The Catholic Pursuit of Excellence

How to Overcome the Hurdle of Getting Started and Take Action on Anything

• Jessica Castillo • Episode 13

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#013 - Today, we explore the power of micro-actions with insights from Stephen Guise's "Elastic Habits."

By breaking down your tasks into the smallest, most manageable steps, we reveal how even the most daunting projects become achievable.

I share personal stories, and how tiny actions can catalyze significant progress and help you overcome procrastination that often holds us back.

Don't miss out on the current summer sale of The Catholic Path to Excellence program until July 31st. Just click on the link below. Discover how to enhance your life and achieve your goals through the power of micro-actions!


Are you ready to build high-impact habits of body, mind, and soul that actually stick? Check out the Catholic Path to Excellence today to find out how you can be more consistent in your habits and excel in every aspect of your life.

Feeling "stuck" in your life? Coaching could be the solution you need to break through whatever is holding you back. Book a FREE Call with me today to find out how I can help you.

Speaker 1:

You're listening to the Catholic Pursuit of Excellence, the show that helps you accomplish more, stress less and become the saint God created you to be.

Speaker 1:

I'm your host, life and health coach, jessica Castillo, and this is episode 13. You're probably familiar with the expression that to begin is half the battle, and I think we've all probably experienced this in our own lives. Sometimes the hardest part of doing anything or any project is just getting over that initial hump of inertia. How do you get yourself to take action on something and actually get started doing what you wanted to do? And this can apply to anything. This can be a project, this can be a simple task. This can even be a habit that you're trying to build consistently. Whatever it is, if it's just a little overwhelming for you to get started, then I think you're really going to benefit from this episode, because in today's episode, I'm going to be talking about the very simple solution to overcoming this initial resistance and this inertia. And when I tell you what it is, you're going to think well, that is too simple and too easy, but it really is very effective. And what it is is to break down into the tiniest little micro action or mini habit you can of whatever it is that you're trying to accomplish, and this is an idea that I actually first read about in a book by Stephen Guise called Elastic Habits. This is a concept I've been working with my group coaching clients on in the Catholic Path to Excellence, where we're forming and building elastic habits. So we're looking at things and taking basically what is the tiniest, miniest version of something, what is a level that feels respectable and good? And then what is that elite level or something that would be our ideal version of a certain habit. So there's a lot of different ways to think about this, but the idea is basically that elastic habits bend but don't break. They flex with your energy levels and with your current life circumstances.

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But as I've been teaching this concept and exploring this concept more in my group coaching program, what I've noticed is that I've been taking and applying this concept of the mini habit, or the micro level of action, and really using it all day long to apply to just about everything that I need to accomplish in a day, especially if it's anything that I'm feeling the least amount of resistance in doing, and really, simply, the idea is that you just think about what is the tiniest little action that you could take and it would still be taking action on that project. So I'll give you an example. Could be, for instance, today I needed to record some podcast episodes. Well, if I just look at my project record podcast, it's a little bit overwhelming and big and I'm likely to feel a little resistance to actually getting started doing it. But if I take that and break it down into what is that first tiniest little action that would get me started on this project, it's really simply to open up my master file, save it as the new file for the new episode I'm creating and get everything set up in GarageBand to start recording. All of that only takes about 30 seconds, but it's enough to break the initial hump of inertia if I just start doing it.

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And I feel like this is even more powerful advice than, for instance, the advice to just do the next right thing, because sometimes we can get caught up in. Well, what is that right thing? What should I be doing next? Now I'm drowning and I don't know what my priorities are and everything's confusing. Well, instead of thinking that you have to get it right, what if you just have to get it tiny? What is the smallest thing that you can do and just start. That's going to make it easy for you to break through that initial hump of inertia, and there's a few things that can happen when you take this approach. The first thing is you might and this is probably the most likely you might start and take that tiny action and then find out well, I'm already opened up into GarageBand. I might as well record a podcast, or I've already done this first little step. I might as well keep going and I can do a little bit more. I already started that email draft. I might as well just finish sending it. Whatever it is that you were thinking that would be the micro habit. It's easy to just start doing this, and I've been actually applying this in just about every aspect of everything that I've had to do over the last few weeks, because it really is so effective, of everything that I've had to do over the last few weeks because it really is so effective.

