Lesson 1 Becoming a Better Me
Dream Big, Start Small
What are your big dreams in life?
Perhaps your goal is to have a perfect body, complete a marathon, or become a best-selling author.
However, despite having a strong will to achieve these goals,
you may find yourself giving up after just a few days.
Why Do I Keep Failing to Achieve My Goals?
Most of the time, we focus on our big goals.
Big goals are easy to visualize.
We can imagine ourselves feeling satisfied in front of the mirror, smiling at the finish line, or signing our books for our fans.
These big goals give us direction and purpose in our daily lives.
However, you should be careful that you don't bite off more than you can chew.
Rather than helping us, big goals can tempt us to make unrealistic changes to our lives.
For example, imagine that one day you decide to slim down like a supermodel.
For one week, you push yourself far too hard at the gym.
You injure your leg and need to take two weeks off to recover.
In the end, you gain weight instead of losing it.
Tiny Seeds Grow into Huge Trees
Think of the little habits that make up your day:
stretching in the morning, feeding your pet, or brushing your teeth after meals.
These are small actions that you do every day, and over time, they form consistent patterns.
The problem is that these routines don't start feeling "automatic" until you have done them numerous times.
Before they become automatic, you have to put in a lot of effort to start them.
Moreover, the bigger a task seems, the more effort it requires, and the less likely you are to complete it.
For example, you may say, "I'm going to run ten kilometers every day."
However, that is a big and sudden change.
So it is likely that your passion will fade, and you will quit in a few days.
The better approach is to start gently with small changes and build up gradually.
That is, you say, "I'm going to get off the bus one stop early and run home every day."
You will get used to running every day, and soon you might want to run more.
One day, you will find yourself running ten kilometers.
Change Your Lifestyle, Not Your Life
To attain your goal, you should focus on changing your lifestyle, not changing your life.
For instance, writing a best-selling novel would be life-changing;
practicing creative writing for ten minutes every day would be a new type of lifestyle.
Can you see the difference?
The former is great for inspiring and guiding you, but you might feel it is out of reach.
On the other hand, the latter starts small.
Nonetheless, if you repeat it daily, it will eventually help you achieve your goal.
Changing your life is a big deal.
However, changing your daily habits is something small you can do.
The tinier your habit, the easier it is to stick to.
To be stronger and healthier, eat one extra serving of vegetables at every meal.
To become more knowledgeable, read one page of a book before bed.
One day, you will find yourself becoming the person you always wanted to be.
Remember, it is not big goals but daily habits that make your big dreams come true.
We need big dreams to keep our lives meaningful.
However, if we become obsessed only with big dreams,
we may wake up one day thinking,
"This is overwhelming! I should have started with the little things."
What is your big dream?
From there, make a goal for this year.
Then make a goal for this week.
Start with one manageable action a day.
Ask yourself, "What is one thing I can do today to take a step toward achieving my big dream?“
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