This line is one of the greatest and timeless truths found in the classic work of most ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu in his ultimate masterpiece, the Tao Te Ching: A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. It is an aphorism of great power and simplicity that is universal in nature in relation to human potential, the nature of change, and the nature of achievement itself. It is a tribute to the notions that the noblest of goals, the most daunting of tasks and the most life changing of all dreams are not achieved in one glorious step but are rather constructed out of the mundane material of a single, purpose-driven step. In our age when so many of us want things fast, the ageless knowledge in this saying is a well-needed cautionary reminder of how much can be accomplished with just a single step, of how important it is to begin small and how bravery little things take.
However, to get the fuller understanding of what is implied in this statement, it will be important first to explore the philosophical roots of this idea in Taoism. The Taoist philosophy is based on a book called the Tao Te Ching which talks of living in harmony with the Tao which is the harmony of nature in the universe. Some of the ideas that are promoted by Taoism include wu wei, which is commonly referred to as action without effort, or action without intent. This is not to mean a passive sitting back, but driving in the natural stream of Thai events and life, and not acting with overly much eagerness and effort. The journey of a thousand miles, thus, is not an endeavour of ruthless and intense striding towards an elusive destination. This is not by doing necessarily but rather, a gentle act of committing oneself to the path by committing to start. It is a realization that resplendent things happen when we do not coerce them but we act in a sequence of thoughtful and stapled actions. Simplification by looking at the individual step, one will not be exhausted by the magnitude of the thousand miles. Here and now; the action that is at hand; that which can and should be done is the only thing one has a grasp on. This teachings of Taoists will guide that, the force is not of the goals that one is going to but of the journey, and that journey, as a whole, is held in the seed inside the first step.
There are psychological implications of this ancient wisdom, which are applicable even in the current era as in 6th century BCE. Mankind face proves to be a great obstacle of improvement. The thousand miles may be taken in any meaningful life objective like writing a novel, going into business, getting a degree, breaking an addiction or even developing a new habit. In the face of the sheer potential challenge that a very large job represents we fairly frequently fall in a paralyzing cocktail of terror, put off, and insecurity. What happens if and when we turn out to be insufficient? The fear of failure is ever looming over. The fear of the unknown leaves us with that odd feeling that nothing is sure- what will happen? The mere nature of the excursion can cause something psychologists refer to as analysis paralysis and we end up in the position of getting so preoccupied with planning and strategizing that we never take the initial steps.
This is where the transformative power of one step comes in question. Making that first step, though it is bolstered by strength, does arouse psychological dynamics. It breaks the force of immobilization. Once you have written the first sentence in your novel, registered the domain name of your business or slipped the laces of your running shoes on your feet for the first time, you have irreversibly changed the nature of the relationship between you and your goal. No longer will you be a dicey dreamer, an active participant. Such an early intervention makes one feel empowered and influential. It offers you a bit yet real evidence that you can be able to move on. The positive feedback loop that comes through this so-called small win makes dopamine show up in the brain and continue encouraging individuals to do more. The process, which seemed to be intangible and a difficult process, starts to acquire a tangible and feasible shape. This thousand miles gun is turned into the multitude of little steps that are not so frightening now.
The history is full of monumental journeys which started with one step which was, most of the time, unnoticed. Think about the American Civil Rights Movement, a fight over a fair and equal justice that essentially transformed a nation. This 1000 mile sequence may be regarded as possessing a critical first move, on December 1, 1955, when Rosa Parks, a dress maker in Montgomery, Alabama denied to give up her seat on a bus to a white man. Her passive form of protest was not the first unrest against segregation, but it was the match that lit the flame of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a 381-day long period that came to define the spotlight on the picture of segregation and the nationwide introduction of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Parks Breaking a law at a personal level meant nothing at all; however, it was the one that sparked a revolution and helped her to rise and create the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a 381-day protest that became the focal point of the problem of segregation,
Another great testament to this principle is the path of Marie Curie who made her discoveries in the world of science. The work that made her discover two new elements, polonium and radium and win two Nobel Prizes in topological spheres did not start with a state-of-the-art laboratory. It started in a little, chilly shed, and with primitive gear and a stubborn stay-on-the-case spirit to find out a little about the strange rays which uranium radiated. The initial step was to undertake this phenomenon which was not well understood as a topic of her doctoral thesis. It was the germ of this, this first brilliant question, this one step into the darkness, which has occupied a lifetime, in sifting, through tons of pitchblende, to extract the radioactive matter in tiny traces. Grand edifice of her worldwide reputation scientific legacy, which has continued to influence medicine and physics in the long term, is constructed on the basis of that initial decision to pursue a scientific curiosity.
