Mighty Challenges and Baby Steps

‘Challenges’ can be defined as situations that put our abilities to real test or they may simply be seen as obstacles on the path of our goals in life. They can often be quite difficult yet as human beings we are hard-wired both biologically and culturally to have them at every stage of our life. After a limb fracture, bringing it back to functionality is a humungous task where one moves through tremendous pain deliberately everyday to one day get past it. Ask any young person waiting to graduate from school or get through a competitive exam and you’ll hear stories of extreme hard work and crushing stress till it is finally over. The grief of losing a loved one is like finding oneself trapped in a long dark tunnel and the only way out is to walk through it for months, even years. These difficulties may be essential for our growth and shaping of our personality, but sometimes they feel quite overwhelming.

The question however is -Are we allowing these mighty challenges in life to paralyze us? To push us into inaction and throw us down the vicious spiral of stress, anxiety and depression? If yes, that is likely to happen in situations where instead of seeing the challenge as just a hurdle in the way forward, we see a dead-end, a wall. This happens when on encountering a challenge we make a quick mental assessment of it and our current capacity and find that there’s a mismatch. It makes us feel overwhelmed, even attacked. And instead of the usual Fight or Flight response where the decision is either to take the threat head-on or to run away to safety, something completely different happens. Our estimate of the situation has already told us that we don’t have the resources to fight it nor is there any escape available to flee from it. So we freeze, arrested in our tracks, like a cornered animal playing dead. There may be no movement on the outside but inside we suffer terrible stress, frustration and anxiety. We have all been there some time or the other and till we live, situations that seem like insurmountable walls will continue to show up in life.

So is there a way out? The good news is, there most certainly is. And the solution lies in our own babyhood. We may not have a memory of it but the mightiest feat we ever achieved was standing on our own two feet and taking the first step on this planet. Athletes, gymnasts, dancers, pilots and astronauts – all begin their journey with that same shaky baby step. And then with one foot in front of the other repeating over time we have all come so far in life. It is true that before taking that first step every baby is genuinely incapable of independently walking across a room. However over time, with learning, growth and development it becomes so easy. We often forget that the same learning, growth and development continue till the end of human life. All we need to do is take the smallest little step forward towards our seemingly giant goal and keep repeating it while trusting the process. Gradually the steps get bigger and faster and before we know it we are running and taking big leaps in the direction of our goal, overcoming all challenges.

There is a Japanese technique called ‘Kaizen’ or the One-minute principle. It is a principle of continuous incremental improvement. It began being used widely in Japanese businesses after World War II as the country was healing from the nuclear attacks focusing fully on its economic growth and development. Today it is used all over the world in business management, banking, healthcare and psychotherapy. Kaizen can also be used very successfully as a life coaching strategy for self-improvement. At the heart of this principle lies the practice of doing something we find hard to even start for just one minute a day every day at the same time. It does not ask for any more commitment than that. So if someone is unable to study for a tough exam that one has to give, realizing that the real reason is the anxiety and overwhelm, Kaizen can be used to get them started. They just need to study for 1 minute everyday at the same time religiously. This replaces the feelings of anxiety and guilt around studies with ease, positive action and satisfaction. Gradually one minute is made two, then five, then ten as one feels more and more confident and comfortable taking action. And within a few weeks’ time, one is studying regularly at an optimum level. The magic of Kaizen lies in making the action towards the big terrifying goal, a tiny little baby step that anyone can take and commit to.

So clearly the key is to start real small. This helps overcome the inertia of rest and get the wheels rolling. And then as explained by Dr Jordan Peterson, the famous Canadian Behavioural Psychologist, it continues to get easier and easier in accordance with the ‘Mathew Principle’. This principle that is often applied to economics can also be used to explain human behavior. It derives its name from the famous Bible verse (  Matthew  25:29 ) that says,   

“For to every one who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away”

In other words, we naturally tend to do more and more of what we are already doing and this happens without effort. Hence as one improves, the probability of further improvements increases exponentially with every improvement.

So there is no challenge too mighty, no mountain too high if we just focus on taking that first baby step in the right direction.