Here’s what I see all the time:
Someone sets a big, exciting goal. They’re all in.
They picture themselves charging toward it like a motivational montage.
And then… crickets.
Not because they’re lazy. Not because they don’t want it.
But because they set the bar so high, they can’t actually get themselves to do the thing.
Take “Laura,” one of my clients. She’s a VP at a tech company, mom of two, and she wanted to start delegating more so she could free up time for strategy—and frankly, for her family. Her goal? “Clear two hours every afternoon for big-picture work.”
Sounds amazing. Except every day, urgent fires popped up, her calendar stayed jammed, and by 4 p.m. she was buried in emails instead of leading at a higher level.
So we shrunk it. For the first two weeks, her only commitment was to delegate one task a day to her team—no matter how small. That’s it.
By week three, her team had taken on more than she expected. A month in, she was protecting a full hour for strategy three days a week. Six months later, her afternoons were consistently open, she’d grown her team’s capacity, and she was actually able to pick up her kids from school twice a week.
Here’s the truth:
It doesn’t matter how big your action is if you’re not consistent—because then you’re just not doing it.
The trick? Shrink it down.
Make it so doable you can’t not do it.
Fifteen minutes. One email. One conversation. Whatever.
Commit to that.
Over time, here’s what happens:
You build momentum. You build strength. You build trust in yourself.
And then—without even realizing it—you naturally start doing more.
This is the fastest way to hit your big goal.
But it’s also the #1 reason people fail—they can’t stick with the unsexy, “too small” steps long enough to let them work.
So, no—taking on a bigger goal isn’t the answer.
The answer is committing to something small and showing up for it every day until it feels solid.
Small is the new fast.