Life by Design - The Magic of Micro Actions

Welcome to This Daring Adventure podcast, where we work on bridging the gap between where we are and where we want to be in order to live a bigger and bolder life.

In this podcast, we will provide inspiration, tips, and skills you need to make your life the adventure you want it to be. Here's your host, mindset mentor and life coach, Trista Guertin.

Hey everybody.

Welcome back to This Daring Adventure. This is episode 60.

Today I wanted to talk about the power of micro actions. I think one of the things I'm really conscious of is the idea that it takes a lot of time and effort. And a huge investment of energy in order to make changes. And I want to make sure that people understand that when I'm suggesting some of these things you can do, some of the processes, some of the, just even getting coached that it doesn't take a lot of time or energy in order to make changes.

Now, some things will take more time and energy, obviously. But if you think about it as a rudder on a ship and I was writing my Monday email to my clients and my list and thinking about how we can change our lives. And we can land up somewhere completely different than where we are today with just small changes because it can be like a rudder on a ship if you just make a small adjustment. You could land up or that ship could land up somewhere completely different than where it was originally heading.

This morning as I was thinking and having my coffee. I had this vision that I could be 90 years old and looking back at my life. And this is actually one of the exercises that I recommend to clients doing is looking back from, the vantage point of you being 90 years old and looking back on your life and seeing what you've accomplished.

And usually when I do this, I just have this idea that I will pick five areas of my life and accomplish things in terms of health and business and whatnot. But this morning I suddenly had a vision that I could be looking back and have had a completely different life from what I'm living now and making changes.

That completely alter the course of my life and that my life at 90 could be completely Unrecognizable and completely different from where I am today.

Now that may not be your thing. I understand that but for me, I think it's very exciting and very interesting because I've thought a lot over the last few years about The changes I want to make and where I want to live and the things I want to do and the business that I want to have. But somehow thinking about it this morning, something just shifted and I just had that momentary glimpse that things could be radically different.

And for yourself, again, that may not be something that you've wanted, but it also may be something that you've never seriously considered before. So you might want to think about that as a possibility, little by little, that it's possible. It's possible. My 90th birthday is still 40 years away. That's a long time. I could make a lot of changes. I could really switch things up.

And then I was thinking about micro actions and how it relates to a rudder on a ship that, some of the changes could be substantial. They could be radical. They could be big and they could involve a lot of time and an investment of energy.

But there are probably a lot of things that I could do now and that you could also do to start making changes in your life through micro actions, which are just Small manageable tasks or actions that will ultimately contribute to a larger goal.

And I like this idea because there are things you can do in a moment or there are things you can do in 10 or 15 minutes and they can have when performed consistently and persistently, they can have a huge impact. not only on your daily life, but where you are headed overall. And this could be something such as taking a walk. It could be meditating for five or 10 minutes a day. It could be having a cup of green tea. It could be spending time journaling. It could be a coaching session. It could be reading a chapter in a book. It could be time spent visualizing and imagining what is possible and what you want for your life. It could be research, it could be talking to somebody, it could be writing.

There's so many opportunities and things we can do on a daily basis that open us up to possibility, make improvements, make changes in our lives that don't overwhelm us. Because I think a lot of time we start to think that these changes are huge and that they are overwhelming and require a lot of attention and effort. And they really don't. And so breaking them down, little by little, bit by bit, they start to add up.

And when you are consistent and persistent, you can reap huge rewards. And the persistence part, I think, is the most interesting because a lot of times if we miss a day, Or we miss a week. We think that there's no point in going back. And we just give up. And we've, we've missed it. we've already ruined it. Or we've already Missed so much, but I don't think that's true at all I think you can miss a day or miss a week or even miss a month and just start again. Start where you are begin again. Don't give up just keep going and for me. I believe that everything I've done in the past has an accumulated benefit and then I'm not starting from scratch I'm not starting over but I am beginning again And I'm keeping going and I think that's the most important part and it's all a part of the bigger picture I haven't lost anything. I haven't ruined anything. I haven't fallen behind I'm exactly where I need to be and I just begin again.  I keep going I think when we start to do that We start to build that trust in ourselves, that we do what we said we were going to do, and we get over that inclination for procrastination or for perfectionism. It doesn't have to be perfect.

