Don’t be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs. Every time you conquer one it makes you that much stronger. If you do the little jobs well, the big ones will tend to take care of themselves. – Dale Carnegie

“Thanks, but what else can I do”.

Yes, this is an all to common response when a home exercise program that I give to someone only has one or two exercises.

Maybe you have worked with me and felt this yourself.

And I get it. I can’t say that I am much different when I am trying to tackle a seemingly daunting task.

However, this thought process never seems to end well. Or put another way, this thought process often initiates a cascade of thoughts that I imagine might go something like this:

Someone, maybe you, wake up Monday morning motivated to take action. “Today is the day I am going to start Y , to achieve X“

Maybe today is the day you decide:

• I will get my arm “normal”
• I will start walking drills to “normalize” my walking
• I will start walking longer distances, leave the cane at home, leave the wheelchair at home…etc.

Or maybe you have health and fitness goals:

• I will start running so I can run a 5k or marathon
• I will start my diet so I can lose 20lbs, 50lbs, or maybe 100lbs

Great!

And then it happens…..

The list.

Yes, the to-do list of the 20 things that you must do to get there.

Next comes the “data”…..

“ My arm is too stiff, contracted, spastic…etc.”

“ I’m too weak”

“ My stroke was too severe”

“ My MS is too advanced”

“ That last fall and broken arm…..”

“ I have never been successful in the past”

“ I have been trying for months and nothing is getting better”

Then there are all the barriers…

“ It’s too much”

“ I can’t”

“ My doctor said I won’t ever walk normal again”

“ My family isn’t supportive”

“ I can’t afford therapy”

“ I don’t have the right tools”

It doesn’t take long. Within seconds, this laundry list of all the reasons you “can’t” saturate the sponge between our ears.

Ugh. Motivation balloon deflated.

The underutilized antidote is this…….

“Don’t be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs. Every time you conquer one it makes you that much stronger. If you do the little jobs well, the big ones will tend to take care of themselves.”

But yet so few will choose this path.

“We suffer more often in imagination than in reality” – Lucius Annaeus Seneca

There is a better way….

Take one step

Do one stretch

Stand for one minute

Run one mile

Start with one meal

Heck, start with one bite of one meal

I promise you the script will flip. The seemingly hopeless “data sheet” will start to grow in your favor.

Agency over your life will be restored.

Hope will replace hopelessness.

Belief will replace doubt.

Light will replace darkness.

But here is the catch.

Tomorrow is a new day. And yes, old habits are hard to break. The overwhelm may return. The laundry list will return. But now you are different. You are in control. You will take action.

Take one step

Do one stretch

Stand for one minute

Run one mile

Start with one meal

Heck, start with one bite of one meal

But there is always Wednesday…..

Take one step

Do one stretch

Stand for one minute

Run one mile

Start with one meal

Heck, start with one bite of one meal

And so on. You get the point.

Now imagine you commit to doing this for one year?

“Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. No single instance will transform your beliefs, but as the votes build up, so does the evidence of your new identity.” – James Clear, Author of Atomic Habits

What is one small step you can take today to move you one inch closer to your goal?