The Amazing Power of Small Steps

Written by Kathy Gates


It'srepparttar small things in life that can drive you loco on any given day, isn't it? (yes, I see heads nodding!). Likerepparttar 101882 batteries dying in your garage door opener inrepparttar 101883 middle ofrepparttar 101884 mother of all rainstorms. Orrepparttar 101885 birdfeeder that makes a mess onrepparttar 101886 back patio. Orrepparttar 101887 leaky bathroom faucet.

But it's alsorepparttar 101888 small things in life that seem to make it all worthwhile. A hug from a child, making a new friend, a beautiful sunset, getting something on sale, hearing from a far away loved one.

It's a normal tendency to think that life is made or broken byrepparttar 101889 BIG things in life. It's easy to sit around and complain about how life sucks, and wait forrepparttar 101890 knight (or princess) to show up, orrepparttar 101891 magic pill, orrepparttar 101892 lottery win that will make life better.

Butrepparttar 101893 truth is (drum roll, please) -- life is made up of very small steps.

Think of allrepparttar 101894 small steps in your own daily life. Like how many individual steps it takes just to get dressed inrepparttar 101895 morning (turn off alarm, get up, turn on lights, turn on shower, etc). Orrepparttar 101896 many small steps to prepare dinner. You getrepparttar 101897 idea -- seconds turn into minutes, into hours, into days, into a lifetime.

Still not convincedrepparttar 101898 small things contribute to BIG RESULTS? Ok, what if you decided to read just 30 minutes each day? Atrepparttar 101899 end of 365 days you have read 182.75 hours. That's 7-1/2 full days nonstop 24 hours a day!

The same is true of anything. Save just $1 a day and you'll have $365 atrepparttar 101900 end ofrepparttar 101901 year.Christmas money! Clean out one drawer each day, and atrepparttar 101902 end ofrepparttar 101903 week you'll have Spring-cleanedrepparttar 101904 kitchen. Throw out or box up just ONE THING you no longer use each day; atrepparttar 101905 end ofrepparttar 101906 month, you'll have a nice donation. Eat just 200 calories less each day, and atrepparttar 101907 end ofrepparttar 101908 year, you will have eaten 73,000 less calories, an equivalent of 146 pounds! Write one page of your life story, and atrepparttar 101909 end ofrepparttar 101910 year you'll have a novel!

YOUR 168 HOURS

Written by Rhoberta Shaler


In every week you have 168 hours to use as you wish. Do you really know how you spend them? A general idea of what you do with your time is not nearly as instructional as a clear understanding. Here is an exercise to help you clarify.

Take a letter-size piece of paper and draw a large circle on it. Torepparttar right ofrepparttar 101881 circle, write these words in a vertical list: family, career, grooming, sleep, exercise, driving, community, household, recreation, time alone...add any that are important to you. Now, beside each item, putrepparttar 101882 number of hours in an average week that you spend on it. When you are done, change those numbers into a percentage of your 168 hours/week. Now, to really make an impact, make a pie graph inrepparttar 101883 circle ofrepparttar 101884 ways you spend your time.

If, by any chance, you simply readrepparttar 101885 above paragraph without doingrepparttar 101886 exercise, and are now reading this, STOP! Nothing changes until you do. If you do not know how you spend your time, you will not receiverepparttar 101887 full benefit ofrepparttar 101888 ideas in this article. It is not enough to be saying to yourself, "I know that I need more time for ______." If that is so this exercise will help you find it. Please, won't you go back and makerepparttar 101889 chart now? (This may be one ofrepparttar 101890 ways you short-change yourself in your daily life. You may not give yourself time to dorepparttar 101891 good and beneficial things that you know would improve your life. Is that a pattern for you?)

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