WEBVTT - Second Cup: Big goals, little steps

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio.

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<v Speaker 2>Good Morning.

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<v Speaker 1>This is Laura, Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. This

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<v Speaker 1>is the second episode in my five part series on procrastination.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's tip is to conquer a task you've been resisting

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<v Speaker 1>by breaking it into very small steps.

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<v Speaker 2>There's been a lot written about success over.

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<v Speaker 1>The years, but I think one of the most profound

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<v Speaker 1>insights is this small things done repeatedly truly do add up.

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<v Speaker 1>As the poet Avid once put it, dripping water hollows stone.

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<v Speaker 1>Later writers added their addendum to this quote, not by force,

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<v Speaker 1>but by persistence. If you think about it, the Grand

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<v Speaker 1>Canyon is the result of a river subtracting just a

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<v Speaker 1>little bit from the hills at a time. Lots of

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<v Speaker 1>little steps can yield big results. Say you want to

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<v Speaker 1>write a book, well, write five hundred words a day,

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<v Speaker 1>four days a week. Five hundred words isn't much of anything.

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<v Speaker 1>The script for this episode is longer than five hundred words,

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<v Speaker 1>But two thousand words a week gives you fifty thousand

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<v Speaker 1>words in six months. You'll get seventy five thousand words

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<v Speaker 1>in nine months. I write books for a living, and

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<v Speaker 1>I don't come anywhere near that level of output. Learning

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<v Speaker 1>a language seems like a huge undertaking, but it's not

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<v Speaker 1>an endless undertaking. According to the Foreign Service Institute, an

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<v Speaker 1>English speaker could reach general proficiency with a language such

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<v Speaker 1>as Spanish, French, or Italian in about six hundred hours

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<v Speaker 1>over two years. That's less than an hour a day.

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<v Speaker 1>Working with a language app during your commute and then

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<v Speaker 1>meeting a native speaker for lunch once every other week

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<v Speaker 1>could get you there. This insight is important for procrastination

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<v Speaker 1>because often when we resist a task, it's because it

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<v Speaker 1>seems big and nebulous, or possibly scary. This insight is

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<v Speaker 1>important for procrastination because often when we resist a task,

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<v Speaker 1>it's because it seems big and nebulous, or possibly scary.

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<v Speaker 1>Get a new job, go back to school, start a business,

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<v Speaker 1>start a nonprofit, meet someone special. All of this might

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<v Speaker 1>be amazing, but life's pretty busy right now, all about

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<v Speaker 1>next year or the next decade. One way to conquer

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<v Speaker 1>this resistance is to break the task down into tiny,

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<v Speaker 1>doable steps. Let's say you're procrastinating writing a report. Break

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<v Speaker 1>this down into tasks so small that you feel no

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<v Speaker 1>resistance to them, like write the title.

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<v Speaker 2>Okay, that's not so hard.

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<v Speaker 1>I mean, who's bent out of shape by typing the title.

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<v Speaker 1>Then maybe another step is writing down the main point.

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<v Speaker 1>You want to make one sentence, what is this report about?

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<v Speaker 1>Hopefully you know, because that's how you're describing it to people.

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<v Speaker 1>So you write that one sentence down, just one sentence

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<v Speaker 1>that wasn't bad at all. Then maybe another step is

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<v Speaker 1>including three data points you know are important.

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<v Speaker 2>Okay, we'll get those in there.

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<v Speaker 1>Oh and then here's something interesting we could say to

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<v Speaker 1>connect the main point in those data points. Oh and

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<v Speaker 1>by the way, I know, this is how I want

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<v Speaker 1>to sum up and explain those data points. And next thing,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, the momentum is there and the report is

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<v Speaker 1>pretty much written. And here's the crazy thing. If you

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<v Speaker 1>start early enough, you don't even have to do all

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<v Speaker 1>of this on the same day. It never has to

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<v Speaker 1>be unpleasant, and you never have to feel like there's

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<v Speaker 1>too much to do because all these steps are small

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<v Speaker 1>enough that you just don't feel like it's a big deal.

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<v Speaker 1>If you do feel like it's a big deal and

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<v Speaker 1>you start feeling that resistance, back up and make the

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<v Speaker 1>step smaller. But I promise that progress is inherently motivational.

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<v Speaker 1>We overestimate what we can do in the short run,

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<v Speaker 1>but we underestimate what we can do in the long run.

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<v Speaker 1>Even a nebulous project like meeting someone special could be

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<v Speaker 1>done in small steps. You aim to go on one

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<v Speaker 1>first date a week. That's not so bad. I mean,

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<v Speaker 1>just one coffee date. It's not too much of an

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<v Speaker 1>investment of time. But for every four first dates you

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<v Speaker 1>might meet someone you want to go on a second

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<v Speaker 1>date with, maybe one out of every three second dates

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<v Speaker 1>turns into a third date. In a year, you would

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<v Speaker 1>have met four people you were willing to go on

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<v Speaker 1>three dates. With the odds that one of those turns

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<v Speaker 1>into something bigger is pretty good. So today, think about

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<v Speaker 1>some task that you've been putting off. Think about how

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<v Speaker 1>you could break it up into tiny steps. Think about

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<v Speaker 1>making those steps so small that they're really just a

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<v Speaker 1>little better than nothing. If writing five hundred words a

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<v Speaker 1>day is too much, right two hundred. I bet you've

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<v Speaker 1>sent two hundred words of emails by eight thirty am.

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<v Speaker 1>But almost nothing isn't actually nothing, and a little bit

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<v Speaker 1>of something, done over and over again can move mountains

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<v Speaker 1>over the long haul. What big project have you broken

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<v Speaker 1>into tiny steps? I'd love to hear about it. You

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<v Speaker 1>can email me at Before Breakfast podcast at iHeartMedia dot com.

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<v Speaker 1>In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening and

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<v Speaker 1>here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,

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<v Speaker 1>I'd love to hear from you. You can send me

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<v Speaker 1>your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with

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<v Speaker 1>me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod.

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<v Speaker 1>That's b E the number four then Breakfast pod. You

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<v Speaker 1>can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast podcast

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<v Speaker 1>at iHeartMedia dot com. That Before Breakfast is spelled out

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<v Speaker 1>with all the letters.

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<v Speaker 2>Thanks so much.

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<v Speaker 1>Should I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast

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<v Speaker 1>is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,

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<v Speaker 1>visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen

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<v Speaker 1>to your favorite shows.