Why not accomplish tiny little versions of your long term goal today instead of waiting for a miracle to occur tomorrow?

Too often people get mired in the details of doing something big. They want to do what they love, like baking. But opening up a pastry shop consists of countless steps, $100,000 of capital, buying or leasing property, renovations, ovens, and on and on.

I bet for most examples of what people want to do there are tiny little versions of your long term goal that are far more achievable today than trying to achieve the entire goal tomorrow.

I love examples of people doing small things well before they try and do enormous things. I brought up the example of Dale from Top Chef 3 a couple weeks ago who fits the bill. He really wants a 200 seat restaurant in downtown Chicago, but until then he's running an awesome 35 seat restaurant not in downtown Chicago, and it's kicking ass. One step onto something bigger.

Here's a few other examples that stood out recently.

1. Stephanie Izzard. Another Top Chef contestant. She came in first place and wanted to open a restaurant. Luckily for her a restaurant is coming together. But instead of waiting and treading water until it's done, she's doing something called The Wandering Goat.

She just hosts a dinner party at someone else's place like someone's backyard. She's definitely doing this to market herself and her upcoming restaurant. But this is a great example of doing something smaller and easier as a chef than opening up an entire restaurant.

2. Looking at Stephanie then, maybe there is someone taking advantage of being a wandering chef even more full time?

Yep, these guys: The Ghetto Gourmet. They put on backyard/warehouse dinner experiences. And just wander around from place to place. They get do what they love and cook without the huge steps and stress of starting their own restaurant.

3. Any kind of business that requires property is going to require a big step.

Stephanie and her husband have been doing art for years. They really want to open up their own art studio. But that's just a dream right now that's going to require a ton of capital, resources, and risk. So until they can accomplish the audacious goal, they do a wandering art school.

Bottles and Brushes.

They come to you or host an event at another art studio or even a bar. They bring all the supplies and an artist and basically provide a quick and dirty art school.

This sounded so cool, we did it ourselves and just had Stephanie and one of her artists Betty Brown at our place this weekend. It was awesome. If you're in Chicago and looking for a bit of a different party to throw or event to attend check it out. It's even got a few of our party attendees resurrecting their old painting or drawing hobby. It's definitely inspired some creativity.

Most of us have some pretty fantastic dreams and goals. Some of them are so fantastic that it freezes us because they look and are just too big to accomplish in one step. Take some time and figure out a baby step you could take today to do what you want to do. They'll eventually get you to where you want to go.

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Thought Conan's final Tonight show remarks were fitting here too.