Entrepreneurship and the world of innovation is another breeding ground of examples. The current giant in technological terms, Apple Inc., the company that has transformed industries, started in a garage. The initial one was the Apple I computer assembly by Steve Wozniak and the idea of the computer sale by Steve Jobs. This was the first step, this modest start of producing a personal computer on the hobbyist bases that spawned a world-wide empire. The same applies to such an e-commerce behemoth like Amazon, which has literally transformed the shopping of people globally by starting with the sole idea of selling books online. The first thing Jeff Bezos has done was to draw a business plan during a cross-country drive and open an early version of a site in his garage. That first step, very focused and well-managed, was the basis upon which Amazon embarked on a thousand-mile journey of global dominance.
In modern life, the use of this classic saying is unlimited and highly personal. To the person, who dreams of living a healthier life, the path of fitness and wellness starts with just one step; a deliberate decision to choose the stairs over the elevator, a glass of water over a sugary drink, or a ten minute walk. To him or her the wannabe writer, it is the process of creating a new sheet and starting the first paragraph. In case of the entrepreneur, it is to take the first call of the sale or to write the first business plan. On the part of the student who has that huge curriculum pounding in front of him, it is the decision to read the first chapter. All these first steps, no matter how small, create precedence. It builds energy and a small step towards next becomes a step of infinitesimal easier.
It is important, though, to note that the proverb does not tell us about the whole journey, rather about its starting point. The initial point though necessary, does not ensure that one arrives to the destination. The one-thousand miles will symbolize the perseverance, determination, and hard work necessary to overcome the difficulties, dips and times of indecision that will present themselves. The motivation which comes together with the first step will reduce. Here the wisdom of the proverb has to be combined with the merits of steady-going and discipline. Road to the desired destination can not be a sprint but a marathon. The trick is to realize that insurmountable distance in small manageable steps. The seemingly impossible gets possible by centering on the daily, or even weekly, activity of taking one step at a time.
To sum it all up, the strength of the words of Lao Tzu is that they are both simply profound and include all people. The phrase, A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step is not just a quaint phrase, it is a guide in life when at times people had to struggle to find their own path, while others successfully deal with complicated tasks of our life. It is a wakeup-call to paralyzing fear and procrastination. It serves as a reminder that all those great achievements, any great difference, and all life-changing experiences have their beginning, they have a point of an initiation. It teaches us the importance of appreciating small beginnings, how to get heartened by looking in the face of impossible ambitions, how to invest our energy in the present, in that one step that immediately lies before us. Whatever it is the personal “thousand-mile journey” that we are embarking upon, whether of intellectual seeking, creative expression, personal betterment or social change, the way is the same. It starts not with an epic act, but with small, daring, and eventually change-making will of one, definite decision.
More than this: it is necessary also to know the physics of that first tentative step–not physics in the real sense, but in the figurative topography of human intending. All good developments sleep at first under the cloak of vast inertia of what is. This sclerosis consists of our habits, our comfort levels, our fears and the chatter of the inner voices telling us it is too difficult, we will fail or we are not ready quite yet. A good-sized jump of initial energy is necessary to work beyond this mighty state of rest and without this you can never get anywhere. The one and only step is that activation energy. It is the concentration of will which snaps the chains of complacency and starts the wheels of progress rolling. That is the reason why such techniques as the so-called two-minute rule work speech so well when it comes to promising to do something but with a limitation, namely, only two minutes. It is not to finish the job, but to begin doing it. New beginnings are usually the biggest obstacle; once transcended things start to roll, the second and the third one become immensely easy.
The strength of this initial act is not just reserved in the person who is doing it, but it has a powerful social aspect in the sense that it can have far reaching waves, and effects. A single step of one individual usually works as the permission slip to many others to start their journey. When someone challenges a bully, stops a piece of gossip in the office, or just initiates a garden in an abandoned part of the city, the action has a strong message. It confirms the unsaid emotions and desires of other people who might also have had that specific feeling but were too scared or insecure to do it on their own. This is the so-called effect of the first follower and it is essential to the creation of movements. Courage of the first individual is necessary but necessary is the next individual being with and taking his/her own first step resulting in a solitary move into an effort shared by many. By the same token, one action can turn out to be a social step, reducing the activation energy of the whole group and allowing them to make equal steps.
Lastly, taking the philosophy of the single step strongly redesigns our association with failure. When we prioritize the “thousand miles,” the pitfall or setback will seem to be a disaster, a good excuse to end the whole operation. However, when we concentrate on taking baby steps we develop a different mindset. A wrong move is not a fall anymore, but it is just a wrong step. It is a datum, an experience which teaches us where to step next. This repetitive process helps to build this spirit of trial and error. The objective no longer is a perfect linear journey to the outcome. It becomes instead a pledge to the ineffable, anti-doctrinaire, thing which is simply moving on. Was the step you made today a mistake? Accept it, have it teach you valuable lessons and move on in a more enlightened direction tomorrow. This attitude turns failure of its stagnating sting. It turns the process of high stakes performance to a process of low stakes practice and what is most important is not to arrive at the destination perfectly, but to continue walking.
