Susanne West's Newsletter: THINK SMALL

"A journey of a thousand miles must begin with the first step." Lao Tzu

I'm a strong believer in baby steps. If you take a baby steps approach to accomplishing your goals you can sidestep resistance and anxiety. Many people believe that big goals require big leaps forward. Big leaps can activate fear and resistance. Small steps don't. I've seen people who have procrastinated for months, sometimes years, begin achieving their goals by creating small, sometimes very small, easily attainable action steps. You can do almost anything for five minutes or less. You may have resistance to doing something for longer periods, though. Consider cleaning your garage: What we often say to ourselves is, "I'm going to spend this weekend cleaning out the garage." Because that's a big investment of time and we really don't want to devote a whole weekend to cleaning the garage, we tell ourselves that we will do it next weekend. Next weekend comes along and six months later the garage still hasn't been touched. Using a baby steps approach, you simply commit to five or ten minutes at a time to work on the garage. Then you gradually increase the time, making sure that the new commitment doesn't trigger resistance in you, and proceed until you've achieved your goal. If your resistance is triggered, come up with a goal that is comfortable. Another possibility is to have a goal of cleaning out one small area at a time, then another small area, etc.

If goals seem too big, we are likely to resist. We rationalize and come up with excuses about why it's okay to postpone or reschedule the project. What happens then to many people is that they start feeling bad about themselves, guilty because they're not keeping their commitments or achieving their goals. This is a painful cycle, and it's very common.

When you establish small goals, then follow through on them, your psyche receives a new message from you. You become someone who's believable, who means what they say. Slowly, but steadily and surely, you are building a solid foundation of achievements. You are breaking the cycle of making promises to yourself that you fail to keep. After one or two weeks of following through on your five to ten minute action steps, when you increase the amount of time to twenty minutes the following week, you are now likely to move forward, ultimately achieving your goals. Before you know it, step by solid step, you have reached your goal. This is an empowering experience that enhances your self esteem.

"When I face the desolate impossibility of writing 500 pages, a sick sense of failure falls on me, and I know I can never do it. Then gradually, I write one page and then another. One day's work is all that I can permit myself to contemplate." John Steinbeck