I’ve been reading a little book called One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way by Robert Maurer.
I highly recommend the book, but the gist of it is to take the smallest possible step you can think of in order to form new habits and make progress in an area that you’d like to work on.
For instance, instead of setting a goal of walking a mile everyday, try walking to the mailbox at the same time each day. Or marching in place in front of your TV for 30 seconds.
The idea is that by eliminating resistance to the habit we’re trying to build, we’re paving the way for the habit to take root and grow.
Earlier this summer I decided to write for just ten minutes a day. I kept that up for many weeks, sometimes logging a lot more than ten minutes.
Then something shifted and I dropped the habit. Ten minutes became too much and I haven’t picked my writing habit up again.
The barrier that stopped me was the thought that as I neared the end of the spiral bound notebook, I felt I needed to transcribe some of that writing onto my computer. Essentially, making it more official and doing some editing work on it.
That one “should” stopped my writing habit.
In order to fix this, I need to make the step even smaller than ten minutes and I need to either drop the idea of putting the writing on my computer, or make that step extremely tiny as well.
In The Kaizen Way book, the author tells how people have used this method to repair relationships, solve big problems in companies, lose weight, start exercising, solve crime problems in big cities and more.
Can you think of an area where you’d like to have more flourishing?
What is the smallest, tiniest step you could take that would lead to flourishing?
Here are a few ideas:
Spend less time on my phone– Delete one app.
Spend more time outside – Step outside for thirty seconds as soon as I get up in the morning.
Start exercising – March in place while the coffee brews or while scrolling a favorite social media app.
Write fiction or draw – Write or draw five or ten minutes a day, or write/draw while the coffee brews.
Stop drinking sodas – Pour out a teaspoon when you open the can. Pour out a bit more each day.
What small steps have worked for you in the past? What ideas do you have for tiny steps right now?
Share in the comments below!