Why Small Daily Steps Are More Powerful Than Setting Challenging Goals

I have always struggled with keeping a daily journal. Over the years I’ve tried many, many times. I’d buy a nice notebook, start out really well journalling every day. But, every time, after a week or so, I’d inevitably skip a day or two. Then it would be too much work to catch up, and I’d hate the gap in my journal. And eventually I’d just give up completely, and that was it until the next time I felt like trying again. It’s been the same for a lot of big habits I’ve tried to take up in the past. I’d set myself a challenging goal, something meaty and substantial, something that I know I’ll feel really accomplished completing, like writing five books over the course of a year, editing two books in a row, working out every single day of the week, and so many other things. And somehow, I never actually achieved these goals. I’d give them a good go, but once the initial motivation wore off, the goal itself loomed over me, so big and so imposing that in the end, I just couldn’t face the work any more.

This week, I was listening to an episode of the podcast ‘Love Your Work’ on Spotify, all about building sustainable habits, and what really resonated with me was the idea of taking little steps. Instead of making huge goals, instead starting out small. Rather than starting out trying to write 5k words a day when you haven’t written anything in years, starting with 500 words, or even 50. Something small that can get you started on a great day of writing if you’re feeling very motivated, but if you’re not, it’s small enough to manage when you really don’t feel like writing anything at all. It’s about building little habits, rather than setting out on those huge goals. This is something I’ve learned works so well for me, and how I’ve finally hit some of these big goals finally.

Small, achievable goals lay the foundation for good habits. Writing one hundred words every day becomes easy. You might even find that you need to increase the count to challenge yourself a little more. Sitting down to write every day becomes an instinctive habit, or at least becomes less of a struggle. That one small step, that little goal, is easy enough to attain that you can achieve it even on a low motivation day, but builds the foundation for you to be able to go well beyond that. Hitting one hundred words is a positive thing. It gives you a positive feeling about writing. It’s achievable, and that’s motivating like nothing else.

Big goals are exciting, and certainly, when I’m first setting out, I feel like there is nothing better than challenging myself to do something difficult and worthwhile. But to make good progress, to actually achieve big things, it’s actually better to start out small, taking little steps that are sustainable. I’m trying to build up a stronger writing habit at the moment, because, since starting work at a cafe, my writing has been all over the place. I want to finish the draft I’m editing and prepare for NaNoWriMo in November. But rather than just setting myself a huge goal that I’m unlikely to achieve (though I am also trying to figure out milestones that I should hit in order to be ready in time) I’m starting small, trying to edit for just a few minutes a day. Even aiming for just a page a day is still progress, and the more I do it, the easier it becomes, and the easier hitting those milestones becomes. Those goals are there, but it’s the small steps I take every day that are the most powerful.

(Sidenote; breaking larger goals down into smaller steps and milestones is something I would love to address in a future post. Let me know if you’d like to see a post on that!)

This big thing I took away from this podcast episode is that small steps are so much bigger than you’d think. Small amounts of work add up if you do it regularly, and you build a habit that allows you to achieve more and more. It’s how I’ve finally managed to keep a daily journal for nearly a year now. So my advice today is that if you have something you want to achieve, whether it’s building a new writing habit, reading more, or anything really, is to start small. Set little goals, build habits. If you jump straight into a big goal before you’ve built the skills and habits to support the work, you are going to struggle much more than if you break it down first to find your realistic goal, one that doesn’t rely on you being motivated to achieve. Little steps are powerful, and building habits can change your writing life completely.

If you’re interested in hear more, you should give this podcast episode a listen. I found it incredibly interesting, and I think you might too.

Do you have a daily writing habit? What habits have you struggled to take up in the past? How did you get past them? Do you, or have you ever tried, to keep a daily journal? Do you ever find yourself becoming demotivated when looking at a big goal? Let’s chat in the comments!

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