👣 Step 48: Get a Bigger World

I saw this video of a guy recounting a college interaction with his roommate. He was ranting over this small annoyance with a coworker when his roommate said “Dude, you need a bigger world.”

I.e. you need bigger problems.

The lesson: Find big things to focus on, and the small things become irrelevant.

So often, we get caught up over the small things:

• The fast food worker forgetting your extra sauce
• The person taking a little too long to take that right turn
• The last minute cancellation of your social plans
• Your belt loop somehow getting stuck in the doorhandle

These things tend to make people’s days worse when they don’t even matter 5 minutes after they happen.

And it doesn't help that our media ecosystem is built to grab our attention and get us to react to everything. We're constantly fighting against the small things. We're rowing upstream.

Yet when we let these small things affect us, they drain us. They make us put time, energy, and attention into something miniscule when we could be using those same resources to tackle a much larger, more meaningful decision or situation.

So, how can we make these small issues not affect us as much? Get a bigger world.

The guy in the video recommends a 10 year plan. I think that's too long, as too much can change during that time.

I say 3 years - that's enough to get you thinking into the future while not being so far away that you can't even accurately predict years 5-10.

Regardless, the general idea is the same: focus on something bigger.

• Craft a large dream for yourself
• Take on a large project
• Work for something greater than yourself
• Meet new people, learn new things, explore new places, and literally expand your knowledge of the world (and universe. Seeing a picture of a galaxy always grounds me in how small we really are. It's hard to comprehend yet comforting at the same time.)
• Go big

And remember that most "problems" won't matter in 5 hours. Some won't even matter in 5 minutes. And they definitely won't matter in 100 years when we're all gone anyway.

So why stress the small things?

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Yes, major losses and pain are human and should be felt and processed so we can grow.

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But stressing over your morning coffee?

Stuck in traffic?

Your WiFi’s slow?

Your food taking a little long at the restaurant?

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Let’s just have big world problems. The bear isn’t bothered by the ants.

See you next Thursday, Steppers.

We will succeed,

Grayson

​graysonstepanek.com​

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Song of the Week:

Anna John-Robert PREVIEW   ​

Last week's song was hard to choose. This one was an absolute no-brainer. I found this song last Friday and have been absolutely hooked. Probably played it 20-25 times already. It's so catchy and smooth - it sounds like nostalgia feels. The perfect song to listen to alone in your living room on a quiet weekend night with your small warm lights turned on. And this dude only has about 165,000 Spotify listeners. An absolute gem.