Mark Twain once said, “The secret to getting ahead is getting started.” Sometimes, taking those first few tiny little steps can be the hardest part of getting a new project off the ground. If you’re embarking on a new artistic venture, how do you decide where to begin? If you’re preparing to tackle something unfamiliar on the administrative side of your creative business, how do you figure out what’s the most important thing to do first? Often, we find ourselves waiting to even begin a new thing until we know we can jump in with 1,000% commitment and total confidence, but that feeling of complete commitment and absolute confidence might never come, leaving you stuck and paralyzed instead. What do you do then? Today, we’re going to look at how you can use small steps to move you past any feelings of stuckness or paralysis. Today, we’re going to learn how to add together lots of small steps so you can create the change you’re looking for.

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Hello, thriving artists, and welcome to Episode 40 of the Starving Artist No More podcast! I am creative entrepreneur and creative entrepreneurship coach Jennifer Jill Araya, and I am so glad to have you here with me today. So often, artists feel like they have to “go big or go home,” but sometimes, with our creative businesses, “going big” feels like too much, perhaps even impossible. Personally, I find it much more helpful and motivating to think about starting small, focusing on taking consistent small steps, one after another, and allowing those small steps to add up over time. I’m really excited to dig into the power of small steps with you in today’s podcast episode.

But before we get there, I want to mention quickly a free resource available for you on my website, www.StarvingArtistNoMore.com. One of the places where I see creatives get most stuck, and be most unable to move forward, is around their business financial management, and I have a free guide that I think can help. The guide is titled, “Say Goodbye to Feast or Famine: Three Financial Must-Haves for Creative Entrepreneurs.” It walks you through three areas of your business that, when you take steps to address them (even small steps!), can make a real difference in the financial health of your business. You don’t have to be overwhelmed and anxious about your business finances. You can understand these concepts and figure out where to start when it comes to managing your business money. To get your own copy of the guide, just navigate to my website, www.StarvingArtistNoMore.com and fill out to contact form.  It will be sent right to your email inbox. I really hope it makes a difference for you.

Now, let’s turn our attention to the main focus of today’s episode: the power of small steps. In my work as a creative entrepreneurship coach, I help creative entrepreneurs to shape the strategy that they will use to make their dreams a reality. And in that process, as we’re figuring out the exact details of that strategy, almost always I witness the artist’s very natural instinct to focus on big, impactful actions. “Go big or go home,” right? If something is worth doing, isn’t it worth doing in a major and significant way?

It’s so easy to focus only on the giant leaps and to ignore the small, everyday, single-task elements that make up an effective business strategy. But sometimes, those small steps can add up into something more powerful than a single big action. There’s a lot to be said for consistently taking one small step after another!

The contrast between a philosophy of “go big or go home” and a philosophy of “one small step at a time” could even be likened to the difference between the tortoise and the hare. The hare was focused on taking quick dashes that individually took him really far, but he rested and didn’t keep moving forward outside of those dashes. So even though the tortoise was a lot slower, his slow and steady small steps actually got him to the goal of the finish line before the hare got there.

In short, small steps can be just as powerful as big giant leaps forward, and so we shouldn’t write off the impact of small steps.

In addition, social science research tells us that small wins, like those we get from taking small steps consistently and intentionally, are extremely motivating! Every time you take a small step and consciously recognize the little bit of progress you made, you get a burst of dopamine, that neurotransmitter chemical that is part of how we feel pleasure and that plays a huge role in our brains’ processes for learning, motivation, and focus. If you take the time to notice them, those small wins can feel amazing!

In fact, research has shown that small wins are often more motivating than big, enormous accomplishments. In 2017, Harvard professor Teresa Amabile recruited 238 office workers from seven different companies to answer daily questionnaires and keep daily diaries about their work over many weeks and months, for time periods ranging from 9 to 38 weeks. After she and her research partners collected all the responses – which totaled nearly 12,000 diary entries and questionnaires! – they combed through all that data to figure out what was the biggest motivating factor for these employees. What drove them to do and be their best at their job?

And the answer is that small, daily progress mattered much more to these employees than any big win or recognition or promotion or achievement. Amabile writes, “Some of the progress the people made seemed almost trivial to us on the outside, really incremental, even mundane, but it ended up having a big impact on pride, confidence, emotions, and intrinsic motivation. … These small wins matter more because they are so much more likely to occur compared to the big breakthroughs in the world. If we only waited for the big wins, we would be waiting a long time. And we would probably quit long before we see anything tangible come to fruition. What you need instead of the big wins is simply the forward momentum that small wins bring.”

Writing about Amabile’s findings, research scientist Jude King says, “Every achievement - big or small - activates our brain’s reward circuitry. The pathway opens up and we get the deeply satisfying release of testosterone and dopamine which leaves us feeling energized, confident and motivated. Small wins can be as important or even more important than the big ones.”

