If you want to make things happen in your life, set the bar low. That’s my advice. While you should definitely define your goals based on the kind of motivational posters that have text-against-sunset images exhorting you to dream big and reach for the stars, when you’re hatching the real-world, day-to-day plan for how actually to do it, I say think small and reach for what you can feasibly reach. In other words, set the bar low.
The wisdom of this idea became clear to me while I was giving some advice to a friend who finds himself in the frustrating position of being an enthusiastic runner who can no longer run. With knee and ankle injuries, Michael had been encouraged to take up yoga but was finding it difficult to practice consistently, so I shared with him my own deceptively simple strategy for getting on the mat pretty much every single day. You’ve got to set the bar low.
Done in 600 seconds
For me, that bar is set at 10 minutes. I am committed to doing 10 minutes of yoga per day, no matter what. It’s faintly ridiculous: when I do just 10 minutes I feel as if I’ve barely got the mat out and I’m already namaste-ing and rolling it up. But I’ve honoured my contract with myself, I’ve stretched a few muscles, and I’ve released a bit of tension. On good days, in fact most days, I do more; I choose a video with a theme that speaks to me and contort myself for a good 30 to 40 minutes. It’s on the “difficult days” that this strategy really reveals its brilliance. The days when I have been out of the house and working from 8am to 8pm, or when I’ve run a million errands and taken the kids to various parties/piano lessons/medical appointments, or simply days when I’ve had too little sleep and want to collapse on the sofa. On those days, I roll out the mat, muttering something like, “Ten minutes is doable, it’s nothing; there are TV commercial breaks that last longer, rides at Disney even. Just hang in there for 600 seconds then you can sink into bed with a book…” Then I do my asanas, and – in addition to the physical benefits and mental calm I enjoy – I feel pleased with myself. I might have only done my minimum, but minimum is better than nothing.
Setting the bar low then either exceeding your own requirement or fulfilling your minimum in the absence of any motivation is immensely gratifying. Whatever happens, you can feel proud. You have kept your promise to yourself and taken a step forward.
What could you do with your 10 minutes?
So, how about applying this strategy to habits you want to develop and projects you’d like to begin? Say you’d like to write a book: what if you set yourself the eminently feasible target of writing for 10 minutes each evening? Or maybe you want to learn a foreign language: even the busiest executive can find 10 minutes between meetings to open a learning app. Or perhaps you simply wish your home were generally a bit cleaner and more orderly: a little bit of dusting or tidying every day can really make a difference across the week.
At work, the effect is equally impressive. A daily coffee break with an influential or interesting person from your company. A walk round the block to clear your head after lunch. Time spent at the end of the day writing the next day’s to-do and priorities list. Even a major undertaking like preparing a presentation for the strategy board explaining a new product idea you’ve been mentally chewing on for weeks can be chipped away at in this manner.
The hardest part is showing up
However, while the impact of the accumulation of 10 minutes per day is unquestionable, the real value of the personal promise to do just 10 minutes of something every day lies in the psychological trick that will almost always result in your doing way more than 10 minutes. I have heard many yoga teachers utter variations of, “The hardest part is showing up”, and I completely agree – both on and off the mat. Just as the hardest part of yoga is getting changed and rolling out the mat, so the hardest part of any other project is the very first step. Once that’s done, what follows just flows – whether it’s writing, preparing for a seminar, or doing business admin. Once the laptop is open and I’m sitting comfortably, beginning becomes inevitable, and the idea of stopping sometimes doesn’t even occur to me. Often I look up to see if my 10 minutes are over and find I’ve been at it for an hour; when that happens I either pat myself on the back and contentedly close the computer or shrug and decide that, well, I’m here now, I may as well do a bit more. Either way, I’ve accidentally achieved more and taken more steps towards my goal than if I had required an hour of myself in the beginning.
You do the math!
When I explained this approach to Michael, my runner-turned-would-be-yogi friend, he confided that he had been telling himself that he had do at least half an hour a day for the yoga to be worth it, and he was managing to do that once a week at best. He quickly did the calculation. He was clocking in a maximum of 30 minutes per week; my way promised a minimum of 70 minutes per week with potential, even probable, bonus time on some days.
Yes, it’s good to be ambitious. Yes, we should expect great things of ourselves. I always encourage my clients (and family, and friends, and children) to set their sights high and shoot for the stars. But when you are making a plan for how you’ll reach your lofty goals and achieve amazing things, I am convinced that setting the bar low creates a much more reliable and ultimately productive path to success.
So, think about a habit you want to adopt, or a project you want to launch and ask yourself this: what could you do for 10 minutes every day that would get you, slowly but surely, where you want to go?
Do you feel stuck? Are you having a hard time getting motivated, launching a project, or regularly doing things that you resolve – and then fail – to do? Would you like greater clarity both about what you want to do and how you are going to get it done? Enlisting the support of a dynamic, empathetic and encouraging coach with over a decade of experience can help you make changes, adopt new habits, and implement a realistic and empowering plan to get you from where you are to where you want to be. Contact me to find out more about working together.
