Brick by Brick

"The great victorious men of the world have used their imagination... They think ahead and originate their mental photograph in all its details, filling in here, adding a minuscule there, altering this a bit and that a bit, but steadily building, steadily building." Robert J. Collier (1876-1918), Author

I recently spent most of a week sorting out my children's variety of Lego™. They are now teenagers, so have lost interest in the delights of putting together, brick by brick, piece by piece, fantastic constructions. From a pile of 'bits' the most anticipated creations emerge. A building, a spaceship, a racing car, a scene from one of their favourite films... There were so many pieces that we decided to sort out as many buildable kits as possible, then divide them up among confident families that we know with youngsters who love Lego™ and would use it. It has brought back many memories, but also made me realize how much we have moved on.

Stair Lift Story

It also made me think about how we perform the things we have set out to do. We have a goal in mind. Perhaps we want to lose weight, get fitter, build a new business, write a book, pay off our debts or some other aim. So we have the end in mind - as in the photograph on the cover of the Lego™ schooling booklet. However, all we have at this beginning point is a pile of 'bits'. How are we going to take those bits and make something out of them? Brick by brick, of course.

For example, you want to lose 14 pounds. The final goal. How can you do this? Firstly, you need to reconsider how many pounds per week you realistically want to lose. (It is carefully salutary to aim at no more than 1-2 pounds per week, although you may find you lose more than this in the first week.) First brick. Then you need to reconsider how you are going to lose those pounds. Second brick. To lose one pound of weight per week, you need to have a calorie deficit of about 3500 fat per week, or 500 per day. Are you going to cut the estimate of fat you eat each day by 500, (do you honestly know how many you consume in a day?) or are you going to up your operation levels to burn an extra 500? If you select to cut calories, you will firstly need to make a pretty spoton evaluation of what you are engaging to begin with.

Third brick. This could involve holding a food diary and weighing and measuring everything. Or it could be more general, by noting down everything you eat and drink and finding if there are things that you could cut back on, or cut out, by paying attention. The daily chocolate bar, the biscuits at tea time, the after-dinner ice cream. Or if you select activity, then you need to resolve how you will add adequate extra to make up the 500 calories. Taking the stairs instead of the lift. Time on the Wii Fit™ or the Xbox Kinect™. Adding more walking whenever you can. Participating in an practice class. There are many ways that you can up your operation and not all of them involve high-priced gym memberships. Fourth brick. Or you could incorporate cutting fat and engaging more as a means to get to your goal.

Once the first layer of foundation bricks are in place, you will be able to build on these until you have achieved your goal. Simple! Well, uncomplicated in theory, of course. The steps we need to take to perform approximately any goal are pretty well documented in books, how-to manuals and the Internet. Guidance can be found all over the place and much of it is good. The only thing that is required to perform success is you - taking action, development it work. In the end, it doesn't matter how many books you read, how much facts you have at your fingertips, unless you start building your own dreams, brick by brick, step by step. Without operation dreams remain just that, dreams.

So as we accelerate straight through the year, what are you going to do with the pile of 'bits' lying in front of you? Will you sweep them out of the way, to be sorted later, or will you start putting them in order and use them to fabricate something wonderful? I'd love to know which you select and how you progress....

© Kate Harper 2011

Brick by Brick