In Defense of Small Steps

When it comes to accomplishing a goal, small steps don’t always get the love. We live in an era of supersizing and multitasking, and the conventional notion is that little actions aren’t as important: Bigger is better.

Why is there prejudice against taking small steps? What is wrong with starting small? Every accomplishment is filled with an endless count of small steps. In our world, there are no grand actions that don’t rest on a long chain of small, incremental, cumulative actions.

You cannot divorce big results from the small steps it takes to make progress. There are certainly great challenges to take on and large tasks to accomplish, but these ultimate triumphs don’t happen in a moment or a vacuum: They rest completely on a series of victories along the way. Buddhist monk and 1967 Nobel Peace Prize nominee Thích Nhất Hạnh wrote, “If you are a poet, you will see clearly that there is a cloud floating in this sheet of paper. Without a cloud, there will be no rain; without rain, the trees cannot grow; and without trees, we cannot make paper. The cloud is essential for the paper to exist.” Hanh coined the term “inter-are,” meaning that nothing exists in isolation. Making something happen never exists alone either; it’s dependent on all the many prior steps. Just as the cloud and the paper inter-are, so are all of our actions, big and small.

Designing Smaller Actions

The need is not for motivation; rather, it’s just to start small. For a client who is feeling stuck, a small, initial step can build a bridge toward accomplishing something new or challenging. The first action doesn’t need to be impressive—in fact, it might be hardly noticeable. It just needs to lubricate energy and willingness to start in order to enable your client to continue doing what she wants—or needs— to do.

Imagine that your client is facing the common challenge of losing weight. She doesn’t feel like it. It seems daunting. If her goal is to start shedding pounds, you can brainstorm together and identify small, singular steps she can take (e.g.,replacing one soft drink per day with a glass of water, eating one piece of fruit in lieu of a candy bar). Successfully making the substitution is an accomplishment that makes it easier to take one more tiny step. As your client’s small steps accumulate, she’ll likely notice her habits are changing, and instead of the little efforts feeling onerous, they will start feeling good.

The anxiety of not doing something right or the fear of failure can slow our clients down or cause them to grind to a halt. Small steps offer an antidote: Rather than feeling overwhelmed with a big task, our clients can approach what needs to be done with small actions. Instead of anxiety, the experience of continual small movements in the desired direction brings pleasure and a sense of accomplishment. When breaking tasks down into bite-size pieces, new behaviors are born without setting off familiar, self limiting, fear-laden reactions.

Smaller Steps, Great Gains

Benefits your clients get from starting small can include:

• A perspective shift
• Quietly yet steadily overcoming inaction
• Building new experience on how to “do”
• Progressive incremental results
• Momentum
• Enthusiasm and satisfaction
• Procrastination becomes history
• Dancing past ambivalence
• Trumping delay
• Gaining a growth template

Making very small efforts can create a sense of empowerment. You’ll likely hear your client say, “Hey, this feels good. I’m getting somewhere. And it’s no big deal.” Small steps are doable and easily repeatable. If your client is consistent, no matter how little the effort, she will feel like she can count on herself; then happiness and productivity will grow.

Small steps are the path to making a new habit. For clients to break through and start something new, it’s useful to do one thing of any size consistently to feed the original desire and grow stamina. A small, daily effort will become a habit which strengthens the inner relationship with the self. It’s not only the absence of struggle and discomfort but this adherence to little actions eventually builds muscle and generates progress. Consistency—no matter how small the steps—will foster growth.

Beginning with bite-size pieces fits elegantly into the widely used business concept of under promising and over delivering. Why would a client commit to less than she “could” do? Because by promising less, she can manage expectations. Doing anything beyond what she committed to is a triumph. Keeping a promise, regardless of its size, can be a source of happiness: “I did what I said I would do.” Along with that comes a sense of feeling accomplished and trustworthy. Conversely, breaking a promise produces stress. When under promising, your client is building in safety and ensuring a contingency plan. When over delivering, she’s exceeding expectations.

Satisfying Outcomes

Subsequent steps depend on prior ones. Taking this deeper, there’s great benefit in knowing that doing a small thing well is the underpinning of doing big things effectively. Since the big always rests on the small, isn’t it necessary to be able to do little things with care and attention, in order to succeed with bigger efforts? Small steps are foundational. Thank goodness for all the opportunities to notice and refine tucked into the small steps that lead to bigger actions and impressive results.

Should you always celebrate your client’s small action victories? Generally yes, but maybe not as a rule. For many people, celebrating adds a special encouragement; it’s positive to openly acknowledge each success; little bits of praise create pleasure and spur them forward. For these clients, noticing and celebrating progress are essential. For other clients, it may be best to quietly notice, yet allow them to move forward as if they are traveling under the radar. They may need to take a tiny step without your positive commentary, at least for the time being.

Finally, when your client looks back on successful results, it may be satisfying for her to know that by taking small steps, she navigated around inner chatter, fears and habits of delay, progressively stretching her capacity to pursue a goal. As a coach, your work was to help her see that she had more motivation, attention and willingness to move forward than she originally believed. Choosing to take—and keep taking—tiny steps progressively changed her energetic response, perspective and experience of victory.

Change isn’t easy. Small steps are a kind, gentle way to enter into new territory. Having to accomplish a goal right now is enough to stop anyone in their tracks. But if we can guide our clients to proceed without judgment or heavy demands, rather with sensitivity and appreciation for their small efforts, chances are they will find new resources inside and triumph over time.

Success breeds success. We’re encouraged by positive experiences. As coaches, that’s what we need to support our clients in feeding, building and growing inside. Size is immaterial. Movement and small successes are fundamental. Life is a series of small steps; there’s no other way.