How Small Steps Can Take You The Long Distance 

 

The secret to the small steps is that you have to do “it.”  Whatever your “it” is,  you need to take action of some kind toward “it” – every single day.

When you think it is a waste of time – you still do “it.” (It’s not, by the way) And especially when no one is paying attention, or you think it’s not working – YOU STILL DO IT.

If you miss a day, it won’t be the end of you, but you will likely want to make it up somehow. The idea gets in your blood eventually, and it hurts more to miss your effort than to do “it.” 

 

You Make a Choice

You make a  choice. You can choose to sit there and complete the ‘woulda, shoulda, coulda’ exercise in your head, or you can choose to do something that will grow and improves yourself. 

Be prepared. It doesn’t feel good at the start. You will need to repeat an effort that you find tedious, maybe even a waste of your time. Other things will seem more important. It’s on your TO DO list. “It” is work. 

Be encouraged. Once you go through your resistance and make it a habit, you will begin to see momentum. Your DO will become your BELIEF – even a need to perform that task because it feels good to do “it.”

That how this thing works.

The First Step Feels Heavy

Now we just have to get going and take that first small step.

I have several books on my shelves about productivity and growth.

  • What The Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast by Laura Vanderkam
  • The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod
  • The 5 AM Club by Robyn Sharma
  • Your Best Year Ever by Michael Hyatt 
  • The Power Habit by Charles Duhigg
  • The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
  • Atomic Habits by James Clear
  • Eat That Frog! by Brian Tracey
  • 18 Minutes by Peter Bregman
  • The Now Habit by Neil Fiore
  • The Pomodoro Technique Illustrated by Staffan Noteberg 

I love all of these books for a variety of different reasons.

Several of them have a similar theme, and it is one that I have used to escalate my own growth. I am using it to write this blog post today.

It is simply this. 

Wake up earlier.

 

A Slightly Shorter Snooze

Thirty minutes earlier is a small step that informs a giant leap towards your dream, instantly. 

The authors recommend different early morning disciplines;  exercise, meditation, and/or intentional gratitude journaling.

However, every one of these writers stresses that by getting up earlier than the rest of the world, you will have created the time for you to work on your first step.

It works.

Guaranteed.

Aristotle said, ‘We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is, therefore, not an act, but a habit.’

 

You Are What You Repeatedly Do

Think about that for a moment.

You are today what you repeatedly do.

You develop a path, good or bad, with each time you do or repeat something.

By doing something every day, you are going to grow into something spectacular. I promise you.

 

Another Look at the 3 Engines of Greatness

Let’s go back to Jeroen de Flander’s book The Art of Performance and his 3 Engines of Greatness. ( I like that book, can you tell?)

De Flanders talks about the first engine as having a sense of purpose in why you do what you do. What is the dream and why do you want to achieve it?

The second engine requires taking steps with a mindset of deep practice. Be intentional and not going through the motions but focusing on those small steps as you take them.

The third engine requires taking those small steps consistently, over time. This is the act of persistence and patience, taking those steps every day until they become automatic.

 

How You Will Achieve Your Dreams

You will uncover your rusting car at the end of the garden, polish it all up, and then find yourself driving it in the countryside on a sunny afternoon.

  • Or perhaps the idea you had in your head and now it is a best-selling book.
  • Do you now hold a career position that you felt unprepared for or unworthy of achieving?
  • Recognizing a muddied relationship that you work on, every day until you are experiencing a second honeymoon?

Whatever it is, you can do it.

You must do it.

 

What Will You Regret?

My much better half, Karen, is a fan of Lucille Ball, the comedian. 

Ball is quoted as saying that “I’d rather regret the things that I’ve done than regret the things that I haven’t done.”

So don’t regret the things that you haven’t done.

Don’t dream your dreams.

Go live your dreams.

Start by taking that first small step.