Take One Small Step

When your energy is low it may be all you can do to take one small step.

We humans love to feel productive. To get things done, accomplish goals, make progress. We love those high-energy days, when we manage to cross task after task from our to-do list, all the while humming happily and feeling great about life.

Unfortunately, for many of us, those high-energy days are not so common. We spend more time in low-energy mode.

On low-energy days, contemplating big dreams or combating difficult goals can feel like more than we want to face. On low-energy days we are tempted to put off anything but the basics of doing life. On low-energy days, we simply don’t feel like it.

If that’s where you are today, I encourage you to take one small step.

A single small step may not feel like progress, but at least it’s movement in the right direction. And that’s what matters. When you take action—no matter how small—in a positive direction, you can look back on a rough day and know it did not defeat you completely.

The voice of procrastination may try to tell you that one inconsequential action won’t get you anywhere, so why not skip it. Wait until you feel better and you’ll accomplish much more.

Don’t give in!

Unless you are seriously unwell, you have enough spare energy in your day to accomplish some small positive task above and beyond existing.

• Make one phone call.
• Brainstorm solutions to a problem you face.
• Write one paragraph.
• Sketch one scene.
• Do five reps of an exercise.

It may not be the most strategic action you could take, but if it’s all you can face right now, do it anyway. It may be that after taking one small step, you find the energy to take another. But even if you don’t, even if you only take one small step each day, you will eventually get to the finish line, just like the fabled tortoise.

Are you feeling low today?

Do yourself a favor and take one small step.