Grandma always said, crumbs is bread How do you eat an elephant? One. Bite. At. A. Time. Yes, well, my grandmother would say it like this. Crumbs is bread. Her family came to the United States from Sweden and her mother had broken English. I love to think about this when I feel overwhelmed. What would it take to get one crumb of my project complete? I start chuckling and think, well of course I can do that! Suddenly it s not so overwhelming anymore. The trouble is when looking at the whole loaf of bread, we forget that it s made of crumbs. In this lesson, Taking Small Steps, you will remind yourself that in order to live more intentionally and begin your journey of mastery, you need to break goals down. And then you might need to break it down again. And again. This is a step that will, over time, become a habit. However it takes practice. Hence why we are on a journey of mastery, not a race with a finish line. Small steps will help you get started. Celebrating your progress will help to keep moving. Momentum is the key to accomplishment. By starting with small steps we will kick-start momentum. There are five main steps in Lesson 2. 1. Breaking down your goals into smaller pieces 2. Determining the key points of progress (your milestones) along the way 3. Choosing one, reliable to-do list 4. Determining your next actions 5. Celebrating along the way WATCH: SMALL STEPS MoxyCoaching.com 2 of 9
STEP 1: Break It Down To begin, we need to do some reverse engineering. Use the Backward Planning Tool. Start at the bottom of the worksheet and write down the date of your goal. Be sure you are clear about exactly you will do/be/have when you achieve this goal. Next you will plan in reverse. Ask yourself: What needs to happen the week prior to reaching this goal? Now repeat the question. Keep going backwards until you get to today. You may not need to use every week on the worksheet, you may only choose to plan monthly steps. However, you ll use this tool to determine weekly and/or monthly milestones. This a planning tool, not a report you are turning in. It s ok if your planning gets messy. This exercise will help you see the pace you need in order to reach your goal. It will help you be realistic with prioritizing too. You may realize you are being too aggressive with your goal. Or you might realize that you can get your goal accomplished as long as you don t take on any other commitments. It s easier to say no when you need to, when you re crystal clear about what you are saying yes to. BACKWARD PLANNING TOOL MoxyCoaching.com 3 of 9
STEP 2: Determine Your milestones Milestones are evidence of our progress. If you have run a race or been to one, you have seen the mile-markers that tell the runners how far they have traveled. Fill in the 90 Day Milestones worksheet. Some or all of the weekly steps from your backward planning will become your milestones (evidence of your progress). You don t necessarily need every tiny task listed on the Milestone Worksheet, yet you want to make sure that each milestone will help fuel your motivation because your progress is evident. Review your 90 Milestones each week as you do your planning. This ensures you are taking a step toward your goals. Having milestones determined ahead of time will help keep you from getting stuck in a flurry of activity that isn t really productivity. Taking time, before you begin, to identify significant steps along the way is so important. 90 Day Milestones (print or use fillable PDF) Don t set too many goals set one with many milestones as achieving each One gives enough motivation to reach the finish line. -Prabakaran Thirumalai MoxyCoaching.com 4 of 9
Step 3: One, Reliable To-Do List Our brains are built for innovation and creativity, not just storage space. We aren t designed to remember a million details. Our mind can actually be more creative if we have a reliable system to store our tasks. If we don t have a reliable system that we trust, we will not use the system and end up subconsciously sabotaging ourselves. Why reliable? Does this sound familiar: I have this list in my planner, and I m trying a new software for tracking to-do s and I have post-its all over my office, yada, yada, yada Choose one place where you will keep all of your todo s. You see, without a system your mind wastes a lot of energy by keeping your ideas fresh. You cannot stop thinking about them. Your thinking will go in circles. Step 1: Collect all the to-do s bouncing in your head - get them out. Get your notes collected and get all the info in one place. Once your tasks are recorded in a trustworthy spot, you will no longer have to worry about forgetting to do anything. Step 2. Categorize: I have used some categories for my lists over the years and have refined my processes. I still refine the process. As life changes, we need to modify our systems so they work in our new environments. Some of my categories I have used include: Grocery, Phone calls, Computer, Waiting For, Someday Maybe, Out and about, Honey Do (TCOB-see video for explanation) Step 3. Get it into next physical actions. You ve got this tool! And here is a helpful tip. Tasks will fall into one of 4 action options: 1. Do it: Do it now. Especially if it will take you less than 2 minutes. 2. Defer it: Do it later, put the task on a calendar for a later date. 3. Delegate it: Ask someone else to do it or need someone s input to move ahead. 4. Dump it: The task is no longer relevant and you doing won t get you what you need. You will also need rules (or habits) to support your one, reliable to-do system. For example, when I say, I will call you. Instead of popping out the door and getting onto my next appointment, I immediately jot down, CALL KATIE, in my one, reliable todo list. We have to build the trust with our minds. Gotta have it MoxyCoaching.com 5 of 9