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For instance, my oven was disgusting and stinky every time we started using it because something had dripped and it was gross, and it's one of those things that I was avoiding doing, because who likes cleaning their oven? And I, literally the other day, was in my kitchen and I just thought well, if I just take out the racks and take out the little bottom drip tray from my oven and I just set them on my counter, that's all I have to do. I'm just going to do that. Well, I found once I did that tiny little action. Actually it was fine. To just go ahead and spray some cleaner in my oven and to start cleaning those racks was really, really easy and a project that I had been putting off. It really didn't take me very long to actually do once I got started.

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And so that happens with, I think, a lot of our projects. They're taking up a lot of space in our mind. We think about them all the time like, oh, I need to do this, I need to do this, or the laundry is overwhelming and I have to do all of this laundry. Well, what if you just grabbed your hamper and walked it down the stairs? That only takes a few seconds and you're just starting. You're just building that momentum to do that project.

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So what can happen is what I just explained has happened for me is that I might actually just go ahead and continue on the project after I've taken that first little micro action. That's one thing that could happen. Another thing that could happen is that you just stop there and you let yourself be okay with just stopping there. Okay, and this is important because it builds trust with yourself. So if you are always trying to outsmart yourself to do something by saying, oh well, all you have to do is just this tiny thing, you're going to stop believing yourself. You're going to think, no, you don't expect me to just do that tiny thing, you expect me to climb that whole mountain instead of just taking the first step, and so I do not believe you anymore. Brain, I am now going to ignore your suggestion that I even do a micro habit. So at times, that little micro action, that tiny action, is going to have to be enough. So if I had opened up GarageBand and saved a new file to start this podcast episode and then I was like, well, I took the micro action, I could have just stopped there and let that be enough and tell my brain you know what? It's okay, we can do micro actions and then we'll get to the other things. That's one option.

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The other option is that once the other possible outcome, I guess, is that once you actually take the micro action, you might find that you started building so much momentum that you not only want to complete the task that you started with a micro habit, but you might actually feel more energized and have enough momentum that you want to tackle even bigger things. And then you ride that wave of momentum and you keep on keeping on. So it's such a simple concept. It really is. It can be helpful to think about in advance what those little micro habits are, and this is really helpful because it helps us to avoid the trap of all or nothing, which we're all pretty prone to. But if we can't do something perfectly or to the level that we think it needs to be done, we're all really prone to just do nothing at all instead. And so what this strategy does is it just kind of diffuses that all or nothing, perfection thinking, and if you find that you're still resisting doing whatever the thing is, you probably haven't found a tiny enough action to take. So keep thinking what is even smaller than that that I could do, okay? So I hope you give this strategy a try this week. Just see how it goes. Break down your things that you need to do into tiny, tiny actions, and even your habits can be broken into very tiny micro habits. That will just help you be more consistent in getting them done.

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Like I said, this is something that I've been working with my group coaching clients in the Catholic Path to Excellence or the path. We've been really focused on building these elastic habits and tracking them and holding ourselves accountable to keeping up with them. If this is something that you're interested in, if you want to get the trackers that I have created for these things, then I invite you to join us in the path. This program is pretty much everything you need to build and sustain consistent, high-impact habits of body, mind and soul. We do a weekly training and coaching call every Monday. We wrap up with the weekly review every Friday.

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In between, you have continuous micro-coaching via private Slack channel.

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In between, you have continuous micro-coaching via private Slack channel. I also make sure that you get every week healthy meal plans, recipes and shopping lists delivered straight to your inbox, and I create monthly workouts and workout plans that will help keep you moving and motivated. So if you are interested in joining us in the Catholic Path to Excellence, now is the perfect time to do it, because I am offering a really great summer sale until July 31st, where you will save $100 off each month. That's over 50% off each month and you get access to everything inside the program. So if you're interested in learning more about the path and taking advantage of this sale, go to a thriving catholiccom forward slash path, or you can just click on the link in the show notes for this episode. Okay, that's it for me this week. I hope that these micro actions will help you take action this week on what's most important to you. Until next time, remember that it is Jesus who inspires you to do something great with your life, so don't let yourself be ground down by mediocrity. Bye for now.