Make the First Step So Small It’s Embarrassing

  • 2 mins read

Okay, you’ve picked your boulder.

Now your brain—being the dramatic genius it is—wants to turn this next step into something grand:

  • “I’ll block off an entire weekend to tackle this.”
  • “I just need to map out a full strategy first.”
  • “Let me create a color-coded notion dashboard before I start.”

Sound familiar?

This is friction, again. But now it’s wearing a productivity hat.

Let me offer an alternative: Make the first step so small, it’s borderline ridiculous.

I’m talking:

  • Open the doc
  • Write the subject line
  • Email the person one sentence
  • Put your gym shoes by the door
  • Say out loud what you want to do

That’s it.

Because momentum doesn’t start with big moves.
It starts with micro-movements—tiny actions that your brain can’t argue with.

Here’s what happens when you lower the bar far enough: you step over it.
And the act of stepping—no matter how small—builds the confidence, clarity, and inertia to keep going.

You don’t need a perfect plan. You need progress.
And that starts with the most laughably doable version of the thing you’ve been avoiding.

ACTION STEP:

Take your boulder and write down a step you can do in under 3 minutes. It doesn’t need to be meaningful. It just needs to be forward.

Then… do it. Right now. Yes, now.

That one small action? That’s not the warm-up. That is the work.