Episode 4 – Implementing Small Steps (The G.R.I.T. Podcast)

Episode Transcript

Welcome back everybody to another episode of Strive For More’s G.R.I.T.- Give, Recognize, Implement, Time® Podcast. Today. We’re going to talk about the step of implement. And implement is all about taking small, manageable, tangible steps that create small wins, build momentum, and lay a foundation upon which our success is built. And the keys here is that we take one small step at a time. Very often, we look at one big, massive thing we want to achieve, and we can get overwhelmed because there’s so much there, there’s too much to do. I don’t even know where to start in all of it. It’s like the old saying goes of how do you eat an elephant? Well, you eat an elephant one bite at a time. What are the small manageable steps that I can take that will build my confidence, create momentum and get me to where I want to go in a way that is achievable? And that’s where these small steps come into play.

Today, we’re so action-focused and driven where we want to things to happen now, but we don’t necessarily take the right action unless we’ve gone through say that process of give and recognize, address the underlying mentalities there that may dictate whether we’re successful or not. And do we start there in terms of when maybe I do get say flustered or frustrated and instead of lashing out, I want to take a step back to be able to be calm, check things and respond in a way that perhaps doesn’t upset my coworkers or my family members? Whatever it may be, that’s a small step in and of itself is knowing that awareness and starting there. And one of these key things that will help us do that and actually take those types of actions is knowing what’s in it for me?

What is it that I’m going to get out of this? The value, the benefit, the outcome that I want, how is that going to serve me when I know that I’m inherently motivated to actually take these steps? So I love talking about, well, what is my desire? What is my motivation? What is my calling my purpose? Because when I know these elements and I know what’s in it for me to take certain action, I am much more likely to actually take those actions, bring that to fruition and be able to take it one small step at a time to ultimately reach where it is that I want to go in small manageable chunks. Rome wasn’t built in a day is a famous saying, because it takes time, one foot in front of the other, very similar. One small action step at a time.

Great example if I am wanting to get into exercising and working out, how do I do it? Maybe I want to work out every day, but I don’t start off doing that. And if I say, I need to work out every single day, this week, I may not create that success because I put too much on my plate. Going from say, 20 years of not working out at all to working out every single day in a week is too much. So what do we do to start once? One time. And what happens to our mentality when we think about, you know what? I’m just going to shoot for once this week, maybe you achieve that. And I said, okay, I’ve met my goal, I’m in a much better head space than saying, well, I’ve only worked out one day out of seven days. So part of what helps set us up for success in our actions is the mentality, the mindset we go into it with.

We put less pressure on ourselves when we give ourselves smaller, achievable goals versus the ultimate goal and something that may be too much to handle. So what is that small, manageable, realistic step I can take? I can do 20 minutes once this week, maybe I can do 20 minutes twice next week, then three times. And this is an exercise I like to call once, twice, three times better because we are taking it one small step at a time and giving ourselves that permission to be human to take the time that it needs to be able to do one small step at a time, to get to that ultimate goal. And that’s what this whole concept of implement is about is easily getting to where we want to go because we make it manageable, we make it less overwhelming, we talk about what’s realistic for us to get to.

And if we take a moment to kind of revisit the Ironman story that I was talking about in the very first episode is it definitely did not take me two days to get into being an Ironman, it took me over five years just to get to the starting line of an Ironman race because I had to take it one small manageable step at a time. Up until that point, I had only run half marathon. And when I first said, I want to do an Ironman, I want to be a part of this, I was injured. I had a knee injury that kept me out of racing and it would take another year for me to rehab to get back into racing. It wasn’t feasible for me to do the whole thing at once, I would have really screwed my leg up if I had started to try to do an iron man right then and there. I had to take it one small manageable step at a time.

And what really helped me along the way too was support from other people. We have other people around us, people who inspire us, it’s easier to take that action, right? So what motivates us? What inspires us? What is going to actually drive me to take these actions is another huge part of this implement process. And I remember a neighbor of mine talking about the marathons that they had run. And I said to myself, do you know what? This does give me hope, right? Because there are other people who are capable of running the marathons. You know what? I am capable of that too, I’ve got to dedicate myself to it. I’ve got to train to that distance, I’ve got to start running longer distances and preparing myself to actually take that journey.

And it gives me the confidence of if I can run a marathon then you know what? I will know what that’s like and I would be able to do that in an actual Ironman. I’ve got to start swimming longer distances. I’ve got to start actually doing a triathlon because I hadn’t been able to do a triathlon when I was in the FBI, because it just never worked out timing wise. So I also put races on the schedule and I started with a sprint triathlon first, instead of going right to a full sprint triathlon. I’ve done Olympics then I did a half Ironman because very similarly I had a friend inspire me to do that.

They were signing up for one, and I said, “You know what? There’s no time like the present, I’ve got someone who I can do this with, who can encourage me. I’m going to take that leap and take it one step further from where I’ve gone from being able to run a marathon, to do a triathlon, to doing an Olympic triathlon, to doing a half Ironman, and then going along the journey to get even into even better shape so that I can do the full Ironman.”

So I literally did take it one small step at a time to build into this ultimate goal that took me over five years to bring to fruition. But knowing that ultimate goal, knowing that desire what it is that I wanted to achieve allowed me to say, well, here’s where I want to be, here’s this ultimate goal, what are the actual small steps that I need to take to bring that to fruition? And what can I start with? And that’s what this implement process is all about. So there’s real world tangible action that we can do right now, like I said, I like to call it once, twice, three times better. What is the ultimate goal we’re working towards? Whether that’s exercise? Whether that’s getting a new job? Whether that’s working on what I eat?

What is something I can do that’s very small and manageable once this week? Then what’s twice next week look like? And then what’s three times the weekend after that look like? And it doesn’t have to be a week, but it should be a very reasonable timeframe. So I’m not putting pressure on myself to do it every single day or to do it all at once. What is one small manageable chunks? So in this exercise, talk about what it is that I can do today or this week, or say in a three-day timeframe just once? Then what does it look like to do it twice? What does it look like to do it three times?

Because when we start building these foundational blocks, we’re taking it one small step at a time we’re implementing this into our lives in a way that’s going to conducively build these habits into us versus taking it all at once. So that’s what implement is all about. And I can’t wait for us to dive into time next and talk about the perception that comes with time and how we account for the time we truly need to take as human beings to change. So until the next time, I hope you all be the movement in your life.

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