Building Success One Brick At A Time

bricks_1(Photo courtesy Esparta)

Following is an except from a VVS Laxman interview soon after India’s epic test victory over Australia.

Q: Frankly, how confident were you when Ishant Sharma walked in at the fall of the eighth wicket, on 124?
A: Wasn’t thinking too far ahead, wasn’t really thinking of the target, 216… Ishant and I decided to set small goals, decided to look at building the partnership with 10-run bricks.

Focusing on small goals is one of the guiding principles of Personal Kaizen. Smaller goals are a surer path to success to most of us due to two reasons:

  • it makes the overall goal less daunting
  • and thus makes the natural human resistance to change & action that much more surmountable

In this case, India’s daunting task was scoring 93 runs with 2 tail-ender’s support against a spirited Australian pace attack. Laxman broke it down to 10-run bricks that would’ve sounded so much more achievable for either Ishant or Ojha …not to mention Laxman himself.

“The secret of getting started is breaking your complex, overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.”
– Mark Twain

Every success (wall) is built one small goal (brick) at a time. Focus on that one brick for your action planning & act on it. What is your next brick? 

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