“A journey of a thousand li begins beneath one's feet.”Lao Zi · Cartea despre Dao și Virtute · -400 · capitolul 64
A huge goal isn't conquered in one leap; it dissolves into the very next step you take.
The line dissolves the paralyzing gap between the size of a goal and our ability to reach it. A thousand li look impossible when viewed as a whole, but manageable once you look at the ground directly beneath you. The mechanism is simple: action exists only in the immediate present, and the accumulation of small steps inevitably produces great distances. Someone who wants to write a book has three hundred pages to face, not one — just today's page.
Why it matters It helps anyone postponing a project because it looks too big: it shifts the question from "how do I get there?" to "what is today's first step?".