Taking small steps towards your goal is better than taking no steps — The Journal Life (2024)

When we want to make changes in our lives it can sometimes feel pretty overwhelming. Sometimes we set our sights on achieving something, maybe it's a goal or maybe it’s feeling a certain way, either way, it can sometimes feel really big and scary to start moving towards that place.

In this blog post, I want to share with you that it’s not all about making huge strides (although sometimes these are great), but in fact, it’s about taking small baby steps to move towards where you want to be. Taking small inspired action steps regularly is what’s going to make the difference and prevent you from losing faith, hope or motivation.

So what happens?

You set a goal, you set out on a mission to achieve something and you are full of motivation, maybe you set up new systems, or buy yourself new things to help you progress towards that goal. It’s going really well until it isn’t anymore. You’re thinking to yourself - ‘why am I not where I want to be yet?’ ‘Why am I not seeing big changes yet?’. Well, I hate to break this to you - but these things take time. They take time and dedication, both of which can seem frustrating when you don’t feel as though you are progressing towards where you want to be. You’ve done all of these big things, you’re feeling slightly burnt out and overwhelmed but still, you’re feeling disheartened. It can feel as though you are sacrificing so much, putting in so much work, attempting to make these huge changes in your life, but you’re not seeing the results you had hoped for.

So what’s the answer, well I kind of gave it away at the start of this blog post. The answer is to stop taking these huge steps, stop trying to make all the changes in the space of a week or two and instead focus on the smaller steps over a longer period of time. Because actually what we can find happening is we lose motivation and we stop altogether and that’s not going to help us reach our end goal at all.

How can I focus on the smaller steps and what do you even mean when you say this?

Sometimes when we want to make these big changes we can get caught up in the feeling that we will only see progress if we make these huge drastic changes in our lives, and this isn’t always the case. Of course, sometimes this rule may apply, but what I’m talking about here it doesn’t.

Let’s look at an example.

Say you want to start a new habit of journaling for 30mins each morning, but you’re finding it difficult to dedicate the time and this is stressing you out. Instead of trying to do it every morning, why not start by trying every other morning, and instead of starting with 30mins why not try 10mins. Maybe that’s going to be so much more achievable to fit into your already busy schedule and maybe that feels a lot easier than trying to find 30mins every day.

Once you have gotten into the habit of journaling every other day for 10mins maybe it’s time to try every day for 10mins? Or every other day for 20mins? Play around with it, figure out what feels right for you, what fits in and works for you. We don’t want this new habit to become a chore and something you resent doing, so it’s key to review every now and then and check in on how you’re doing.

Remember just because you may be seeing others journaling every morning for 30mins doesn’t always mean that’s what is going to be right or work for you. Bear this in mind with everything you set out to do.

Another example could be wanting to get to the gym more regularly, but remember, just because you see others hitting the gym 5 times a week, that might not be what’s going to work for you. For you, 2-3 times might be more realistic and that’s OK. Don’t set yourself up for ‘failure’ from the outset. Be realistic about the goals that you are setting and how they will fit in with your life.

OK back to the baby steps.

Remember, progress is not linear, yes we want progress to be an upward trend but there are going to be dips and turns along the way. Our path may change and that is OK, we may even change the end destination after numerous reviews and once again this is OK. Being flexible with what we want to achieve is also going to help here.

The key with all of this is to keep moving forward, even with the ups and the downs along the way. Taking smaller, inspired action steps are going to help with this massively. Have that end goal in sight, but don’t beat yourself up if the progress is slower than you set out for it to be. Slow progress is better than no progress.

Why not give this method a try, next time you have a goal or something that you want to achieve, try breaking it down into smaller more achievable steps (see below for some tips for this).

Instead of trying to focus on changing 10 things, focus on 1 thing first then once you are comfortable with that try moving on to the next thing. Know that being consistent with your smaller steps will help you to continue to move forward instead of losing motivation.

Tips to turn big steps into baby steps

1. Slow it down - instead of trying to rush to the finish line, remember good things take time

2. Chunk it down - take your goal and chunk it down into realistic smaller steps, what is going to be achievable for you with the current lifestyle you have.

3. Remember that progress isn’t linear - there will be ups and downs and twists and turns and that is normal, it doesn’t mean that you have to stop, you just have to refocus, maybe review and keep going. Allow yourself to practice the patience required here.

4. Keep a note of all your wins and achievements along the way, especially the small ones, these will help you to see the progress you are making even if it feels slow.

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5. Get help if you need it - never be afraid to ask for help, enlist the help of a mentor, consultant or even a coach (like me - you can find out more about working with me here)

It is also important to nurture yourself and your progress as you move forward. This is similar to when we plant a seed, we know it is going to take some time before it breaks through the soil and emerges as a small sapling ready to continue growing into the plant, tree or flower that it was destined to be. You are also like a seed, you need the necessary elements and surroundings to help you evolve and grow, but you also have to practice patience so you can move towards that end goal. So when it feels like it’s going slowly, remind yourself of the seed.

So remember, if you take anything away from this blog post it’s to remind yourself that baby steps are better than no steps. You can get to where you want to be, you just have to keep moving forward, don’t lose sight of that end goal and know that slow progress is also better than no progress.