Waiting for that sudden bold burst of energy puts pressure to take a risker, bigger, bolder, action
Small consistent steps in the direction of your goals often go farther than the burst of “That’s it! I’m taking big action!” energy that we sit in wait for.
That big burst of excitement is often angry energy and can be exhausting.
Putting all your hopes and dreams into that one big movement puts undue pressure on you. Why do that to yourself?
When that big movement is over – then what?
If you feel like you’re always behind on your goals, always running to get up, keep up, or work exhaustedly just to stay ahead of the next failure it’s time to rethink your strategy and tactics.
Small actions daily in the directions of your dreams provide ease of effort and get results
Darren Hardy in the book The Compound Effect describes the compound effect as the experience of reaping huge rewards from a series of small, smart choices.
- He goes on in the book to talk about significant impacts and ripple effects that come from these small smart choices.
- And it’s not just about compounding money.
I’m sure everyone by now has seen the penny challenge where you save a penny on day one and double your savings each day resulting in $667 savings by the end of the year. Or a five-cent challenge results in saving $3339 a year.
Saving money is not the only way to use the compound effect.
Small actions for all areas of life
You can use it for almost any goal.
Exercise
Which scenario would you rather live:
- A gruelling 6-week spurt of working out until you want to throw up
- Committing to healthy movement and fitness daily
Small simple actions when you commit to daily purposeful movement will improve your physical results.
Did I move my body with purpose today?
Move your body, today. Do something, anything towards a healthy lifestyle.
Dance, walk, run, go to the gym, join a class. Sweat.
If every day is too much of a jump ask yourself if you moved your body with purpose yesterday. If you didn’t move yesterday, do it today.
Make it a nonnegotiable action. Commit to moving your body with purpose today.
Promotability At Work
Which scenario would you rather live:
- That’s it, I’m going to get noticed” resolutions
- Inspired action, taken daily, towards promotability
Knee jerk actions often come across as emotional or unpredictable behaviour. Wavering in and out, hot and cold, between apathy and eagerness is not an attractive way to get promoted or hired. In fact, it can be a big turn-off.
it’s disappointing to watch someone who’s coasting at lukewarm in their job suddenly come to life and attentive to all around them when a new posting comes out. This little hot-cold dance is seen way too many times in corporate life.
Small simple actions committed to daily will improve your career.
Did I add value today? Did I show up, shine, listen to others around me and focus on solutions?
If not – show up, be attentive, listen to others – at all levels – learn, and help solve issues.
Solve today’s issues now and make sure you are also heading off future issues before they start.
Start a TaDa list – keep a list of tangible issues you helped solve. Add to it daily. Here’s the big solution focussed thing I did today. Then tomorrow, add another thing.
- Keep this list for you – Not as some scroll full of deeds to pull out at an interview like a late-night sketch of someone bragging of their good deeds.
- Don’t stop, won’t stop – somedays those things will be noticed by others, some days they won’t. That’s not the goal.
- Through focussing on creating and noticing your TaDas you will gain confidence and a sense of commitment plus will discover a surprise ripple effect. You will build a strong reputation.
Others pay attention to you when they know you pay attention to issues that matter. Do it daily!
Relationships
Which scenario would you rather live:
- Deep sweeping gestures made after weeks or months of drought
- Sweet, heartfelt appreciation regularly
Small actions and positive conversations daily will improve your relationships.
Did I show this person that they matter? Did my words and actions reflect that I value them? If not – start now
Never let a day pass that your words and actions don’t reflect how you feel.
Show them. Show up. Shine up. If it’s nice and is true, then say it.
Your most important relationships shouldn’t have to guess if they matter. Too many times people dump on the ones that love them.
Home should be a soft place to land for everyone that lives there.
- How are you adding to the energy of your home?
- How do your good friends know that you value them?
- How does a trusted peer know that you have their back?
Feel like you’ve gone too far the other way? Start with a simple I miss you or tell them what you like about them.
Start small, start sincerely.
The issue of starting
There are a few problems that people come up to prevent starting
- The gap from current to future looks too big
- The time available looks too small
- Lack of guidance
Small hinges move big doors
If you catch yourself in that state of feeling frozen from the start. Start with a small action. The smallest tiniest one you can think of.
A good way to measure if your action is small enough is to ask yourself What do I need to do before that?
Continue to ask yourself that question until you get to the very first step.
- Starting running daily might actually start with buying running shoes tomorrow to run the day after that.
- Depending on your scenario, you might even have added steps before buying the shoes.
I call these small steps “failing forward”. Point yourself in the direction of your goals and do something, anything, with positive intention, and energy towards it. Even if you mess up and misstep, at least you acted and your step was so small it wouldn’t be a big fail anyway.
Once you have your step completed, wake up and do it again tomorrow. Or play in the possibilities and do a different something tomorrow to build upon what you did today.
Show up daily and take action in a small way
Paul Minors, a productivity blogger and consultant, shares that sustainable productivity is more effective over time than short bursts of intensity.
- I highly recommend his podcast found here: https://paulminors.com/podcast/
Consistency Makes Progress
Stop feeling like you need to make some bold proclamation or bold action.
You don’t need to throw yourself down on a sword declaring yourself committed. You don’t need to take action to exhaustion. Don’t make things hard on yourself or you’ll never find progress.
Ease up on yourself. There’s no need to be so dang hard on you or others. It’s time to end the see-saw of furious action resulting in exhaustion or injury.
James Clear, a productivity guru, and author of Atomic Habits shares that Intensity makes a good story. Consistency makes progress. In his book, he discusses that consistency builds strong habits.
True commitment and progress are often in daily moments when you resolve to take smaller steps.
Declare for yourself:
I will do something about it today. I will take a simple step towards my goal.
Happy growing,
Cathy
…………………………………………………………………………..
? Feature Photo by iSAW Company from Pexels
Connect on LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/cathyferringo/
Want coaching help? Book a discovery call by clicking the image below.
