We underestimate the value of taking the smallest possible step. Most people fail every endeavor they embark on because they never get started, which is the worst type of failure! If we try and fail, at least we tried. It is honorable to work and give effort even if the results are unfavorable. What is ignoble is to never try at all – to never give any effort towards our goals. This is especially true when it comes to what we want to accomplish or who we want to be in life.
For a righteous man may fall seven times
Proverbs 24:16
And rise again,
But the wicked shall fall by calamity.
Most people never get started because they think only massive action will suffice.
Massive action is one of the tenants of Tony Robbin’s message. I like Tony Robbins and I think massive action is needed for massive results, but I think if the standard is “massive action”, most people will never start because this is too daunting. Other people don’t want “massive results”, they just want some results. And the idea of taking massive action scares them away from taking any action. I think it is important to have incredibly high standards for ourselves, but those standards are meant to grow as we grow. We are not to start off with standards that are so high that it prevents us from taking any action at all.
Many of us require the smallest possible step in order to get started with any type of action, and we will look at some examples of this in a moment.
But by shrinking any task into the smallest possible step required to get started, many of us will find it easier to actually get the ball rolling.
Shrinking tasks is a technique often used in psychotherapy with people who are chronically depressed or unable to make any progress in life. One of the tools in the therapist’s toolbelt is to negotiate with their patient about what they are trying to do, shrinking down tasks until they are so small that the patient can actually do them. Many people need tiny tasks because the idea of taking a massive amount of action seems impossible to them.
Take the example of having to clean your whole house. Even for non-depressed people, this is a massive and daunting task. And many people procrastinate over getting started because they believe they have no choice but to clean their entire house all at once. So they pace the floor and try to build up the motivation to clean the house. They waste massive amounts of time just building the motivation to do what they know must be done.
What would be far easier is to start shrinking the task down.
Maybe we cannot clean the whole house, so what about cleaning one room?
Maybe even the idea of cleaning one room seems to be too difficult. So what about cleaning one corner of a room?
If there is a stack of papers in the room, could we organize just that stack?
If even that is too daunting, what about lifting the trash out of the trash can in the room?
All we have to do is continue to shrink down the action until we find the smallest possible step. At some point, the task will be so small that anyone can take it. Then take that step. And you will find that now you actually have momentum. You have gotten the ball rolling, and that is power. Your progress will not be linear, it will be exponential.
Take advantage of small actions and develop those into habits.
Once you have the habit of shrinking down tasks into small steps, you will find it much easier to keep going.
Getting started is the goal.
If you can get yourself started, you can keep yourself going the majority of the time.
Once you have developed those actions into small habits, expand them into bigger habits.
We do not want to develop the permanent habit of only doing small tasks. We need to be able to get ourselves to take bigger action. But we need to stair-step our way there because if we cannot handle small tasks, we will not be able to tackle large tasks.
We also need to Maintain habits by always being willing to take the smallest action – and be content with that. We have to be forthright and state that if you always and only take the smallest possible action, you will not make massive progress. Are you willing to be content with that?
But in reality, many people find that if they take the smallest step, it is much easier to take an additional step after that. Before you know it, you have taken 1,000 steps and have made great progress.
Have the humility to start small.
Perfectionism and ego prevent us from starting small. We believe we are capable of more. Only the weak have to take small, baby steps. When we do not act because an action is seemingly too small, we are saying “I am capable of more, and because of that it will not be happy if I simply do less than some massive action”. So instead of taking a small step, we take no step, and that is unfortunate because it will prevent us from making any progress at all in our life.
Some Tools for Taking The Smallest Possible Step
I – The Two-Minute Rule
Decide on whatever task you want to work on. Decide that you are only going to work two minutes on it. Set a two-minute timer and start working. when the timer goes off, you are allowed to stop working.
The value of this tool is that anyone can work for 2 minutes. It may be difficult, even though it is a short time, but most people can set a two-minute timer and focus. If not, then set a one-minute timer. Whatever the smallest unit of time that allows you to get started and work is.
II – The “It’s Okay to Not Finish” Technique
For this tool, all you have to do is give yourself permission to not finish whatever task you start. While this is not a habit we want to maintain permanently, as we want to be finishers, it is still infinitely better than doing nothing.
To use this tool, simply say to yourself “I’ll just get started, I don’t have to finish this work“.
By doing this, you give yourself permission to stop in the middle of the task. this breaks the task into very small chunks inadvertently.
This is the same principle we mentioned when we talked about shrinking a task down in psychotherapy. That person gives themself permission not to clean the whole room, but to just clean a small portion of it. the job is not finished, but he has made progress.
Whatever it is you are trying to accomplish in life, be willing to take the smallest possible step.
Develop it into a habit. Then you will be someone who gets started. And getting started puts you years ahead of most people.
