No matter what you’re doing — regardless of how many talents you’re wrangling or how many projects you’re juggling — baby steps can help you get things done. Breaking down big tasks into smaller actions is a great way to overcome procrastination, sidestep fear and stay motivated — especially in the long term. If you’re looking to establish a healthy habit, or get rid of an unhelpful habit, small changes can make a big difference. Let’s look at all three of these scenarios.
1. Make dreams doable. Tame large projects. Get things done.
What’s your dream? Odds are, it translates into a behemoth, overwhelming, fear-inducing project such as “I’m going to make a movie.” It’s one thing to have a dream — it’s another to actually tackle it. Left large, it can be impossible to start, let alone finish.
To the extent you can break down your dream into smaller pieces, the more manageable — and achievable — it becomes. “Making a movie” would translate into smaller tasks such as writing a script, finding funding, finding a crew, casting, pre-production, production, post-production, finding distribution, marketing, etc.
Each of these elements can be further broken down into smaller pieces. For example, writing a script might include tasks like research, creating an outline, writing character sketches, composing a first draft, getting feedback, revising, etc.
By slicing each of these tasks into even smaller pieces, you will get things done. “Composing a first draft” might translate into “writing at least five pages a day, at least four days a week.” With this formula, you are guaranteed to write at least 80 pages a month. And probably more because if you are consistently writing five pages a day, you’ll probably be compelled to write more than that, more often.
Ideally, baby steps should be laughably small. So small you don’t think twice about doing them. That’s the whole point. When what’s on your ‘to do’ list is really easy, you’ll do it.
Breaking dreams or big projects into baby steps means that
* you’ll sidestep procrastination – and the guilt and stress associated with not doing what you ‘should’ be doing.
* you’ll enjoy steady progress – which is intrinsically very motivating. It’s gratifying (and fun) to get things done.
* you’ll be more creative. If you’re chipping away on your project on a regular basis, you’re mind is focused on it and can play with it more. Everything you encounter can inform your project if you are dabbling in it consistently over time.
* you’ll be happier. As DaVincis — as multi-talented people — we are happiest when we are creating and when we are making discernible progress on our projects.
* you will be focused on the present moment — what you can do right now. This helps you avoid fearing or fretting about the future — or dwelling in the past (on regrets or disappointments).
* you’ll maintain momentum over time
Baby steps is a wonderful way to get yourself doing something you really want to be doing. Something that will help you hone your talents — or live more healthfully — or enjoy your life more.
Whittle your intended habit into reasonable, doable baby steps. If your target habit is to compose a new song every day, for example, then you might begin the process by committing to write a song a week (assuming that sounds realistic for you). After that becomes second nature, aim for two songs a week. When, eventually, that seems like old hat, go for three a week…until eventually you are writing a song every day.
Again, the key here is that your beginning goal should be so easy it’s laughab. Going back to the last example, if writing a song a week is easy as pie, that’s a great place to start. If, however, the notion of writing a song a week puts you in a sweat, then choose something smaller and easier. Aim for a viable chorus or verse instead. Still shaking? Aim for a musical idea.
Baby steps, baby — the smaller the better.
And baby steps are expandable. Let’s say it’s easy as pie for you to write five pages a day. Up your daily quota to six. When that’s laughably easy, up it to seven. And so on.
3. Stop a bad habit.
Baby steps work in reverse, too. Let’s say you want to reduce or eliminate an unhelpful or unhealthy habit. Small changes can have big impact.
You can find a way of reducing your bad habit incrementally. For example, if you’re a pack a day smoker — that’s 20 cigarettes a day. It probably wouldn’t be difficult to cut your consumption down to 19 cigarettes a day this week, right? If that’s easy, then next week, you could reduce your daily habit to 18… and so on.
Another way is to find a small, strategic change you can make to alter your behavior. Let’s say you’re an over-eater who snacks all day, like me. (In my case, I can actually measure how difficult an article is by how many bowls of popcorn I’ve consumed while drafting it). It doesn’t work to say, “Okay, from now on, I’ll snack less.” Instead, I needed to implement simple, small changes — baby steps — to trick myself into snacking less. Specifically, I made a new rule: no more eating at my computer. If I want to snack, I have to stop work and go sit in the dining room while I chow down.
Funny thing. This one simple rule has interrupted by old, intractable pattern. Now, when I get a popcorn craving, I hesitate. I think “Gee, do I really want to stop working to go make and eat a snack?” Sometimes I do — but it’s a heckuva lot less often than it used to be.
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Activity: What’s your most important project these days? How can you break up your tasks into smaller baby steps?
Activity: What’s a helpful habit you’d like to start? What would be a laughably small step towards establishing that habit?
Activity: What’s a bad habit you’d like to stop? What baby steps could you take to reduce this unhelpful or unhealthy behavior?
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In the comment box below, please describe how baby steps have helped you.
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Are you struggling with too many talents, skills, ideas? You may have The DaVinci Dilemma™! Find tools, fun quizzes, coaching, inspiration and solutions for multi-talented people at http://www.davincidilemma.com/ .
– Pick one SMALL task to do and promise yourself you only have to do that one and you can quit. Or trick yourself into focusing on the project for only 15 minutes (baby steps)
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