Writing Wednesay: Do One Small Thing

This is truly the secret of life. No one has ever gotten anywhere based on what they did one time, no matter how hard or wonderful it was. What really matters in life is the sustained effort of days and weeks and years accrued over a lifetime. And that effort need not even be anything super-human. It just has to be continued, day after day, even when there is no feedback, even when no one is cheering for you, even when you are sure it doesn't matter. Do one small thing today, and another small but connected thing tomorrow, and pretty soon, you will have an actually recognizable piece of a large thing. And after a year, you may finish something that is worthwhile. It may take longer than a year. Don't be discouraged. Don't give up.

One small thing a day means sit down for 15 minutes. Write one page. Even a bad page. Even a page you erase the next day. Keep writing your one page a day. You will get better at it. You might find you want to spend more time writing. You may write more words than ever before. At the end of a year, you will have 365 pages. Or less. But you will have done something that other people didn't do. While they were sitting around thinking about how useless their lives are, you will have done something to make your life less useless. While they complained that their dreams were over, you will be chipping away at the dream sculpture that will one day be you. While other people are sitting down to rest or chatting with a friend or simply cleaning the house one more time, you will have done one small thing that matters most to you.

You don't need to share that one small thing you are doing with other people. You don't need anyone to tell you that you are doing the right thing. You don't need to be told that you should be spending time doing what they do. Just do your one small thing, whatever it is. 15 minutes a day of piano practice won't make you a concert pianist, but it will give you a start at a musical education. 15 minutes a day of yoga won't cure scoliosis, but it may give you some significant relief from pain. 15 minutes a day of walking isn't going to make you into Chrissie Wellington, but it will give you a foundation of peace and calm, and it will be a beginning of a new life. 15 minutes a day of cooking your own food won't make you a gourmet chef, but it will make your eating habits better and that may cascade through the rest of your life.

If you want your life to change, if you want more than you have now, you don't have to throw everything out. You don't have to become a new person all at once. You just have to do one small thing. Don't make a list of all the big things you want, or all the big goals you want to achieve. Just do one small thing today and one small thing tomorrow. Don't make excuses about how it's too much for you to think about. Don't let your self-doubts tell you to accept an ordinary life. Take a breath and do your one small thing. It's bigger and more important than you can possibly imagine!