1. The empty pool
When we set ourselves a big goal, we tend to see the situation as if we were standing in front of an empty pool with nothing but a glass in our hand. From there the task looks simple and hopeless at the same time, since we would have to fill the whole thing glass by glass.
The more often we look at the pool, the more clearly we see how long it would take to fill before we could finally swim in it. As time passes the pool only looks emptier, and the hope of swimming feels further and further out of reach.
2. How the pool gets deeper
This happens because every time we glance at the pool, we also feel all the times we did not pour anything into it. The weight of those missed chances adds to the task, so in our minds filling it takes longer and longer, and the pool grows deeper in our heads until it feels bottomless.
Exactly the same happens with our goals. The more often we look at them without acting, the more intangible they seem, and the less we do with them. That is why so many unfulfilled dreams line the shelf, neatly dusted, waiting for the day when there will be time for them.
3. What the glass is really for
Two questions are worth asking. What if we are not limited to filling the pool glass by glass? And what if we do not need to fill the whole pool first?
Perhaps the glass was never meant for this job, and it is not our only tool either. This is much easier to picture with tangible things, so let us look at an example.
4. An example with a flat
Say the pool is a flat of your own, and the glass is your full-time job or your freelance work. If that is all you fill with, the pool will fill up at some point you cannot even see. What happens if you use the glass for something else? The chain looks roughly like this.
- With the glass we fill a washbasin. For example we start a small webshop that already brings in more income, and that puts a large pot in our hands.
- With the large pot we fill a bathtub. With the money saved we can start a service business, say a cleaning company.
- With the bathtub we fill a big tank. That might be a subscription software that solves a real problem.
- With the tank we slowly fill the pool, because the businesses built along the way now bring in enough income together for the flat.
5. It is all in the order
These are only tangible examples, of course, and anyone can put something else in their place. What matters is that our glass may not be made for the pool, and we are much better off filling something smaller with it first, something that will in time fill the pool for us.
The same goes for business goals. A large client base or a strong brand is never built with a single tool either. If you see that your pool has been just as empty for a long time, look at what you are filling it with, and whether there is an intermediate tank you should aim for first.
6. Before you look at it again
Next time you stand at the edge of the pool, look for the next container you can fill with the tools you have now. As it fills up, the vessel in your hand gets bigger too, and from then on the pool looks a little shallower.
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