Here are some links to more information about Amabile's research:

• Progress Principle Research
• Diary Study on the Harvard Dataverse
• The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work by Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer
• "The Big Power of Small Wins" by Jude King

The main thing I want you to take away from this information I’ve just shared about the scientific understanding of small steps is that small wins matter. Little steps forward can provide the motivation you need to keep moving forward. Those small wins can mean the difference between getting stuck, not moving, like the hare pausing in between his quick bursts, and making real and measurable progress, like the tortoise crossing the finish line first.

So what do you need to do to take advantage of the power of small wins and to get a burst of motivation from them? You need to notice them! Because small steps are, by definition, small, it’s sometimes easy to overlook them and to not feel like they matter. Noticing the small wins begins with a mindset shift. It’s an intentional act of mindfulness and being present as each little task is completed, as each little action is taken and moves you forward infinitesimally in your path toward your goals. You can’t benefit from small steps that you don’t notice, so prime yourself to notice them!

There are a few ways you can do that. One big way that I focus on small wins is in my gratitude practice, which I talked about in detail all the way back in Episode 004 of this podcast. I keep a daily gratitude journal. I like to joke that it’s really my most-days gratitude journal, because I don’t actually write in it every day. But I typically write in it about 8 out of every 10 days, and I make note of at least three things that I’m thankful for at that moment. Often at least one or two of those things on any given day relates to my work, since that’s what I spend a lot of my time doing. Cultivating this gratitude habit, even though it’s a “most days” habit instead of an “everyday” habit, is enough for me to really be able to track my small wins as they happen.

In fact, I get a double boost from my gratitude practice. The act of writing about a good thing related to my work is itself an act of noticing. I can’t write about something I haven’t intentionally noticed and recognized in my conscious mind! And when I’m having a bad day or just needing an emotional boost for some reason, I will go back and read through previous entries in my journal, which acts as a boost to my motivation and morale all over again.

Once you notice those wins, celebrate them in some way! Celebrate every single small win in your creative work. Allow yourself to see and recognize every step forward, no matter how small.

In my Thriving Artists Community, the online forum for the artists who are coaching with me, I am constantly asking the creatives to tell me how they’re going to celebrate their achievements. I imagine that sometimes the community members are a bit puzzled by my insistence that they celebrate every single step of their creative entrepreneurship journey, no matter how small, but I focus on celebration so much because it matters so much! As we already discussed, the social science research tells us that these little wins are incredibly motivating and powerful, and celebrating the wins is one big way to make sure you are noticing those wins in the very core of your being so that you get the maximum amount of motivation and joy from every single step.

Here are some of the things I like to do to celebrate my small wins. When I finish a task that has been hanging over me for a while, I’ll take a 30 minute walk in the nature preserve near my house, or I’ll allow myself 15 minutes during the work day to cuddle my parrots and read a book. If it’s just a mundane small task that I’m excited to have completed, I’ll fix myself a cup of my favorite tea and enjoy it as I’m tackling the next task on my list. (In fact, right now as I’m working on this podcast episode, I’m enjoying a cider chai drink that I prepared for myself as a celebration for completing my previous task, which was to send several invoices for completed audiobooks.) Some of my coaching students like to give themselves 10 minute dance breaks after a small win, when they dance to their favorite music for a few minutes as a joyful celebration before they tackle the next thing. One of my favorite ideas for a celebration is to take a penny walk, where you walk around a specific neighborhood with a penny in hand. Every time you come to an intersection, you flip the penny. Heads, you go right; tails, you go left. And you use that penny walk to explore the neighborhood in a new way.

The possibilities for how you could celebrate your small wins are limitless! It doesn’t have to be big, and it doesn’t have to cost any money. They are small steps, so we’re looking for any actions or activities that are small but meaningful to you. This can be as small as allowing yourself a moment of internal joy and excitement. But it can be bigger: when you cross 5 small tasks off your to-do list or complete 5 small steps in your current artistic project, go on a 20 minute walk in your neighborhood, or go to the park and read for half an hour. Take a penny walk. Have dance party in your office. Listen to one track by your favorite artist. Sketch a celebration page in your journal.

Think about the small actions that bring you joy, and see how you can reframe those activities and use them as a way to celebrate the small wins you experience in your artistic life. Virtually anything can work, as long it’s done with intentionality. Sink into that dopamine delight!

The benefit of all of this celebration is twofold. First, you are intentionally focusing on the small win and using this celebration action to commemorate the small win, maximizing the motivation and enjoyment you get from the  small win. You’re taking that small step and shining a spotlight on it, celebrating that it’s been achieved and that is a wonderful thing! And secondly, you’re enjoying an activity that brings you pleasure and brightens your day, helping you be that much more motivated and energized when you return to your creative tasks.

