Are You Confusing Baby Steps With a Giant’s Long Jump?

This week I had a very funny conversation with a client about baby steps. I’ve had this conversation with clients a few times over the years. We are talking about the next baby steps they are taking…and they come out with something that is more like a Giant’s long jump! Something like: create the website, write the book, start the business, pay off all my debt, sell 40 bazillion copies of a new product.

And I say…hmmm…doesn’t sound like a baby step to me.

What a baby step is not:

Something that includes 300 actions

Something that will take months

Something that is HUGE

Something that involves 12 people and a project plan that runs to 5 pages

Something vague

Those are projects, gigantic big steps, milestones, massive journeys of 1000+ baby steps.

The key attributes of a true baby step are:

It’s easy

You can take the action in 10-15 minutes or less

It’s clear

You can do it

The trouble is when you mix your baby steps and giant’s long jumps you set impossible expectations for yourself, put yourself under enormous amounts of stress and set yourself up for failure. You slow yourself down with unclear ‘steps’, overcomplicated ‘steps’, difficult ‘steps’ and you end up beating yourself up for not just getting on with the gargantuan ‘baby steps’ you’ve set yourself.

I’ve seen it hundreds of times (I’ve also done it a few times myself!), and it almost never works well. Instead people get stuck, because they’re overwhelmed that the ‘baby step’ is so enormous, or because they don’t know where the hell to start with their gargantuan ‘baby step’, or because they’re so stressed about trying to do the work of 6 people in 15 minutes or less.

The wonderful thing is that this problem is so easy to fix.
1. Learn the four attributes of a baby step – easy, takes 10-15 minutes, clear and you can do it
2. Test your idea of a ‘baby step’ against those attributes
3. If it’s not a ‘baby step’ at all, break it down into the next true baby step.
4. Take that step
5. Keep breaking down your massive projects and magnificent goals into manageable, bite-sized, easy pieces and taking those small actions. Over and over again.

This will keep you sane, relaxed and moving with ease. It might not be as flashy and exciting as trying to do the impossible, but it will get you to the end of your project much more quickly. When you’re stressed and overwhelmed, you aren’t as effective and efficient as you are when you’re relaxed and you have fabulous momentum moving you inexorably forwards.

Baby stepping is such a simple way to make life easy for yourself and crack on with what you need to do. It works even if you want to get ahead of yourself, by bringing you back to the here and now. It works even if you come up against some resistance or fear…because it’s just a little step, no big deal. Before you know it, you’re done – books are completed, websites and businesses are launched, sales pages are finished :-D.

And all because you took an easy, clear baby step you can do in 10-15 minutes. Over and over and over again. Try it with the project or goal that is dearest to your heart right now – find your next baby step, take it and repeat.