Kobe Bryant “One Step at a Time.”

It’s like what Will Smith said …

“When you set out to build a wall, you don’t set out to build the biggest, baddest wall that’s ever been built. You say, I’m going to lay this brick as perfectly as a brick can be laid. And soon you have a wall.”

This is more than a celebrity success tip; it’s actually brain science. In one of my favorite books, Life Unlocked by Srini Pillay, the author writes:

“When the amygdala (the brain’s fear center) sees that there is a logical progression of events (leading to a goal) that is actually addressable, and once the ACC (the brain’s attention center) fixes its attention on these things, your brain will start to problem solve because it now knows what to solve.”

In other words, when you focus on that big, bad wall, your brain goes into overwhelm mode. You feel like the wall is impossible. Your amygdala goes into hyperdrive. You get stuck. And at some point you quit.

But when you shift your attention to the bricks — one brick at a time, one step at a time — your brain works with you. Things feel more manageable. You move into action. You lay the first brick, and then another and another. And little by little, a little becomes a lot.

On today’s QOD episode, we honor the late Kobe Bryant on his day (8/24) as he breaks down how he overcame a potentially career-ending Achilles injury by taking it one step at a time.

Source: TEDxShanghaiSalon – Power of the Mind