Baby Steps

Hi, guys. My name is Donny Rouse, and you are listening to the podcast One Life Baby Steps. Whenever we want to make any kind of change in our life, the easiest thing for us to do is to make these little baby steps. And what I mean by these baby steps, these are these small steps that will, over time, give us the confidence to make the changes and move towards that goal. If you think of life and your experiences as a box, and you are smack dead center of that box, this is your world, right? And everything you want is outside of that box. Everything you want is in that unknown. But if you're trying to make that leap from the center of the box all the way to the other side, it could come across as being very scary. But if you start to make your way towards that border and maybe you climb up the wall, you peek your head over, and you realize, wow, there's just a lot of force there. I don't really see a whole lot of movement. And then maybe you go over the wall and you take one step, and then you realize you're a little bit nervous, and you step back over. Then you go over the wall the following day, and you move on a little bit forward. And all of a sudden you're making these small gains which are adding up to compound into large, large increases. That is how you make progress. When I first got to Miami, I was staying in hostels, and I met a bunch of different people, and one person stuck out in particular, as this lesson relates to. And this is pretty much the inspiration behind the podcast. I was in my room, and there was a woman there from New York City, and she had, like, this entire setup. She had, you know, she had this, like, in a rice cooker. It looked like she had set up a kitchen in the hostel, in the hostel room. And she was telling how, you know, how she chose to travel to Miami because she wanted to get out of New York. You know, I wasn't going to go into the story, but I will because I find it rather interesting. So she was in New York City. She was in her apartment, and all these snowstorms are coming, and she was starting. She was getting really cold. She was saying how she felt like she was a prisoner in her apartment sometimes. Like, even the hot water wouldn't work. So she was just sitting, and there was always, like, this chill that would. That was, like, made a home in her body. And in that poem, she said that she was going to make this. She made the decision. Then she said, you know what? I'm just going to Go to Miami. I'm just going to spend the winter down there. I'm going to stay warm, and then I'll come back once the weather's changed. So she was in this hostel, and she pretty much set up camp in the hotel room. And the entire time. I mean, every time I went to the hotel or to the hostel, she was in her bed on the computer. I was like, all right, well, maybe she's just doing work. She's, you know. Yeah, she's just working from Miami. That's what she's doing. But then, like, I heard, like, movies being streamed and stuff like that. I'm like, all right, well, I don't think that's work. This not work. And she would tell people how was like, she. Like that she was traveling to Miami. And when you think of travel, you think of experience. And I'm thinking about it. One of my friends was saying, she's saying that she's traveling to Miami, but she hasn't left her room. And I was like, yeah, and looking at it, it was so easy for, like, say, someone like him to judge her for looking at her for staying in that room. And I said, well, listen, you got to put things in context, right? We're. You know, the whole Covid thing is going on right now. So, one, she's probably a little bit afraid to step out because of that, and you don't know what her norm is. So this. The fact that even if she stays in the hotel room the entire time, this might be the next step for her. This might be her inching closer, closer to that wall to get outside that box. Pretty fascinated by her. She was. She was. She was a beautiful girl, like, really kind, really nice. I said, listen, I'm gonna go grab a coffee. Would you like to join me? She wasn't ready for that. She did not. No, no, not yet. You know, it's. It's a lot of people out there, and I don't want to risk getting Covid. I'm like, okay, that's fine. You know, do what? Do what's comfortable and safe for you. And, you know, a few days later, I saw her outside the hotel room getting. Getting some food and then coming back. So that was the step. So the reason I tell you this story is because I want you to. Don't beat yourself up as well as. Don't judge other people because you don't know where they are in their journey. I was in another hostel with the same thing happened where I met a guy who literally stayed in his bed. The entire time, like playing with his phone. It's so easy. I'm like, well, there's such a beautiful world out there. If you only knew what was on the other side of that wall. I didn't say that to him, but that's what I was thinking in my mind. But this is what I'm saying to you. If you only knew what was on the other side of that wall. I'm going to be doing another podcast. And like, literally right after this, I'm going to get up and record it because I have the inspiration for it. Everything you want is on the other side. But when you're projecting out, you're projecting fear, you're projecting the unknown, you're projecting things going wrong. That's why you haven't taken that step. If you can instead flip what you're looking at, flip what you're focusing on, and get really acquainted with those feelings, you make the change in an instant. You wouldn't think twice. But again, to bring it all back to the main point is that change doesn't have to be this big, scary monster. If you take these small increments, take these small steps, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, and you'll see these results compounding. You'll see yourself getting more comfortable. You'll see, like the thing that you were. You were afraid of, the fear will actually lessen. It's like the frog and the frog in the boiling water, right? Like the frog, when it's slowly turning up the temperature, the frog doesn't know he's in the boiling water until it gets too. Until it gets too hot and he's toasted. But if you drop the frog in the hot water, he immediately jumps out. Now, that's kind of morbid, but we can say that the frog is in this water. And you know, this water is going to be a beautiful. Where at a certain temperature, all these other female frogs are going to go in there and he's going to be in paradise. But, you know, that's going to say, but if he was jumped right into the hot water, he may not even know that those other frogs were waiting for him. He may have jumped out right when he dipped his first fin in. So I don't even know if that makes sense, but that's the first thing that came to my mind. So to wrap it all up, what is one step you can take today to move your foot closer to that trip, that goal, whatever it may be? Well, you know, let's. Before we even start Identify what that fear is. What is the fear? What's preventing you from moving forward Once you've done that, question it. Break the belief legs of that. Break the legs of that table. Well, is this completely true? What are the instances where it's not true? How I might. How might I be making this up in my mind? How might I be making this bigger than it is, more serious than it is, more scary than it is? What is one step I could take today to get me closer to that? What's the next step? And line out, write out a list of steps that'll get you there. And what you'll realize is that you'll be making. If you do this day after day, you won't even recognize. When you look back, you won't even recognize where you are because the results compound. And you'll get further along and you'll feel more confident and success is imminent. That is all I have for you guys. I hope you enjoyed this podcast and be sure to check out for the one following this. I think it's going to be called like Fear of Wall or Wall of Fear or something like that. Or Breaking through the Wall. That's what it is. Because it'll go kind of hand in hand with this. But I hope you enjoyed this podcast. If you did, please share with your friends and family on social media. You could shoot me a message if you have any questions. Onnyraus via Instagram. And I invite you guys to sign up for my Live youe One Life workshop. That happens pretty much every other week. You could sign up at D O n n Y r a u s.com and the work, getting clear about what it is that you want to create for your life, understanding the things that are holding you back. And then lastly, taking that big action. Because that's where I believe all the power is. The power is in the action. The power is getting momentum to take that step. Because as a result of doing that, new things, new experiences will come into your life and you'll start to get momentum. That is all I got for you guys today. I hope you enjoyed this podcast. God bless and I will see you again soon.