We say things like this to ourselves:
- “It doesn’t count as a workout unless I do 45 minutes.”
- “It doesn’t count as reading unless I finish a chapter.”
- “It doesn’t count as meditating unless I do 20 minutes.”
- “It doesn’t count as writing unless I finish a blog post.”
But when we say these things to ourselves, we’re usually justifying not taking action. We’re giving a reason to do nothing rather than do a little.
We feel justified because we’re comparing a little with a lot, and a little bit of effort isn’t as good as a lot of effort. If the choice were between doing a little and doing a lot, we’d certainly make more progress by doing a lot.
But that’s the wrong comparison.
What we should be comparing is doing a little with doing nothing. And doing a little is much better than doing nothing. Some is always better than none. Every step in the right direction counts. Even just five minutes a day can make a huge difference in the long run.
Show up, even if you don’t have much time, even if you don’t have much energy. Suck, if you have to, but don’t skip. Be consistent. Build the habit.
Once you have a habit of showing up consistently, then you can concern yourself with doing more than a little.