Small Steps, Big Results

In this episode, I am sharing some thoughts from a few of my group coaching clients who have worked with me for the last 5 years. I am also sharing a listen a final session from my fall series “Manage Your Time and Energy”.

 As we focus on getting BIG results by breaking down projects into small, actionable steps, know that every small step you take is moving you closer to the results you want. 

One of the secrets of Living a Vibrant Life is to be continually moving in the direction we want to go without getting overwhelmed and depleted along the way.

Main Points:

Focus on one project at a time and figure out the next right steps.

• Break each step into the smallest step needed so that they are doable for you.
• Align those action steps with your available energy. 
• Notice how you’re feeling about each step.  If you aren’t feeling good about it-  it might still be too big of a step. OR you might be scheduling it at a time when you don’t have access to the right kind of energy needed. 
• Commit to 1-3 consistent, small steps at a time and expect to feel uncomfortable until it becomes a regular habit. 
• Celebrate small wins, and adjust course with kindness when life gets in the way.

Links 

• Join Kelly's Group Coaching Program

Let's connect.

I am cheering for you!

Transcript

Speaker 2: 0:09

Welcome to the Live A Vibrant Life podcast. I'm life coach Kelly Kibbitz, and each week I'll be here to encourage and equip you with the tools you need to grow in self-awareness and invest your best energy in your dreams and your purpose. I believe self-awareness changes everything. Let's get started.

Speaker: 0:30

Today we're going to talk about the manage your time and energy Toolbox. You chose one priority, one thing that's important to you. We're going to decide small action steps. Now, if you are like most humans, that priority is big and in order to move that priority forward and create the results you want, we're going to make smaller projects. If making your closet your friend was your priority, maybe the project is, I'm going to look through all of my sweaters and I'm going to donate a third of them, keep a third of them, and then maybe put a third to a pile and decide if I actually wear them. I think I've spoken about this in a podcast, but I just learned it this year from Gretchen Rubin that we keep our clothes based on what they look like. But we wear our clothes based on how they feel. So if making your closet is your friend is one of your goals, when you put your clothes on, try not to look at yourself. Just close your eyes and notice how do you feel? It's life-changing. Alright, so we're going to choose some small action steps that move us forward in our project. And again, there is no right way to do this. It has to work for you. Start where you. How's your energy today? Are you feeling at all exhausted, depleted, frustrated? If so, that's the project to focus on. We want to live in that aligned, enthusiastic, vibrant energy. So maybe your project is to become less mentally depleted and more energized, and that might involve naps or walks or time with a friend. Notice what's important to you and know that every small step you take is moving you closer to the results you want. And that's our goal, to be continually moving in the direction we want to go without getting overwhelmed and depleted along the way. We're going to take the time to choose one to three small steps that will move you forward. And we won't know if those are the right steps until we try them, right? We have to decide and do something in order to edit it. So what three steps would serve you? If you're able to, you close your eyes, ah, take one of those cleansing breaths. Connect to your loved, valuable self. Nothing that you do is making you more valuable. You're already a hundred percent valuable. What small step do you wanna take? One is a perfectly good number of small steps to decide. You can decide up to three, but you can also just stay with one step and do that on repeat until it feels comfortable. Now, expect life to get in the way. Say you decide I am going to sit down and work on my taxes from one o'clock till two o'clock on Wednesday. I'm going to move forward. I'm going to feel uncomfortable and nothing's gone wrong. Uncomfortable, just feels like some tightness in my jaw. I can handle that. And then you go to sit down and that's the exact moment somebody calls you with an emergency. If we leave white space, we'll be able to move that important but not urgent activity to a different time. And sometimes what we need to do is say, this is so important, I need to ask you, can I call later? Expect to feel uncomfortable as you're learning to do this. It might be a new thought. What's important to me is important. That might be a new thought. And so it's okay to feel uncomfortable. So once you've done one to three small steps for a week or two, you want to notice how is it going? Are the results being created that you want? If so, then let's celebrate that, decide another goal in some small practices that move you towards that. But how human of you, if you're noticing I'm not moving forward, that's okay. Let's go back to the notice step. Do you have enough energy? Do you have clarity on what you wanna be thinking? Are you allowing your feelings? Are there some things you need to accept? So say you decide that you wanna be healthy at 75. And you start going to the gym and it just hurts more than it did 20 years ago. And I know this happened to me, like my knee was incredibly sore. I actually had to go buy a knee brace from Amazon in order to begin to work out. Um, when I started a few years ago, nothing had gone wrong. My knees just weren't used to working out. And so from a place of love, I had to ice and stretch and decide I couldn't go as often as I wanted to go because. Having a body that was healthy meant I wasn't supposed to injure it. So is there anything you need to decide? Again, nothing's gone wrong as a human, we are all doing the best we can. Deciding the small action steps is going to be so key to you, creating the results you want. So we wanna describe the blocks that we're choosing. Is it the first block of the day? Is it the third? Is it the one before bed? Make sure that your energy is aligned. Right. So if you have named the three areas of your life, you, your soul, right? That might be the yellow block, and then the work you do for pay is green and your relationships are pink. As a very simple way to start this, what color is the block? A soul care block it's the second block of the day, and I'm going to do it two days a week. That's the kind of clarity we're looking for, and you want to be able to repeat these small action steps until this block has become as much of a priority to you as some of the things that you do already that are responsibilities that you know you just show up for. We have six blocks for you to decide for this week and for next week. Is it Tuesday at two o'clock? That is a Soul Care block, and the goal is you feeling more energized, enthusiastic, aligned. And then the Thursday at four o'clock block that is specifically around finances and you know you have good mental energy there. So that's going to take place from four to 4:45. And then you're going to gift yourself with a 15 minute walk so that your mental energy can be restored. Whatever you decide is correct, but let's make some decisions. We're going to modify along the way be kind and patient and loving to yourself.

Speaker 4: 6:05

Thank you for joining the Live A Vibrant Life podcast. I hope our time together encourage you and will equip you with the tools you need to move into the vibrant life you desire. I'm here to help you live a brave, creative, purpose-filled life. And if you'd like to learn more. You can follow me on Instagram or Facebook, Kelly tits life coach, or visit my website kelly tibbits.com and look forward to connecting again soon.