I love sweat. It means I’m getting into it, creating heat, feeling the burn, pushing past my comfort zone, and moving my body (and mind). The anticipation of it sucks of course, but with each consecutive day, it gets easier to bypass the desire not to and just show up and begin.
The thought of doing great things takes my mind to what I can’t control, and that’s overwhelming. Not worth sweating over. The big things will and do happen, but not without minding the small things, the things that are easy to gloss over and dismiss because they’re small, the actions I can actually control. When I turn small actions into daily habits, things magically come together, the stars align, and I get lucky.
For me, focusing on the small things in a great way means knowing what’s important to me, where I want to go with it, and making sure I include a piece of that in my day, every day, in full zen mode. Which, by the way, when I allow myself to get into zen mode, time becomes generous, and any work that I do becomes pleasureful. I can’t lose.
The danger of focusing on doing great things is that it’s easy to forget to enjoy my work for the sake of itself. I become less inspired and also less inspiring. I’m at danger of shortcutting building something on my terms. I end up feeling shackled.
Small things matter. They are the building blocks for our great thing. Turn them into enjoyable daily habits and you will naturally project who you really are. All the extra stone will be chiseled away to reveal the masterpiece that you are, doing great things.