And just seeing it as a part of the bigger picture and the whole, I think really helps us to focus our attention and our efforts on what we want to create. And when you look at it as a body of work, a body of contribution, a body of accomplishment that you have created over time, I think it helps us to build confidence and increase motivation. It is motivating and it does create confidence to keep going when you can see what you've done has an impact and has been important and does create something for yourself.

And so if you are interested in implementing micro actions and creating some for yourself, you can start with one. You can start with a couple, something simple. It can be really something simple so that you get into the habit and you get into the practice of taking the action every single day and then you can build on it. Add more.

I think of my journaling practice. I think of my meditation practice. I think of what I spoke about last week about celebrating our wins that I've added that into my daily practice. It's three things I think about takes me usually a minute, but I'm incorporating that into my daily practice. I've incorporated having a cup of green tea instead of coffee mid morning, and I believe that doing that on a daily basis will reap benefits for me health wise as I go. And imagine if I've started that today and I do that for the next 25 years, the benefits will accrue. And they will compound. And so choose one, choose a couple.

I have a habit tracker that I am now checking off for the month of March, the things that I wanted to do on a daily basis, and I'm literally checking them off. And so you can motivate yourself that way. You can see your progress. And there is it's something very satisfying for our brains when we can check off and note that we have accomplished this for the day.

We get a little hit of dopamine and that will also compound for you to keep you going, to keep you motivated and to overcome procrastination.

I think one of the things that you want to remember is to have self compassion and flexibility. self compassion in that if you do miss a day, if you do miss a week, you don't beat yourself up. You just keep going. Start again, begin where you are. Don't judge yourself. Don't talk down to yourself. You want to be able to adapt as necessary.

And take some of that pressure off yourself and make it somewhat fun that you are doing this and recognizing that it will have a significant impact on your life overall.

We're playing the long game here. I keep talking about it's a marathon, not a sprint.

All of this work that we do is a marathon, not a sprint. So having that self compassion, having that flexibility, having that long term vision are key characteristics that will keep you moving and keep you going forward.

So they can be in any area of your life, and the ones that I have chosen are in literally in every area of my life. And I believe that when they are done on a regular basis, they will alter where we land up and help us to make changes that maybe we can't anticipate right now, but I choose to believe that they will and that they will make a significant impact, positive impact on my health, on my wellbeing and on my life.

So think about what micro actions you might be wanting to try and to add into your daily schedule. Don't get overwhelmed. Don't put pressure on yourself. Pick one small thing that you can commit to that maybe just takes five minutes a day. Remember the rudder on the ship.

One small adjustment can take you somewhere completely different than you ever imagined.

All right. That's what I have for you today.

Thank you so much for joining me. If you are interested in trying coaching for yourself and learning more about how we can work together, the link to my calendar is in the show notes. I offer a free 45 minute coaching session. Bring any issue that you wish. Get coached and I will tell you what it would look like to work with me going forward.

I am also offering a new master class coming up in a couple of weeks. It will be on your relationship with yourself strengthening and building that relationship It's the foundation of all of the future work that we do. And it is the most important relationship you will ever have. the link to register for that webinar will also be in the show notes.

Have a great week. I'll talk to you soon. Bye bye everybody.

Thank you for listening to This Daring Adventure podcast with your host Trista Guertin.

We hope you enjoyed the tips and conversations on how to get excited about life again. As always, you can head to tristaguertin.com for additional resources and to book a one on one coaching session.

You can also follow Trista on Instagram at tristavguertin.

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Thanks again for tuning in and we'll see you next time.