How thinking in small chunks can lead to greater rewards
We all do it. We look to other people for inspiration and then wind up feeling defeated when their 20 year journey doesn't match our day 1.
What am I talking about? The comparison game we play with ourselves when we compare our beginning to someone else's journey that has maybe taken them multiple years.
But all is not lost. We simply have to find a better way to start from our square one. So instead of getting overwhelmed and never even starting, let me offer you a different approach.
Stop comparing your day 1 with someone else's 20 year journey. Today is your day, and your path will look different.
Let's say you want to grow your own vegetables. Great! But then after a deep dive on Instagram and Pinterest for some inspiration, plus ideas you leave discouraged and hang your head feeling like there's no way you'll ever have a garden as gorgeous as those dreamy ones you're seeing all over social media.
That's where the magic of small steps begins. If you instead reframe your brain to only focus on one thing and ignore the big picture for a minute, you'll complete one task.
So imagine with me...
Your weed infested, overgrown backyard looks terrible. Where to begin. Just start with one small thing today. Today you will weed 10 weeds. Sounds ridiculous right?!!! Trust me, it's nearly impossible to only weed 10 weeds at a time. You'll find once you simply start with one small task, the part of your brain that keeps telling you your dreams are too big will quiet down.
Once you dive into one task, that first small task leads into another. Pretty soon, your 10 weeds becomes half of your whole weed patch.
For the sake of something else, let's say you'd like to get rid of a huge mountain of things in your garage. The clutter is overwhelming though.
So again, start small.
"Today I will get rid of only one box of things. Tomorrow I will work on another."
Pretty soon one small task becomes a cascade of larger things.
This technique isn't new by any means. Have you ever made a to-do list and realized that it leads to better satisfaction if you complete the smaller tasks first and check them off one by one?
You see, the key to accomplishing bigger goals is to not get bogged down by them. If you want to accomplish big things, you have to start small.
Ways To Apply This Technique In Your Life
Finances
Are you trying to get rid of debt or save for a major purchase like a house? With any large amount of money it's easy to get overwhelmed and simply not start. But each day that you put off your goals is one step further away from your larger goal. So try this instead.
Try setting aside a smaller amount of money in a separate savings account immediately when your paycheck hits your account. You're less likely to spend the money if it isn't there. A year goes by rather quickly and a year from now you'll be that much closer to your goal, versus if you keep getting overwhelmed at the huge dollar amount and procrastinating on your savings goals.
Cleaning Your Home
You know the dreaded, "I don't want to clean the dishes, I'm too tired." Or even, "my shower is gross and the mirrors could use a good scrub but I have too many things on my plate." Said the person who also spent 2 hours catching up your favorite Netflix series.
What if instead you told yourself, "I'm only cleaning this one mug." It's almost impossible once your hands are soapy to not continue to clean all the dishes in the sink. Pretty soon you look at the clock and realize it only took you 10 minutes.
Imagine how much cleaner your house would be if you simply dove into one task and then your body took over and couldn't possibly stop with only one thing.
Hobbies
Perhaps you want to start a new hobby, but you keep getting discouraged when you're comparing yourself to all those "inspirational" people you follow.
Take a step back for one second.
I'll give you an example. One of my many hobbies is gardening. While I may be learning, making lots of mistakes along the way and fumbling my way through, I've still grown a huge garden for the last several years. One of my favorite little things to grow is beets. I grow them from seed and they start out as a seed about the size of half a pea. After several months they had grown into beets the size of a large baseball!
Instead of thinking ahead and getting overwhelmed that my little seeds might not make it or feeling discouraged if I hit a roadblock, I just dive in and plant those little seeds.
In a couple of short months I'm up to my ears in giant baseball sized beets. Now I'm oversimplifying a bit. it does still take regular watering, fertilizing and weeding to keep the process going, but the big result...you know that ending that we're all pining after? By just simply diving in and planting and trying to not focus on the ending (i.e. a good beet harvest) I actually end up with exactly that.
Work
Do you aspire to start a small business? Maybe something where you can work from home? Maybe you have a craft you want to share or an idea you know will be a huge seller.
We often get so bogged down researching our ideas that we end up talking ourselves out of them. Convinced that someone else is already doing that or the market is too saturated.
Would if instead we simply got to work. Make a list. Do one small task on your list today and check it off. Do another task tomorrow and check it off. Instead of focusing so much on the ending, focus on the little things.
Check back in a month. Where are you now? Well I can tell you. One month further along than you would be if you had done nothing!