The next time you realize you’ve taken a small step in your creative entrepreneurship journey, I want you to celebrate it in some way! And if you feel so inclined, send me a message and tell me how you’re celebrating it. I’d love to celebrate with you. You can always reach out to me via my website, www.StarvingArtistNoMore.com.

So we’ve talked about why small steps matter and how you can commemorate them with celebrations so you get maximum motivation out of them, but how do you know what small steps you can take? How do you pick the small steps you’re going to tackle?

Anytime an artist comes to me with a big project that they want to attempt but that they don’t know where to start, anytime a creative comes to me feeling overwhelmed, my advice is always to break it down. Take the big task – the overwhelming workload, the ballooning task list, the giant new project that’s almost too big to contemplate, whatever big thing it is – and break it down into its tiny component steps.

Do whatever you need to do to get the task to tiny little steps that are no longer overwhelming individually. As the saying goes, the way you eat an elephant is one bite at a time. Similarly, a Chinese proverb states that “the man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.” Or, as in Mark Twain quote that I already mentioned at the top of this episode, “the secret to getting ahead is getting started.

Regardless of what big thing you’re facing that is currently overwhelming you, whether it’s a single enormous project or whether it’s just a generally overflowing workload, break it down into its component tasks and handle it one tiny little step at a time. Take small, measurable steps, and celebrate those steps as they’re completed.

My term for this process is “Video Gaming It.” I am not a video gamer, but my husband and brother both play video games, so I know a bit about how they work. In a stereotypical video game, you’re going to be given one quest – one task – at a time. The game is going to keep you focused on that one task until you complete it, at which point there will be a celebration of some sort. You’ll get a bunch of points, or you’ll get some new gear or some new powers for your avatar, or maybe you’ll even advance a level in the game. But in some way, your completion of that quest will be celebrated. And then they’ll give you another quest. And the process repeats.

When you’re feeling overwhelmed with your work, Video Game It. First, lay out all of the small steps that are part of whatever it is that is overwhelming you. And sometimes, that list can be so long that just the act of listing it all out can feel overwhelming. But trust the process. Get it onto a piece of paper or in an app on your phone or a doc on your computer. Somehow, using whatever digital or analog tool you like best, get the steps out of your brain. Don’t make your brain keep track of it all. The video game doesn’t tell the players the entire list of quests they will have to eventually complete. No, it gives them just one quest at a time! So get all of the tasks, all of the small steps, out of your head and into some sort of tracking method so that you don’t have to keep track of them internally anymore.

And then, pick one small step from your list. If you’re Video Gaming a single big project that requires you to complete the small steps in order, then do that. Start with the first small step, and focus on completing that first small step until it’s done, at which point you take a brief break to celebrate, before diving into the next small step.

If you’re not working on a single big project but instead are looking at a bunch of disparate tasks that all need to be completed, just pick somewhere and start. Again, as Mark Twain said, “the secret to getting ahead is getting started.” Sometimes it doesn’t matter so much where you start as that you do start. So pick a small step to work on first and focus there until it’s done, before you celebrate that you finished it and then move on to the next one you’re going to tackle.

When I’m feeling overwhelmed by my workload, which can get really big and feel very unwieldy and overwhelming at times, Video Gaming It is always my solution. I have a notes app on my phone that allows me to make a list of items that can be easily reordered (it’s the ColorNote app for anyone who uses Android and wants to give it a try). I’ll make a list of everything I need to get done, making each task really small and granular. If I’m feeling overwhelmed, the smaller the step I need to take, the better! Once everything is out of my brain and into the app, I’ll then quickly reorder the list so that the first few tasks I’m going to focus on are at the top. I don’t worry about ordering the whole list – I just get the first 4-5 tasks in order. And then I get tunnel vision on that task. I focus on it as completely as a video gamer focuses on the quest for the current level of their video game. And I keep my focus on that task until it’s done. And then I cross it off and do a little dance to celebrate before moving on to the next quest (aka task) and repeating the process.

Video Gaming It is super helpful for me. When I’m overwhelmed, without fail, this process gets me out of feeling stuck and moves me to a place of motivation and excitement.

I’ve also heard this kind of process referred to as “chipping,” a process of continuously chipping one tiny bit out of a big task until it's all gone. But however you frame it for yourself, whether you think of it as quests in a video game or chips broken out of a task until it’s all gone, the process of breaking a big task down into small, manageable steps is a technique that is supported by social science research and that helps move you from a place of paralysis and overwhelm to one of momentum and motivation.  When you complete a task (aka quest) in your workday, celebrate it! Allow yourself that bit of dopamine! And use it to tackle the next task (quest) ahead of you.