Next Physcial ActionS I have used the concept of next physical actions with clients for years. It is an idea that author, David Allen shares, in his best selling book, Getting Things Done, The Art of Stress-free Productivity. I like how this blogger shared the process of Next Physical Actions. David Allen in Getting Things Done defines next actions as the next physical, visible activity that needs to be engaged in, in order to move the current reality toward completion. I m finally realizing that this subtle change in thinking can have profound effects on the way you look at the stuff in your life. See, I m an inveterate list-maker, and I ve always thought I was actually pretty good at it, but when I look back now, I can see how my typical TODO list was littered with land-mines. 1. Get new work 2. Lose weight 3. Buy Christmas presents I ll bet you have (or had) a similar running list of all the nagging stuff that was littering your mental landscape, right? The thing is, I now see how items like these can t really be done at all; each one of those things is actually a complex, multiple-item project with built-in dependencies and waiting time. A more reasonable approach would be to focus just on that next physical activity needed to undertake each project; even if it seems like a trivial activity. In order: 1. Find old résumé in file cabinet 2. Call gym to see when membership expires 3. Start a running list of everyone I want to buy Christmas gifts for (source: Merlin Mann, 9-17-04) Using next physical actions keeps projects from growing stale, removes the things that aren t actions from your list, keeps you action-oriented, requires and encourages quick decisions, and keeps non-doable actions off your list (things you cannot get done until something else is done first). YOUR NEXT PHYSICAL ACTION: grab your to-do list. For each item on the list, ask yourself, what is the next physical action? The POwer of the NPA Next Physical Actions MoxyCoaching.com 6 of 9
Step 5: CELEBRATE more What is going well this week? Pause and notice your wins! Tracking your wins along your journey of personal mastery is so important. We tend to get our undies in a big ole bundle, even beat ourselves up when we don t do something. I invite you to starting noticing and writing down, or claiming, when you DO do something. Something you intended to do and might not have done otherwise. Something that is taking you towards your goals. Jot down your wins, big and small. Start with five a day, and move to ten a day. Print out one of the Win Logs at least monthly, if not weekly and track your wins, be sure to jot the date down. One of the things that has been most rewarding and transformative for clients is looking back on what they have accomplished. You see, our mind tends to forget what was once difficult after it becomes our new normal. Enjoy this process! Don t wait until you ve reached your goal to be proud of yourself. Celebrate every step along the way. We grow out of affirmation. Claim Your Wins (also included on page 8) MoxyCoaching.com 7 of 9
Claim Your Wins! Give equal if not more attention to what s going right vs. what s not. The things that are going well, the things I make progress on (small or big) and the things that are taking me closer to my goal, I celebrate! Complete a new list each month. MONTH: MoxyCoaching.com 8 of 9
Personal Mastery Ninja MoveS: Immunity to Change Have you ever set a goal and didn t reach it? And when you looked back at the goal you realized it was perhaps unrealistic? I sure have. During an international coaching conference, I was learning new techniques and getting my annual dose of inspiration from my coaching peers when I heard Harvard professor Robert Kegan, discussing his book, Immunity to Change: How to Overcome It and Unlock the Potential in Yourself and Your Organization. It seemed like an odd topic for a bunch of coaches who helped others change on a daily basis. But I was curious. Here is what I learned that day that has helped me help clients get over some of their biggest barriers to change themselves. Just like our physical body has an immune system that keeps us from getting sick, our mind works in a similar fashion. Our mind wants to keeps us safe from taking risks that might harm us. Our minds are so much more powerful than we know. Your mind will seriously work against our will when we our leap is more than what it deems safe. The simple takeaway here is this: ask yourself, what is a safe, modest risk I can take around this endeavor? Once you achieve that safe, modest risk, you can take another safe. modest. risk. I have seen this unfold with various clients so many times. This is one of those gold nuggets that helps us to really get past however we might be getting in our own way, fears, comparison and/or ego. Now, this concept certainly doesn t mean that we cannot push ourselves. I know there are people will see this concept that way. I did too, at first. When your motivation isn t as evident as you delve into certain goals, keep this in mind. What would be a safe, modest risk for you? Playing it safe, is Smart MoxyCoaching.com 9 of 9