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, selflimiting, 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
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 eventuall 䁉ե