Small steps have another benefit beyond their motivation power. Concentrating on small steps in your artistic work also allows you to focus on what is truly going to be impactful for your creative entrepreneurship journey.

I listened to the book Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman a few years ago, when it first came out, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. He is a proponent of a kind of minimalist productivity: determining what is most important to you and doing only those things, letting go of everything else (which, incidentally, sounds great in theory, and while it is also pretty great in practice, it is really really hard in practice!).

After reading his book, I signed up for Burkeman’s newsletter, and I always enjoy his newsletter thoughts. One of his newsletters from just over a month ago includes a brief snippet that is applicable to our current discussion. The full newsletter is available here, but the specific quote I want to share with you is this: “Everyone seems to yearn for the productivity technique or life philosophy or set of personal rules that will cause them to do more writing, launch a business, be a better listener, or finally start meditating. But nothing beats actually doing a bit of the thing to reinforce to yourself that you’re capable of making progress on it.”

I’ve often heard that the best advice for writers is “get your butt in the chair.” It might seem like simply sitting down – getting your butt physically in the chair – is an infinitesimally small thing as compared to the giant, sweeping, enormous task of writing. But for writers, that small step of sitting down – putting your butt in the chair – is the small step that makes the rest possible. If you are a writer, you must make yourself sit down EVERY. DAY. and write.

Get that butt in the chair and do the thing. Even if the actual words that come on a given day aren’t good and aren’t ever going to be read by anyone else, the very act of sitting down (getting your butt in the chair) and writing improves you as a writer and gets your creative juices flowing. If you want to be the thing, then you must first do the thing. Even if the first step is a really small step, you must still take that small step before anything else can happen.

What is your version of “getting your butt in the chair”? What is the small step, the tiny action, that you must complete before you do your creative work, and that makes your creative work possible?

My “get my butt in the chair” act is “getting my butt in the booth,” or getting myself into my recording booth to record every single workday. Sometimes I find myself procrastinating on the creative work and doing anything and everything except for “getting my butt in the booth.” I have a feeling you can relate. And when those days happen, I allow myself to pause, to question why I’m hesitant to take the super tiny step of simply sitting down in my recording booth in front of my mic. If a real issue arises, I allow myself to take care of the problem. But most of the time, I find that there isn’t really a problem and it’s just a question of actually taking the action, actually taking the small step. So I take the step. I physically place myself in my booth, and magic happens. The small step of sitting down in my booth makes possible everything else that happens.

This is so true for us not just in our artistic work, but also on the “business” side of our creative businesses. If we want to have a thriving creative business, we must do the things that would create that thriving business. And if you can’t face doing all the things right now, then pick one small step and do that one thing. And then pick another small step and do that one thing.

Nothing will help you believe that you are capable of being a thriving artist more than doing a bit of the thing that will make you a thriving artist. Seeing is believing, or in this case, doing is believing. As we all know, believing something is possible – having a mindset that accepts a given positive outcome as possible for you – is truly the first step toward making that possibility your reality. Allow yourself to take one small step and then another and another. Remember, change is a direction, not a destination, and every small step in the direction of positive change is a step that will make a positive difference for you over time.

Thank you so much for being here for this episode of the Starving Artist No More podcast. I know how valuable time is for creative entrepreneurs, and it really means a lot to me that you spent this time with me today. If you enjoyed this podcast, be sure to subscribe so that you don’t miss a future episode. And as always, I would so appreciate any ratings or reviews you’d like to leave for me. New reviews totally make my day! If you know a fellow creative entrepreneur who might be interested in this episode, or any episode, of this podcast, please share it with them. Sharing is caring! If you have any questions, comments, or feedback for me, or if you’d like to find out more about how you can work with me, feel free to reach out to me via my website, www.StarvingArtistNoMore.com. A huge shoutout of appreciation goes to my husband, Arturo Araya, who is the engineer for this podcast. Thanks for making me sound good, Arturo!

In our lives as artist business-owners, small steps can be incredibly powerful. They can actually be more motivating for us than those big wins, and when we take time to celebrate them in some way, they sink into our consciousness and can be a huge boost to our morale and creative energy. Breaking big tasks into smaller steps and then focusing on those steps one at a time, what I like to call Video Gaming It, is a potent tool for taking an overwhelming, paralyzing task and making it manageable and approachable instead. And small steps also help us get started and put us in a place where we can do our best work. Your version of “getting your butt in the chair,” no matter how small that step is objectively, has the power to enable and enhance your creativity. As the saying goes, the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. And when you celebrate every one of those steps along the way, the journey will be pretty enjoyable. I can’t wait to see what you create.