Moving the needle

[00:00:00] Well, hello. This is The Daily Five with Aurooba, that's me, where we reflect on creating our best lives a little bit every day. Here we go.

[00:00:16] When a project or task seems overwhelming to me, I ask myself, what small thing could I do that would move the needle?

[00:00:25] I remember looking at the state of my living room after a party I had hosted. the day before, and it was a hot, hot mess. There were still some plates lying about. Half the furniture was in the wrong place. Everyday things I'd stowed away for the party were still stowed away. And there were two full garbage bags waiting to be taken out to the trash. It was overwhelming. I was tired. And this was the last thing I wanted to be doing.

[00:00:59] So, what small thing could I do that would move the needle? My answer to that was, put the plates in the sink. So that's what I did. I gathered up the plates, still lying about, and I put them in the sink.

[00:01:14] What small thing could I do that would move the needle? My answer was, take the trash out. So I slipped on my spouse's shoes that were nearby. and took the trash out.

[00:01:26] What small thing could I do that would move the needle? My answer was pushing my sofa back into its designated spot.

[00:01:35] I would say that those three things took me less than five minutes to do combined, but by then I had found my momentum. The three little things I did made a noticeable difference, which gave me a dopamine hit and that encouraged the momentum along.

[00:01:49] In about a half hour, I had the living room back to normal, completely ship shape. Another 15 minutes and I had the sink cleared of those dirty dishes.

[00:01:59] What small thing could I do that would move the needle? When I'm overwhelmed, that's the question I ask myself. Don't get me wrong, sometimes I chicken out anyway and I shirk my duties. But, I do that less and less. I'm a work in progress, but I do do it less and less.

[00:02:18] I've learned to face the overwhelm of a large project or task by not looking at the whole thing at first. What small thing could I do that would move the needle? It doesn't take much to kickstart some momentum. You don't have to go big or make a splash to create something meaningful. Some of my favorite things in my own life and in the world came about with tiny incremental steps that moved the needle little by little.

[00:02:46] If a task feels too big, break it down. If it still feels too big, break it down more. Make a checklist if you want. Take things off as you go. Give yourself that dopamine hit. And then, make a move. Doesn't matter how small, make some kind of move. Take some kind of action. What small thing could you do that would move the needle?

[00:03:09] I don't know about you, but There are a lot of days in my life where I have to deal with something that feels overwhelming. Whether it's because it's a large task, or because it's something weird or scary or hard, or at least I think it's hard, it happens a lot.

[00:03:25] And if we're to make any meaningful progress at all, we have to find a way to keep dealing with it. So, I do that by asking myself, say it with me now, What small thing could I do that would move the needle?

[00:03:40] Beginnings and endings, they're hard. The middle is hard too, don't get me wrong, but at least it's the middle. You know, you've gotten going. But starting something and finishing something, both of those things, they always feel overwhelming. Starting is overwhelming because, my goodness, You look at the whole thing and there is so much to do. Finishing something is overwhelming because, my goodness, scope creep is so, so easy and you can keep finding little things and big things that you could do.

[00:04:16] This isn't an episode about finishing. We'll get there. But right now we're just starting. And it is overwhelming. Maybe you feel like you've already done so much, and yet, it is just the beginning. And my goodness, there is so much more to go. And this is just the beginning? It is. And so we ask ourselves, say it with me again, what small thing could we do that would move the needle?

[00:04:46] Say it as many times as you need. That's the question to ask.

[00:04:54] Thanks for listening. Same time tomorrow?