Time Is On Your Side, If You Understand The Principle Of Small Steps

The passing of time sometimes frightens us because we are getting older, and our lifetime is running out. But if we use our time instead of just letting it pass, it is our closest ally.

Our wishes and goals often seem unattainable to us, although we know pretty much what we have to do to make them come true.

But this knowledge is of no use to us if we lack the patience to take all the steps we need to take on the way to our goal.

Why do we lack this patience in most cases? Why do we not manage to train regularly and eat in a disciplined way, even though we know that this is the only way to get a body in which we feel comfortable?

Why don’t we manage to work on our side project for at least one hour every day after work, even though we know that this is the only way to escape the hamster wheel of our 9 to 5 job in the long run?

For what reason do we not manage to be consistent over a long period and do what we should do? Why do we continually sabotage our dreams and our future?

Knowledge is not understanding

We know that significant changes are only possible through a thousand small steps. Nobody becomes healthy, rich, happy, or famous overnight by a feat of strength. We know that perfectly well.

We also know that success becomes more likely the more consistently we pursue our goals. Whoever writes a page every day will definitely have a finished book in their hands after a year. This is a success that is inevitable if we do what we have to do every day.

If we consistently follow a training plan for a marathon, we will be able to run a marathon in the end — it is so simple.

Unfortunately, although we have this knowledge, we do not really understand it.

All knowledge is theory as long as it is not applied.

This knowledge is fact knowledge, but fact knowledge does not motivate us. We have to turn factual knowledge into experiential knowledge so that we really understand what this knowledge means in all its depth.

From knowledge to understanding

If you want too much change at once, you will inevitably fail, because our brain is programmed to reward us for short-term successes.

A piece of cake now will always trigger greater satisfaction in the brain than the vision of a slim body sometime in the future.

A reward that is too far in the future does not create any incentive for our brain to help us achieve this goal, because it does not understand that the reward really comes if we only work towards it long enough.

Therefore, we need to train our brains to recognize a connection between continuous effort and success.

To achieve this, all we have to do is to divide our big goals into many small goals, because the more often we reach small goals faster, the more often we activate our internal reward system.

With time, our brain then learns the connection between continuous effort and permanent reward. It is transformed from our opponent to our ally every day.

So time is on our side in two ways when we pursue our goals in small steps. Firstly, our brain changes over time due to the small permanent successes we achieve, and secondly, we inevitably come closer to our goals every day.

You decide whether time works for or against you

Was the article too optimistic for you so far? Did you have the impression that all the talk about small steps and success is just motivational blah-blah that you have read many times before?

Then let’s change the perspective at the end of this article. Time is on your side, I claimed. But I also said that it is only if you understand and apply the principle of small steps.

Because if you don’t develop this understanding, time will only work against you from a certain point on.

You will give up all your dreams and goals, accept your externally determined life, and allow that your health, your relationships, and your contentment will more and more go down the drain.

This is because the principle of small steps can not only lead you to heaven but also hell. You can take small steps towards your goals every day, or you can move further away from them every day by taking small steps.

The principle of small steps does not care if the actions you take are good or bad for you. But you should care.

So if positive visions of the future do not motivate you, just conclude the last sentence and let fear drive you instead.

Maybe that’s what you need. For me, fear has often helped more than hope.

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