Take One Small Step

Summary

Think smaller–then act. Imagine a goal you have: walk 30 minutes a day, or lose 25 pounds, or write and publish a book. Doesn’t matter what; for now, just imagine one. Got it? Now: Think of the first step you’ll take to reach that goal. If you want to lose 25 pounds, for example, you might think “start going to the gym 3 times/week”, or “eat 1,500 calories/day”. Or if you’re writing a book, you might think “write every day for half an hour”. Got that first step? Good. Now forget it, and choose a smaller step. No, even smaller. Smaller. Keep going until you’ve come to what feels like the smallest, most inconsequential step you could take. That’s your first step. Here’s an example: Say you want to walk for 30 minutes a day. You may have thought of a first step like “start walking tomorrow in the morning before work”, or “walk for 15 minutes a day”. But those steps are too big, and while you might get out for a walk or two—maybe even for a week—you’ll almost certainly fail. I bet you’ve experienced this with New Year’s resolutions: “This year I will walk every day and lose 25 pounds and get fit and…” and a few weeks later, you’re eating chips in front of the TV, wearing your walking shoes. Here’s the problem: stress, and how you’re built to deal with it. When we are stressed/anxious/afraid, the part of the brain called the amygdala activates our “fight or flight” response. When that happens, we stop thinking rationally and start looking for the quickest way to relieve the stress/anxiety/fear. In ancient times, this would mean to run, jump, attack, etc. In modern times, that means distracting ourselves with food/drugs/procrastination/something else. So, when you set a big goal and start charging towards it with big steps, it causes stress. And that stress causes you to find ways to escape it. Large steps activate the amygdala. But there’s a genuine hack: small steps “sneak” past the amygdala without activating the fight or flight response. And If you’re like me, I’m cer...