Affirmation: Ideas Without Execution are Hallucinations
This is monthly affirmations, a newsletter from founder Sonya Yu. Each month, she imparts a saying to incorporate into daily life to live in attunement with your most authentic self.
Don’t judge me, but one of my favorite movies is Creed.
You know, the boxing movie that’s basically an extension of the Rocky franchise where Michael B. Jordan, playing the son of famous champ Apollo Creed, seeks out Sly Stallone of Rocky fame to train him and become the fighter he was destined to be?
I love it not so much for the storyline or because Jordan is on screen for 133 minutes but because of a scene when they’re training and Stallone tells him:
One step at a time. One punch at a time. One round at a time.
It’s a perfect phrase because winning or achieving a goal isn’t possible withoutthose individual small steps, which leads me to this month’s affirmation:
After all, how many ideas do we have every day? (Science says we have about 6,000 thoughts in a 24-hour period; at least a third of those must be ideas.) And yet how many do we actually realize? It’s a miniscule number.
There’s a disconnect between our visions and our executions because ideas can feel overwhelming. All of a sudden you imagine climbing Everest — yet you’ve never hiked the trails in your own backyard. Breaking it down by one step, one punch, one round helps create scaffolding so you’re not going zero to sixty mph.
Which leads to the action I want you to take today. How can you create small steps and scaffolding to set yourself up for success? To turn your ideas into reality and not keep them in the realm of hallucinations?
Here are some tools to start:
Ask the Ws: Give yourself a reason to pursue the big idea. Ask yourself: Why am I doing this? Why me? Why now? Get more specific: Why does your idea need to exist? Who are you helping? What are you trying to fix or solve or explain? This will help articulate the reasons behind your ideawhich will ultimately give you more motivation during the executionprocess.
Build the framework: Find the small steps that will help you achieve the idea. Maybe it’s reaching out to 5 people about investor conversations. Downloading the Nike Run app to train for a half marathon. Asking a friend to keep you accountable with an essay deadline. Whatever it is, find 5 small actions you can take today and finish within a week. Rinse and repeat the next week.
Find reward mechanisms: You have to celebrate your wins, no matter how small, and take breaks during setbacks. Take a long walk after a sustained writing session. A hot bath after a hard run. An hour to shop for good groceries and cook the foods that you love on a bad day. Otherwise your efforts will ultimately lead to burnout and your ideas won’t go far.
I won’t spoil it, but Jordan ultimately faces a boxing opponent who is bigger, faster, stronger, more celebrated than him. During their match, Stallone shouts from the outside of the ring, one step, one punch, one round.
As you embark on bringing ideas into the realm of reality, imagine me right there coaching and cheering you on — and remember the small steps lead to lasting greatness.
XO S