Let’s say you had a baby.

Congratulations!  Your baby is the best human ever!

You love your baby. You celebrate as it starts to crawl. You delight in this baby’s every new adventure.

Then, one day, the baby stands up on her own. “Yaaaaay!” you cheer.  You think, “Wow. She’s gonna learn how to walk. Isn’t that great?”

One evening, your perfect child stands up again. She braces herself on the coffee table. Your partner grabs the movie camera. You call your parents in Idaho so they can listen to the play-by-play.

Your child lurches forward.  Then, CLUNK. She falls onto her butt on the carpet.

“Awwwww,” you say.  ”Dang,” your partner says.

“Well, I guess that’s it. This one just wasn’t cut out for walking,” your parents say from their home in Boise.  ”Oh well,” you say. “It just wasn’t meant to be. Bummer.”

You hang up the phone. You turn off the camera.  Tomorrow you’ll begin the search for a bigger stroller because your kid’s obviously gonna have to get through life on wheels.

Get the idea?

And yet, how many of us are already acting like this with our plans for the coming year or with our own new beginnings?

Your project, your dream, or your goal is your baby.  If we all gave up on our kids as much as we give up on ourselves, then we’d have a race of humans with big calluses on their knees!

The Best Way to Create Anything: Baby Steps

Every big project or goal can be broken down into baby steps. Little lurches forward. Sometimes they’re clumsy. Sometimes they don’t even seem to make an impact. But this is how anything gets done.

• Years and years of built up clutter get sorted and thrown away one drawer at a time. (Plan for 30-minutes a day in one zone of the house – not “Get rid of clutter.”)
• Years and years of reckless eating and unhealthy habits get shifted one work-out at a time. (Plan a 45-minute work-out 5 days a week, and a once a month visit to an acupuncturist for a year – not “Lose 50 pounds by June.”)
• A song gets written in fits and starts. Hour by hour. Moment by moment. A flash of an idea. Then an edit. (Schedule in an hour of writing time in the morning. Start with scales to warm up. Not “Write Lots of Songs.”)
• A coach builds her practice one client at a time. (Schedule a daily system for authentic marketing. Not “Get 50 new clients by March.”)

That’s how it works.

Stinks, doesn’t it?

Actually, no.

This is the good news that no one ever tells you.

When you get this concept, you’ll never be afraid of failure again. When you learn how to break a goal down into baby steps, and how to complete something fantastic using this method, then you have the key to doing anything.

When you understand that everyone falls down and gets back up again (some of us on an hourly basis!), then you need only to trust in your strength to get back up again.

The only block is your ego.

Your ego wants it to be done now. Your ego wants to move through life risk-free, foolish-free, discouragement-free, mistake-free, tired-free. And the best way to trick your ego (and yourself) into letting go a little bit is to take baby steps.

I’m in the middle of coaching people in my Uplevel Your Business Program & Blueprint. These entrepreneurs are the most courageous clients I can imagine having. That’s because they are taking the biggest risk of all. They are taking Baby Steps!

Baby steps take courage. Baby steps are a huge risk to your ego because they are so easy. SO easy! The ego wants big deals, major accomplishments, huge weight-loss, and fast results. In other words, the ego likes adjectives, not nouns. Those adjectives guarantee that you’ll stay stuck and never try anything new. Over time you’ll get that deals, accomplishments, weight-loss, and results feel pretty good — even without adjectives.

Now, try this:

Take a goal you want to accomplish by the end of this year, and ask yourself, “What is one baby step could I take every day to complete this goal?” And then (and this is the big challenge) get out your calendar and schedule it in there daily for the rest of 2010.

Christine Kane is the Mentor to Women Who are Changing the World.   She helps women uplevel their lives, their businesses and their success.  Her weekly Live Creative eZine goes out to over 12,000 subscribers. If you are ready to take your life and your world to the next level, you can sign up for a F.R.E.E. subscription at http://christinekane.com.

WANT TO SEE HUNDREDS MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS ONE? Visit Christine’s blog at ChristineKane.com/blog.

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• Create Every Day – A Guest Post from Aileen Holmes

Are you an artist?
Does your spirit soar
Like an eagle in the sky?
Do you often wonder why
The sky is blue?
Well, me too.

Are you an artist?
Do you get bored easily
By trivial, mundane things?
Are you a wandering being?

Are you an artist?
Do you sing in the shower?
Oh, the horror of your voice,
Although, you secretly rejoice!

Are you an artist?
Do you feel like
Dancing for no reason?
Or maybe just to celebrate
The changing of the seasons?

