Bite-Size Chunks! The Power Of Daily Actions

There may be so much you want to change in your life to makeit less stressful. You can do it all, just not all at once!Feeling in control is an important part of saying Yes toLess Stress. Breaking down any problem into small, solvableparts makes things less overwhelming; it also gives you thesense that you are taking action.

Nothing happens in one big action, it is all the smallactions we take daily that make the difference. If you onlydo one thing different, take one small action every day, itwill make a big difference in the long run. If you onlyimplement this simple suggestion, you will see some changesin your life. It looks simple and it is.

Fulfilling an ambition of leaving a stressful job, Davedreamed of having a thriving consultancy business. He wantedeverything to happen at once: two days a week on the golfcourse and time with his family, as well as continuing withcharity work helping the homeless.

When he finally decided to quit his well-paid job, hethought that clients would be queuing up to work with him.He overlooked the fact that he needed to be proactive infinding new clients. He started to wonder how he hadbelieved this new life would be better. Every day he feltanxious and worried. In some ways he felt more stress thanhe had felt from the job he'd escaped - he had escaped theoffice politics but the stress of feeling a failure was muchgreater.

Dave became fearful that maybe the dream he was trying toachieve wasn't ever going to materialise. This stinkingthinking was overwhelming him. On the golf course, however,he had a flash of inspiration. He realised that he had beenthinking rather than taking action towards fulfilling hisdream.

Dave had allowed negative thoughts to get in the way of hisprogress. Before he could start developing his business, heneeded to identify his prospective customers. So eachmorning he took a simple daily action towards building hisclient base. He committed to identifying 10 new prospectsdaily. This rarely took him longer than 15 minutes each day.He had initially put this task off as the thought ofcompiling a list of 300 prospects overwhelmed him. He wascreative in asking for help from his former businesscolleagues as well as his golfing friends, and he was amazedat how quickly his list grew as a result. Within the firstweek, he added a new daily action. He contacted 10 people aday from his list. Of course, not all of these turned intocustomers, but in time he was well on his way to success.

Within three months, Dave had not only developed histhriving business but also improved his golf handicap! How?He included golf practice at his local driving range on hislist of daily actions! His daily practice not only kept himfit, but allowed him thinking time; a time when ideas freelyflowed into his mind.

Are you are sitting there thinking "I'm too short of time"?The good news is that you don't need a lot of time and youdon't have to do a radical overhaul of your life. Don't leta big goal overwhelm you. Every goal, no matter how large,can be broken down into small, manageable, bite-size chunks.

Whatever you want to do with your life, you stand more of achance if you just get started. No matter how small a stepyou take each day, over a year that will add up to 365 dailyactions. I am always amazed when clients agree how obviousthis step is, yet it is the one they have often overlooked.Start wherever you are and take one step at a time - that isall you can do!

It doesn't matter what has happened to date. The onlything that counts is where you are now and what you need todo to move forward.

If you are starting to feel a bit clearer about what youwant in your life, the only thing that will move you forwardnow is action. Once you've worked out what it is you mostwant to do, now is the time to do it. Daily actions help tobreak old habits.

Consider actions that require 15 minutes or less toimplement.

The daily action you take may not always be the right onewith the benefit of hindsight - don't worry, some doors mayclose but others will open.

Everyone has bad days - don't let them turn into a badweek, month or year. Tomorrow, or even later on today, youcan start afresh, with a fresh daily action.

If you feel about to crack under pressure, break up yourlarger plans into smaller actions that are easier to manage.When your day feels heavy, take one step at a time. Justdecide your priority for the next hour.

Change happens when we change our actions. If weconstantly do the same things, we will constantly get thesame results.

What simple daily action are you willing to take today toreduce the stress in your life?

Carolyn Matheson is a nationally recognized Coach,Speaker and Author of "Yes to Less Stress."

Carolyn is a Master Certified Coach, and works with executives and their teams across theworld. She has pioneered an innovative approach to coaching,combining many years of high performance coaching with aholistic approach to work/life balance and has coachedhundreds of leaders and their teams. Her experience as apresenter, both nationally and internationally, spans 20years, with clients currently in Europe, Australia, theMiddle and Far East, and the USA.

Her book, Yes to Less Stress is available online from http://www.areustressed.com