I'm taking it step by step, brick by brick

Thank you, Whitney Houston for your song "Step By Step," which is perfect, by the way, for leading groups in a discussion about managing goals.

There are times when life is overwhelming, when we feel like it is more than we can bare. In order to keep our heads above the water, we have to keep moving on [thank you Kelly Clarkson ("Breakaway"), Tom Petty ("Time To Move On"), and Rascal Flatts ("Stand")]. We are always moving towards some goal, searching for a purpose in life. We make goals to survive. But when a goal seems unmanageable, how do we approach it? We must break it into small tasks, ones that ARE manageable and bring us closer what we want.

Today with my group at BHC, we simply discussed and practiced breaking overall goals into specific steps. To do this, I split the group into pairs and passed out a small percussion instrument to each. Their activity was to figure out how to play the instrument, write out the steps, then teach it to the other groups.

The point was to get so specific that it almost seemed silly. Take egg shakers for example:

1. Choose two egg shakers of similar size, weight, and sound.
2. Pick up both egg shakers, placing one in each hand.
3. Grasp the egg shaker in hands.
4. Shake the egg shaker.

Now, this seems too easy, but for anyone with a physical limitation in their upper body, each task is suddenly extremely important. That person may spend days or weeks trying to achieve just one step.

Also, I ask the group to imagine they weren't in the room to show a person how to play their instrument. How can you write each step so that the other groups could exactly duplicate your actions?

This is a difficult task, but an important one to understand that a goal that may seem overwhelming is suddenly much more manageable when you take it "One Step at a Time" (thanks Jordin Sparks!).