How do we make lasting changes in our lives? Little by little. One baby step at a time.

Today a client shared with me the “drip metaphor.” It’s helpful as a way to think about all the small steps that go into making big changes. She said, “Every small step you take is like a drip falling into a bucket. You know when it’s raining like crazy and there’s a drip in your ceiling so you put a bucket under it? You know how even though the water drips slowly…drip…drip…drip…it’s always surprising how quickly the bucket fills up?”

She went on. “It’s the same with baby steps. Each small step is like a drip in a bucket. Most baby steps seem too small to make a difference, but before you know it, you’ve grown an ability to do something you weren’t able to do before.”

I immediately thought of Maryann, a woman in my class. She had been complaining about being so out of shape and how she barely moves during the day at her desk job. She wanted to find a way to start moving her body during the day so she set the goal of walking during her lunch hour. Although her intentions were good, days passed and the walks never happened. She finally admitted that she felt too out of shape to even take a short walk.

Then, thinking in baby steps, she broke her goal down into manageable pieces. She decided to set an alarm on her phone to go off 3 times a day. The alarm would be a reminder for her to get out of her chair. Once up, she set a timer for 5 minutes. In this time, she’d stretch, breathe, and take a few paces around her office. She said, “This seems like such a small thing, but I’d remind myself it was more than I’d been moving before.”

After a month of getting up and moving, Maryann was surprised to find herself wanting to leave the building for a short walks around the block. Her seemingly insignificant steps towards movement added up.

What baby steps have you been taking? Have you been undervaluing them?

Conversely, is there a goal that feels overwhelming which you can break up into baby steps? Try setting a timer for a short period of time while you do your activity so your goal doesn’t become overwhelming.

Keep a baby step log by jotting down every baby step you take during the day.

Or, practice a bedtime review – as you lie in bed before falling sleep, review your day. Make mental notes of any baby steps you took no matter how small.

Most of us overlook and undervalue the incremental steps we take because we’re fixated on bigger goals – losing weight, being able to walk/run for an hour, no longer eating emotionally, loving the way we look, and eating healthfully most of the time. If we haven’t met these goals, nothing else matters. But we can’t meet our larger goals without a foundation built on small steps. Without the small steps, there can be no big steps. The small stuff is what the big stuff is made of.

It’s like when an actor gets an Oscar and thanks the many people who helped every step of the way to make that moment possible. Our small steps are like the invisible people who deserve big rounds of applause.

Acknowledge and appreciate every drip in the bucket, no matter how small. Before you know it, your bucket will be full.

Please post here any baby steps you have taken lately. It helps to acknowledge them out loud and inspires others to hear about!