Lao Tzu on why every big thing starts small. From Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu, about the 4th century BC.
In China in the 4th century BC, kings set their palaces on high platforms of rammed earth. Workers tamped damp soil between wooden boards, one thin layer at a time, until the platform stood over the city.
A short book of that age, the Tao Te Ching, saw a lesson in it. Tradition names Lao Tzu as its author, though no one knows for sure who he was.
The Tao Te Ching, an old Chinese book credited to Lao Tzu, says a tree too thick to hug grew from a tiny sprout, and a journey of a thousand li begins with one step. In 1977, Wangari Maathai started a movement in Kenya with seven trees in a Nairobi park. By 2004, it had planted over 30 million.
The whole road is too long to start, but the first step never is. Practical advice: shrink the first step until you can take it today.
Well established · checked against 11 sourcesPick one goal you keep putting off and take its smallest first step today.
“I’ve meant to go back and finish my degree for years. What small first step should I take?”
Start With One Step and the other 11 ideas of Tao Te Ching, a minute at a time.
Download on theApp StoreEvery idea is drawn from the public-domain text, and its names, dates and quotes are checked against the sources listed with it. The paintings are made for Counsel; they show the scene, not a historical record.
