In the gospel of John (11:41-44) it tell us that Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” 43Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” 44And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.”
A magical moment indeed, as our master teacher takes the “next step” in the process—the willingness to suspend all doubts as he calls upon the Father of us all.
Entrepreneurs who build successful businesses do so by always being ready to take the next step. People who create positive and lasting relationships do so by always being there to take the next step.
Right now there is an all-important next step for you to take. You’ve come a long way, and now is your opportunity to keep the momentum going, or to get it going again if it has slowed. Now is the moment to do what comes next. Take the next step, and connect yourself with the best of your possibilities.
My own life experience has caused me to believe that a most important “next step” is the willingness to let go of all doubts and fears. All the doubt in the world cannot stand up to one little positive action. Doubt has no power when you decide to act in spite of it, and doubt cannot stop you if you refuse it attention. It matters not who doubts you, or how much, or why. What matters is what you do.
A thousand people, or a million, or a billion, could say it cannot be done. Yet that does not in any way have to stop you from doing it.
Just because there are obstacles to overcome does not mean it cannot be done. When you focus not on the obstacles themselves, but rather on how you’ll get beyond them, it will be done, and you’ll be the one who does it.
Doubt exists entirely in the mind and when you put it out of your mind it ceases to exist. Rather than struggling to fight doubt, or to conquer it, or to live with it, you can simply abandon it and it will evaporate. Fill your mind with positive thoughts, fill your moments with positive, productive actions, and doubt will have no place in your life as you take the next step.