This is a about how small steps can help you achieve big goals. It is a book about a Canadian woman who has had the courage to win and win big in her life. And she did it one small step at a time.
Marnie McBean was a rower. She excelled in her sport because she was dedicated and committed. But the way she handled her challenge of becoming a good rower we can apply to anything challenge that we have in our life.
Most people don’t consider themselves superheroes. Only the animated superhero character in the Movie Toy Story can say, To Infinity and Beyond. He said it with full intention of getting there.
When faced with a challenging goal, most of us are often too quick to dismiss ourselves. Marnie found that its much easier to achieve big things when they are broken down into little manageable bits of more.
To support a fundraising event for the World Wildlife Fund, she was asked to participate in a race up the stairs to the observation deck of the CN Tower in Toronto.
You can certainly see it from a hundred kilometers away, towering above the rest of the city. She was a bit concerned. Even when she was ready to race at the Olympics, she could still get winded after walking a flight of stairs in her house. How was she going to make it?
Racing up the CN Tower looked like a formidable challenge. It was like looking at a superhero’s goal, not a mortal’s. However, there are only 1,776 steps to get to the top of that tower. Yes, that is quite a few steps! But it is doable, with practise and patience. All she had to do is to go one step after the other until she reached the top.
So, on the allotted day, she ran up the stairs, every one of them. She did it! And the feat wasn’t undoable.
After this, she started understanding the power of more. It became central to how she prepared for her rowing challenges. This idea is not to focus on the more you can get or achieve but rather on the more you can do. It’s not about having more–it’s about being able to do more. She learned that she can always do more than she expected.
She learned that she can always prepare a bit more so that she can succeed. There is more to listen to and more ways to try.
Therefore how you set goals, and your accountability and commitment to them will be decided by how much ambition you choose to apply.
The good news is that we all can achieve the goals that we want. But we have to break them down into small parts–parts that are manageable and doable for us. And then all we have to focus on one step at a time to be our best.
Rating: 5 stars
Reviewed by: Irene S. Roth
Irene Roth's Canadian Book Review Blog 