Small changes, over time, lead to big results.
Keep Choppin’
If you chop a tree with an axe once per day, you won’t see much progress. Daily for a year and a tree (most) won’t stand a chance. However, we are often limited with black and white, insular thinking (a cognitive distortion), also called “all or nothing” thinking. It keeps us from living in reality.
- I missed my workout; I failed
- I’m not a good cook; I’ll just eat out
- I compulsed; I’ve lost all progress
- I feel terrible; this is a failure
- Social embarrassment equals failure socially
- I’ve already tried to quit______; so I will just give in
- I can’t do ____; it’s too expensive
- Other people are WAY better than me at music, I’ll just give up
- I can never look like that; why try?
If we accept that personal growth is a lifelong discipline, we are better set up to be realistic in both thought and action.
Break It Down!
The concept of microsteps is a conceptual way to help us break-through! We do this without realizing every day. If you sat down and evaluated every muscle that would be moved today, and when you’d need to move it, prepare to get overwhelmed. We learn to make tasks and processes more automatic over time. Consistency, small steps, and sticking with it are all key.
Microsteps are small, targeted steps that get you closer to an identified goal. Find yourself wanting to exercise but consistently giving up? Can you walk for 2 minutes outside your house today? Then try it again in 2 days. Then in 2 weeks double your time? Find other examples here. This is similar to principles that underscore Behavioral Activation (BA),
My Own Microstep Today (One of Many)
There you go. This is my “micro-post”, because as a recovering perfectionist, it’s easy for me to believe I’ve got to say everything I can think of to be relevant. So my microstep in writing/posting today is doing one quick, short post, and moving on. Enjoy.
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