Your Infinite Potential: Baby Steps

We can imagine that lofty goal, and we can wish for it, but unless we consistently take small, baby steps towards it, it is never going to happen.

You will never change your life until you change something you do daily.

Thinking about small steps brought to mind a child learning to walk. Any parent will remember what a big milestone this is – it changes your baby into a toddler and opens up so many new possibilities for that small person. But it doesn’t start there. First the baby needs to strengthen her muscles by rolling over, sitting and crawling. Over several months the baby learns to stand and then takes the first few tentative steps, holding onto your hand or cruising around the furniture. A baby doesn’t wait a year and then starts to walk. That baby has been working on it every single day, in small, sometimes seemingly unrelated, ways.

But we live in a world where we feel ‘life comes at you fast’and where changes occur so quickly we struggle to keep up. The way we work, play, learn, and entertain ourselves seems to constantly evolve.  

We also live in a world where we want it all, and we want it now. We all know how difficult delayed gratification is. Avoiding a temptation that’s standing right in front of you, so you can hold out for something substantially better down the line. For many of us, it’s a losing battle. We don’t want baby steps – instead we will overload ourselves with work if we think it will progress our career faster, even though it ends up affecting our wellbeing and setting us back. We will buy something now, rather than saving for it, and go into debt. Or we will go on a crash diet to get to our ideal weight, ignoring that in the long run it is not sustainable and it’s not healthy.

But, despite the fast pace of life and the urge to satisfy our wants immediately, most of our fundamental, underlying goals remain intact – centred around our health, our self-fulfilment and our relationships. We don’t need to rush headlong into activity to get to where we want to on these goals, no matter what pressure there is externally, One of the most effective ways to reach our potential is to consciously take small baby steps every single day. To quote Gretchen Rubin, “what you do every day matters more than what you do once in a while.”

How?

The advice you are given if you want to run your first marathon is relatable to any goals you want to pursue. You can't start running the whole distance right out of the gate so it's important to find a plan that helps you gradually build up your mileage and endurance while incorporating enough rest and nutrition to prevent overuse injuries and aid your recovery.

You need to spend time thinking, writing down, doing and reflecting.

1. To reach our goals we need to first ensure that the goal itself is not vague or ambiguous. What does success look like? How will you know when you have reached it?
2. Then break your goal down to sub-goals. It is very likely that your large goal has been one you may have been trying to obtain for years – however, you may have fallen at the first hurdle, lost momentum and gave up. To increase your likelihood of success choose a sub-goal that you can accomplish in 3-7 days. Something you can realistically achieve. There is power in thinking small to accomplish something big. This creates a positive mindset, builds momentum and gets a few wins under your belt. It also gets you closer to your lofty goal and gives you confidence that you can accomplish goals.
3. Create smaller, actionable daily tasks for each sub-goal. These are not the same as your daily to-do list. These actions need to be either habit-forming or progressive – building on previous actions and moving you that baby step forward. The building blocks to your success. The mere act of writing them down and crossing them off provides clarity and is motivational and rewarding.
4. Choose a day and check-in how you are doing each week. This is crucial. Regularly monitoring and reflecting ensures we stay on track, make minor adjustments and congratulate ourselves. All reinforcing and motivational.

And what if I don’t complete my sub-goals and tasks?

Don’t give up and throw away all those baby steps just because you had one slip-up or failure. Time to reflect. That is where the real learning takes place that helps to move you forward and get back on track.  

Ask yourself:

• Was the sub-goal too big? Was it something you could realistically do in a week? Does it fit with your other key commitments? Should you scale it down next week?
•  Was the sub-goal too difficult? Is it within your current skill set? Is there another sub-goal you need to address first?
• Is it something you really want or just think you do? Has there been pressure from others and it is not really your own goal?
• What came in your way this week? What can you put in place to ensure you are more likely to see success next week?

Don’t just spend a minute thinking, ‘well, that didn’t work. I’ll never get there.’ Consider what you need to do differently. And remember, take tiny baby steps. Don’t overwhelm yourself because it will be more difficult to keep up your targeted activity. You can make so much more progress in one year by doing a few small things consistently than you can by vague goals and unrelated, but busy, to-do lists.

So....where do you want to get to? What is your sub-goal? What baby step can you take TODAY to move towards it? How will you acknowledge that you did?

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” Aristotle

Diane is Head of People Development at Newton Europe

This is the 13th in the Series: Your Infinite Potential:

1. Your Infinite Potential: Living to the Max
2. Your Infinite Potential: Prune for New Growth
3. Your Infinite Potential: The Power of Morning Ritual
4. Your Infinite Potential: Lies Outside Your Comfort Zone
5. Your Infinite Potential: Making the Most of Your Time
6. Your Infinite Potential: Are you Holding You Back?
7. Your Infinite Potential: Through Helping Others
8. Your Infinite Potential: Stay Curious
9. Your Infinite Potential: Be Less Busy Being Busy
10. Your Infinite Potential: Recharge Yourself
11. Your Infinite Potential: Learn to Listen and Listen to Learn
12. Your Infinite Potential: Getting Back on Track