“Small Moves, Ellie. Small Moves.”

How taking tiny steps wins the race.

In the 1997 blockbuster movie Contact, Ellie travels to another planet and meets an alien who looks like her father. Ellie is a scientist, and asks the alien how to evolve as a human race.

The alien says to her:

“Small moves, Ellie. Small moves.”

There is something incredibly profound in this statement, which we express in other ways:

• “Rome wasn’t built in a day.”
• “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.”
• “Slow and steady wins the race.”
• The story of the Tortoise and the Hare
• “It takes ten years to become an overnight success.”
• “The journey of a thousand miles begins with but a step.”
• “Take one step at a time.”

The Power of Tiny Steps — Plus Consistency!

It’s counterintuitive, but the smaller, more regular steps, are far more powerful than the giant leaps we yearn for.

The reason is simple: the giant leaps only happen once in a great while, and they can’t be predicted. In fact, the giant leaps usually only happen after a long slog of smaller, indiscriminate, plodding little steps that don’t seem like much at the time. Taking regular, small steps gets you ready for the giant leaps to happen.

Take a look at how small moves compound over time:

Each small adjustment adds to the previous, like compound interest. And, like compound interest, the results get larger and larger over time.

Translation: hitting the gym consistently, even if you’re not doing mega super workouts, is better than going once in a while and exhausting yourself.

It’s baby steps for the win.

“Take One Little Stippy-Step at a Time”

I own a small company producing music faders for composers and music makers. I have developed extensive software for the units, over 30,000 lines of code, and many times I’ve come up against difficult problems that scared me. I didn’t know if I was going to be able to figure out the problem.

So I tell myself, “just take one little stippy-step at a time.” It’s almost gibberish, but you get the gist.

I know it sounds stupid — but you know what? It works! It’s comforting, and I’ve said it to myself often enough and it gets me through my anxiety and helps me get back on track.

Example: Weight Loss

When people finally decide to lose weight, they usually approach it with a primal guttural “Yahhhhh!” and decide to change everything about what they are eating, and add exercising.

I’m all for this! It can work! But it usually doesn’t.

The reason it usually doesn’t is most people are not able to make gigantic changes and sustain those changes over time.

What works better is to make small little adjustments to diet and exercise over time. For example, stop having dessert every single night. Have it a few times a week instead. Also start looking for healthy treats you can use as dessert that you might even enjoy more.

Making these kinds of small changes doesn’t seem like much, but over time, the changes add up to huge differences.

I’ve lost weight this way, effortlessly. You can, too!

“What’s the Smallest Step I Can Take?”

This might sound like wimping out, but it’s not. This is a great question and can help you get over procrastination or inertia when you’re faced with a huge task.

So next time you’re up against the clock and you’re trying to get something done, ask yourself what is the smallest step you can take. It will get you moving in the right direction, and help you get ‘er done. Do this often, and you’ll find big jobs much smaller than you originally thought.