Making a Lasting Change Happen

“Be the person with embarrassing goals and impressive results instead of one of the many people with impressive goals and embarrassing results.”_ Stephen Guise

For many years, I struggled to wake up early because I didn’t have an idiot-proof strategy that would ensure performance, no matter what. 

But today, I am proud to say I am a bona fide early-riser, thanks to the idea of simplicity and tiny steps.

And I am using the same small idea to make other significant changes in my life.

When we know the right strategies to adopt, lasting change is not so hard.

From personal experience, I have realized that the secret to making a lasting change happen lies in the power of baby steps, which many of us tend to dismiss.

Make no mistake about it: baby steps are not trivial; they are powerful.

In fact, baby steps are so powerful that we can achieve anything through their application if we are willing to imbibe the relentless propensity of toddlers in our pursuit. 

Since baby steps induce prompt action, they are the key to making things happen in the world of results. This is especially true when it comes to the formation of good habits; mini steps make our desired behaviour a lot easier to establish into a habit. 

So, whether we want learn a new skill, do a new thing or make a great change, the secret of success lies in making a start in a very small way as Stephen Guise, the author of “Mini Habits: Smaller Habits, Bigger Results” put it: “One small step + desired behavior = high probability of further steps.”

You see, the trick of this strategy is that we are minimizing the initial investment of time and energy to lay a firm foundation that our eventual success will be built upon.

Since the initial step is incredibly small, it is very easy to get it locked into our day. 

Then, over time, those baby steps will eventually become a part of our life.

On the other hand, huge leaps usually end up not being a part of our life at all because they take a lot of effort to integrate. 

Interestingly, baby steps strategy can be applied in all areas of our lives. We only need to decide where we want to change and make each step incredibly small, especially at the start.

Finally: know that baby steps are the key to success at almost anything in life; every accomplishment is an aggregation of tiny steps. 

In the words of a transformational leader, Marci Shimoff: “To make the quickest progress, you don't have to take huge leaps. You just have to take baby steps—and keep on taking them. 

In Japan, they call this approach kaizen, which literally translates as 'continual improvement.' Using kaizen, great and lasting success is achieved through small, consistent steps. 

It turns out that slow and steady is the best way to overcome your resistance to change.”