The little things add up

Every action you take creates a reaction. It does not matter if the action is big or small. It still has an effect.

With a big action you will most likely see the results of it quickly. Not so with the small actions. Small actions take time for the results to become apparent.

Image courtesy of Doratagold

Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.
— Robert Louis Stevenson

Take shopping for groceries. First, you grab a cart and begin your journey down the aisle. You grab the salsa and into the cart it goes. Next you pick up some ground beef. Then you are onto the dairy section where you grab a gallon of milk.

This continues on for an hour or so as your cart slowly fills with your groceries. Between the grocery items you need, you add a item worth a dollar or two here and there. It is no big deal, you think.

As you arrive at the checkout lane, you notice the shopping cart seems to be filled with more grocery items than you anticipated. By the time you have finished checking out, you have one expensive grocery bill. All of those little items added up!

The same principle applies to our lives. Whether it be with your goals, your fitness level, or your mental health.

When you take small actions, you barely notice the result. You let a curse word slip, you eat an extra cookie, or you skip a day of exercise.

No big deal, right?

WRONG!

Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom.
— Song of Solomon 2:15

Just like the trip to the grocery store and your huge grocery bill, these small actions add up.

When you cursed, you did not feel anything different. So the next time you let it slip. This happens until you are saying the words frequently.

You never noticed it happening.

The extra cookie becomes three or four because you did not see your weight change. Or with skipping a day of exercise. It just becomes easier to miss the next day.

That is until you step on the scale three months down the road and there are an extra five pounds.

These results were not sudden. They were gradual, over time. Each small action you took contributed.

Take time today to evaluate what little things you are allowing into your life. Are they helping you to achieve the vision you have for your life?

If not, stop doing the small actions.

Replace them with new, small actions. Actions that contribute to you achieving your goal instead of hindering.

Just like the negative, small actions your new, healthier small actions you, most likely, will not notice anything.

Unlike the negative, small actions your new, healthier actions will slowly build into great results.

Take it step by step – but keep moving forward – and a year from now, we’ll find we’ve moved from here to there.
— Rhonda Abrams

Question: What sudden results have you seen from the small actions you do daily? Please share your answers in the comment section below.

 

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