Change Process, Not Personality (1 — Stepladders)

How ‘Stepladders’ can make habits stick

“Science shows that people have a better chance of success by focusing on small steps.” — Dr. Sean D. Young

{This story is part of a series that analyzes how we can stick to our habits and succeed in work and life.}

Stepladders is the First Science Force.

In theory, we know that taking small steps toward a goal will make the task completion more guaranteed, make you more confident, and boost your motivation to reach your goal.

In practice, the steps that we plan are too big. (They’re not steps really; they’re dreams — Because We Dream Big!)

Example from the book —

“You could either make a resolution to lose ten pounds before a wedding next month, or you could plan to go to the gym today. How exciting is it to make a resolution to go to the gym today? Not very.

If you’re trying to shed a bunch of weight, then going to the gym one day doesn’t sound impressive. It’s not like you’ll look any different afterward. It’s more exciting to dream of losing every hated pound and making everyone’s jaw drop as you walk into the reception hall.”

So, there are two issues here —

I). For a habit to stick — how small is a small step?

II). Is your Step actually a Step? (Our Dreams and Goals are sometimes disguised in Steps clothing.)

The Crux of the matter, according to Dr. Young, is to ask this:

“Have I been trying to achieve a (realistic) first step or goal, or was it actually a far-off dream?”

…

Stepladders will help you find the answer and will help you learn how to truly think small. It will keep you on the path to accomplish your steps and goals, and might even lead you to achieve your dreams.

My Experience With Stepladders (* * * * *)

I used Stepladders extensively.

My Goals were spaced out by 1–2 months or sometimes three months.

But my daily steps were in place — * Reading daily for at least 15 minutes at bedtime (It always lasted more than 15 mins). * Reading whenever we were in the car. * Reading at restaurants while waiting for food. * Reading during lunch & dinner.

So I give Stepladders 5 Stars (* * * * *).

How you can use stepladders for your habits

1. Break down your dreams into one-month to three-month goals. Let’s say these are the long-term goals.
2. For every long-term goal, write down the short-term goals that will lead up to the long-term goal.
3. Now, for every short-term goal, write down the stepladders that will fulfill it. Or list down all the actions needed to complete that particular goal.
4. Note that the stepladders need to be really small. They need to be the smallest task to be done towards the goal.
5. Checking off the small stepladder steps will give you a great boost to keep you motivated to stay on track for pushing toward completing the short-term goal.
6. This, in turn, will push you to complete all the remaining short-term goals, thus leading to the completion of the long-term goal.
7. This feedback loop will set you on a definitive path to fulfilling your dream.
8. Make sure to break down your goals into really small steps that can be checked off easily. Direct all your attention, thoughts, and focus onto the daily steps rather than the goal or dream. It will help keep the anxiety and worries off and help build faith and confidence in yourself and in completing the dream.

I hope that this small change of creating miniature stepladders toward your goals and dreams will help you succeed in leaps and bounds in your work and in your personal life.