Why Changing Your Life Should Start With the Littlest Step

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We hear so much advice on how to change our lives. When you are striving to change yourself in one way or another, this can be at odds with who you are. The reality is that change is about taking little steps in the right direction. We don’t hear about making small changes in the same way that we make big ones. Partly this can be because we feel that, as humans, we’ve got to make massive changes in order to feel the benefits. But let’s show you why the process of changing your life is more about small things and how you can make little alterations for a bigger impact.

The Sense of Discipline for Smaller Things is Very Little

The greatest reason we should start changing our life in smaller ways is that choosing something smaller is far easier to achieve. When it comes to making yourself feel better about ourselves, we can’t underestimate what making little changes to our style can do, whether it’s embracing different types of ear piercings that revamp our look or adding accessories; these are small actionable steps that make us feel better. 

When it comes to changing how we look, the reality is that we can’t make massive alterations in who we are. But what we can do is start those smaller things that, over time, create changes. A very good example is losing weight. Losing weight is something that can definitely be achieved, but the problem many people have is that they undergo crash diets or go to great extremes because they feel they need to lose the weight now, and they end up putting it back on. 

When it comes to any sense of change a smaller task is far easier because you don’t need the same sense of discipline as you would a larger one.

The Minimal Impact on Time

Changing your life with a little habit can do wonders for you in the long run. Look at something like your mental health. If you feel anxious at every turn there have been plenty of studies that show the benefits of meditation or mindfulness on the changes in the brain. The problem many people have is thinking that meditation is about achieving enlightenment. 

There have been studies that show a small dose of meditation can do a lot to change the brain positively almost permanently. A body scan meditation is something that takes 20 minutes and doing it properly has been shown to achieve fantastic outcomes. But even if this is impossible due to time constraints, we have to remember that a small habit seems like a big task because it’s new but the reality is that in terms of how long it takes it makes a very minimal impact on your life. 

You could attempt to learn something new every day and, in reality, the amount of time it takes to learn something little is relatively small. It’s about actually one thing to make these changes.

The Reward

Doing something little for a big change means a greater sense of reward. The problem we have is that we demand instant satisfaction because of our dopamine-addled brains. But making the changes that positively stimulate your life means that, a year or two down the line, you look back on what you have achieved and only then do you feel like you actually earned something. 

The process of evolving to meet the demands of what is expected of you should be about those little steps because it can make you feel a greater sense of reward when you actively compare your life now to the way it used to be. A very good example is in overcoming a fear of something. If you grew up with a fear of heights and you have taken active steps to overcome this, there’s no underestimating what you have achieved. And this is because their sense of fear that once paralyzed them has been completely eradicated. It’s a real visceral sensation and it can be the greatest feeling in the world. 

That sense of reward is something that many people keep craving but when it comes to changing your life in terms of either your outlook, your health, or the habits that make you a better person, you can actually feel that sense of reward beyond the dopamine hit you get on social media.

The First Step is Always the Hardest

It sounds simple but deciding that you want to change your life is the most difficult part. If you want to make a significant change in life, you’ve got to look at how it will impact you further in life. It’s about choosing a path when you have a number of different options, but we cannot underestimate how difficult it is to change our life. It involves embracing discomfort, setting goals, finding meaning, facing fears, and changing your belief system. But we are hardwired to feel fearful of anything that changes us. 

This is why if you want to change your life you must recognize that, while it can bring about positive results, actually telling yourself you want to take that first step is always the toughest thing, and it usually stems from a major life event or a sudden realization that something has to change. 

Once you decide you want to change your life, you can feel that almost anything is possible and you become excited by what is in front of you and what these changes are going to give you. This is why we have to remember that the first step is the toughest but it’s also the most exciting one. We certainly hit bumps in the road and recognize that the path to change is about overcoming obstacles, but if you really want to make the biggest alterations to your life in terms of your happiness, health, changing who you are, and everything in between, the fact is that it’s not about those big things but about making sure that you, on an emotional and physiological level, understand that the best changes come from slowly turning the dial.