Are you an artist?
Do you kiss adorable toddlers,
Cute cheek to sweet cheek?
Do you like to meet perfect
Strangers at odd hours?
Do you love
The smell of tender flowers?

Are you an artist?
Do you like to luxuriate
On a sandy beach?
Would you rather stay away
From those who preach?

Are you an artist?
Do you frequently lose your keys?
How about shooting the breeze?

Are you an artist?
Do people around you
Complain that you are odd?
“Well, go take a hike, Todd.”

Are you an artist?
Do you gaze longingly into the unknown?
How about a date with Sharon Stone?

Are you an artist?
Does “Investment Banking”
Sound too lame?
Why, you are not
Even in that game.

Are you an artist?
Do your feet
Dance to the beat
Of the Rhythm and Blues?
Well, put on your dancing shoes!

Are you  an artist?
Do you catch yourself
Saying things like:
Groovy, babe, rock on, dig it, chick and man?
Did you secretly enjoy watching
“The Silence of the Lambs?”

Are you an artist?
Do you think tattoos are cool?
Are you good at breaking rules?

Are you an artist?
Do you fantasize and
Build castles in the air?
Why, even if people stare you down?
Who cares if they put on a frown?

Are you an artist?
Are you obsessed about
Shades, colors and lights?
Do you love to fly kites?
Do you travel very light?

Are you an artist?
Were you the class clown
Who made people laugh?
Did you suck at math?

Are you an artist?
Do you often dream about
Making this world a better place?
And want to achieve that
By demonstrating aesthetic grace?

————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Archan Mehta is a freelance writer, meditator, an outdoor enthusiast, who dreams about waking up at the crack of dawn and starting a blog. Feel free to contact Archan at archanm@hotmail.com at your own convenience.  (And be sure to encourage Archan to start that blog, because we want to read more!)Similar Posts:

• Create Every Day – A Guest Post from Aileen Holmes
• What You Do is Your Art
• Burnt Out? Revitalize Your Creative Energy

This is a guest post written by artist Aileen Holmes.  Artwork to the left is one of Aileen’s creations.

As artists, many of us dream of creating large masterpieces and gloriously large scale works.

This is a beautiful and wonderful goal to have, but large dreams can also be a burden.

We question ourselves… “Why haven’t I done this already?”   Or we procrastinate and the empty canvas haunts our days.

Try looking at creativity as a practice and infuse creativity into everyday life.

Creativity is a muscle that needs to be worked out.

Masterpieces don’t spring out of nowhere (well, sometimes but not often!).  Creativity is a lifestyle – It needs to exist in every day life to grow and thrive.

There are simple ways you can exercise your creative muscles:

1.  Carry a small sketchbook and a camera: Capture what catches your eye.  The more you train your eye to look for creative inspiration, the more you will find.

2.   Catalog your inspiration: Whenever I get a new magazine, I go through it and tear out whatever is intriguing.  I tear out poses that I’d like to draw or paint later.   A reservoir of inspiration becomes a resource to turn to over and over again.

3.  Challenge how you approach every day activities: One exercise I like to do is choose a random article of clothing and try to build an all new outfit around it.  Pick a neglected sweater or funky scarf and coordinate a fun look!  When you force yourself to break out of dressing automatically, you learn to look at color and shapes a new way.

4.  Experiment with a new ingredient: Adding spice to your life, whether it’s a new cuisine or learning salsa dancing will open up new avenues of expression.  I like to dig in the back of my spice cabinet and invent a new recipe.  By adding Kahlua to my horchata and adding a pinch of cinnamon, I invented a drink I like to call a “Mexican Russian!”

Opening your eyes to possibilities, collecting inspiration, challenging your viewpoint and experimenting are all ways to work your creative muscles.

When you approach all aspects of life creatively, you Create Every Day.  The more you infuse creativity into every day life, the easier it will be to create your great masterpiece!

Aileen Holmes

________________________________________________________________________________________

Aileen Holmes is an artist, illustrator, and graphic designer inspired by vintage fashion.  Her art is feminine, fun, and flirty!  Her blog is fun to follow – here’s the link.

The CREATE EVERYDAY artwork shown on this page is available as a print and proceeds go directly to The American Red Cross to help Haiti.  I bought mine by clicking here.  When I get it, I’ll hang it in my office to remind me daily to Create!

Maria xxooSimilar Posts:

• HOW TO CREATE ANYTHING Even when you’re scared, inexperienced and don’t believe in yourself
• How Meditation Helps the Creative Process
• Focus on Desire Not Fear – Jump on that Horse