Daily micro-steps can lead to big changes

Taking daily micro-steps can lead to big changes. Why is that? Many of us strive to improve some areas of our life. It could be improving our fitness level, making healthier food choices, learning a new skill, starting a business, or even improving our work-life balance. These improvements often involve making big changes in how we do things. This can be daunting. Many times we start with great plans (hello New Year’s resolutions!) and then quickly fizz out.

Set goals that are too small to fail

Some goals are understandably HUGE goals. These require planning, research and lots of time, effort, (and oftentimes money) to reach. Have you ever set yourself a huge goal? If so, did you reach your goal? How did you reach your goal? Did you set up a series of steps to follow? Did you speak with someone who had achieved the same goal? Did you research how to reach the goal? If you did not reach your goal, what happened? Chances are that somewhere along the line, life got in the way, as it tends to do. It’s sometimes overwhelming to take on a huge goal. Yet social media is full of people seemingly reaching huge goals. Yet, what we see on social media is not an accurate picture. Social media, as many of us know, is a curated illusion.

According to author James Clear, “The typical approach to self-improvement is to set a large goal, then try to take big leaps in order to accomplish the goal in as little time as possible. While this may sound good in theory, it often ends in burnout, frustration, and failure. Instead, we should focus on continuous improvement by slowly and slightly adjusting our normal everyday habits and behaviors.”

1% better

I recently completed a challenge on Strava where the goal was to be active 15 minutes a day. The challenge was called 1% Better. I did some quick math and realized, aha!! 15 minutes a day is 1% of my day. There are 24 hours or 1,440 minutes, in a day.

How do you spend those hours and minutes? Most of our days are segmented into a routine. We work and/or study for 8 or hours; if we’re lucky, we sleep 8 hours; and we spend the remaining third doing stuff: driving, chores, eating, socializing, etc. At the end of most days, many of us are wiped out. There’s nothing left in the tank. Where do we find the time and energy to set meaningful and achievable goals?

Micro-steps

So if you’re having trouble reaching those big goals and you’re getting discouraged, here’s an idea: set small, achievable goals. Small goals require small steps. These are called micro-steps. In her new book, Time to Thrive, Marina Khidekel calls micro-steps “tiny, habit-building changes that are too small to fail.” The keyword here is “habit-building”. That’s where daily small steps can add up over time because they create new habits.

Over the years, taking micro-steps towards a goal has worked for me. At the time, I didn’t even realize that I was taking micro-steps. Fourteen years ago, when I decided to get in shape, I didn’t join a gym right away. I had done that in the past and watched as my gym membership lapsed with little use. Instead, I started with baby steps: heading out for a daily walk after dinner. Not a long walk. A walk around my neighbourhood. After a couple of weeks, I noticed something: I felt better. I was sleeping better too.

Once I started to feel better, I wanted to take long walks. So, I increased my walking time. Eighteen months later, I was ready to join the gym. At this time, my kids were teens and evenings were very hectic. So, I told my trainer that I could only commit to training twice weekly, no more than 45 minutes each. He seemed surprised, but to his credit, he did not discourage my limited availability. Twelve years later, those initial micro-steps have paid off in spades.

Consistency is key

By taking micro steps toward your goals, you are more likely to keep going. What do micro-steps look like? They could look like this:

Taking a daily 15-minute walk,
Meditating for 5 minutes a day,
Making one healthier food choice per day,
Not looking at a screen when you eat.

Small changes are not intimidating. Everyone is capable of making small changes if they wish.

Stumbling is ok

Sometimes, you’ll stumble as you work towards your goal. And that’s ok. We’re human and that means we stumble. Getting up is the goal. So, when I stumble, I get up. I might not get up quickly, but eventually, I dust myself off and start anew. Tomorrow is another day and another opportunity to start over.