Micro movements

Pressing Pause Episode 110 Micro movements

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Welcome to Pressing Pause, I’m your host, Gabrielle Treanor, a coach, writer, introvert and sensitive soul with an inclination to ponder over the stuff of life. Join me as I explore how we can create, find and feel more calm, ease and joy in our daily lives.

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Before we get into the episode I wanted to remind you that The Calm & Joy Catalyst is currently open to join and if you do so before Friday 26 August you will get the Early Bird bonus! The doors are open until Friday 2 September, we begin on Monday 5 September and I cannot wait.

The thing with creating new offerings for you, whether it be a course or a workshop or in this case The Calm & Joy Catalyst, is that I’m convinced it will be of great benefit to you, that it will really empower you, but it’s when you talk with those experiencing it that you can truly see how powerful and impactful it really is. 

And that’s exactly what was proven to me the first time I ran The Calm & Joy Catalyst and it’s why I’m running it again. Because I want more of you to feel more calm and joy and by doing so build your self-trust, your self-worth, your confidence, your belief in yourselves. AND to truly witness the positive ripple effect of you feeling more calm and joy every day has on your family, your work, your friends, on everyone around you. 

This may look like it’s just about spending a few minutes a day feeling calm and joy but the impact goes deeper than that. As Helen, who joined in the first round of The Calm & Joy Catalyst said, “I completely underestimated how much difference this small change would make.”

So, if you would like to infuse your daily life with more calm and joy, and gain so much more, come join me in The Calm & Joy Catalyst at gabrielletreanor.com/catalyst. If you join before Friday 26 August you’ll get the Early Bird bonus too! Doors close on Friday 2 September and we begin on Monday 5 September. So, go to gabrielletreanor.com/catalyst to find out all about the Calm & Joy Catalyst and read what those who have been through the Catalyst thought of it too. 

This is the last time I will be running the Catalyst this year and I would love you to join me so go to gabrielletreanor.com/catalyst to find out more and register your place.

Right then, on with the episode!

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Welcome to episode 110. In this episode I wanted to share my thoughts on the power of micro movements. Little inches forward that often don’t feel like enough, that don’t seem to be making a difference and yet, bit by bit, are moving us in the direction we want to go.

When we have so much we need to do, or have to do, or want to do, it can feel impossible to actually do it at all. We can have dreams and goals but when it feels like there’s a mountain to climb we can be so overwhelmed by the enormity of the task that we feel defeated before we begin.

We can wonder what the point is in trying when it’s going to take so much time or effort. If we don’t take big action, if we don’t see a significant change, if we don’t take a leap forward, why bother?

I know this is a trap I can fall into and it’s a way that overwhelm can stop me from doing what I want to do. I’m impatient by nature and if I don’t see results quickly I can become disheartened and feel like I’m never going to achieve what I want. 

And that’s when I have to remind myself that as long as I’m taking steps forward, however small they may be and however slowly I may be taking them, I’m giving myself a better chance than if I give up and do nothing. 

But it’s hard to have faith, right?! If you want to get fitter or stronger it’s hard to believe that going for walks or doing some squats each day is going to make a difference. 

Or perhaps you want to change jobs, but if you feel overwhelmed by needing to update your CV, look for vacant positions, fill in applications, perhaps go through a round or two of interviews… you can end up doing nothing and stay feeling stuck in your current role.

Or maybe you want to feel calmer and less frazzled but the mental mountain you need to climb to get there feels too enormous to take on.

So what if we set aside the massive vision, the lofty goal, for a while? We all know about breaking down big jobs into smaller tasks but even that can still feel like too much if we focus on the many smaller tasks!

How about we just put our energy, however much we have on this day, into taking a small step forward? Not thinking about all the other steps, or the bigger picture, or the end goal, just what feels doable today.

So that could be sending one email. Going for a short walk. Tidying up one surface. Meditating for three minutes. Updating one section of your CV. Tackling one load of laundry. Making one phone call.

You may find that doing one thing leads you to doing another, maybe even another, but if it doesn’t, that’s okay. You still took that small step, you made a micro movement.

It’s making the commitment to doing one thing. And then doing another. Without getting lost in thinking about ALL the things. It’s putting one foot in front of the other. Taking one step at a time. 

Laying one brick at a time builds a wall that, in time, builds a house. Focusing on everything that has to be done to build the house can feel like way more than you can manage but laying one brick? One brick you can do.

Because those bricks add up over time. That’s the idea of marginal gains – making tiny improvements that over time make a huge difference.

It was marginal gains – tweaking and improving by 1% – that took British Cycling from mediocrity to dominating the sport with astonishing success – from one gold medal in nearly 100 years of Olympics to 66 gold Olympic and Paralympic medals within 10 years. 

This episode on micro movements and marginal gains is as useful for me as much as it is for you! When I’m feeling daunted by the sheer scale of my goals, the enormity of my dreams, and I can feel myself becoming frozen in inaction because it all feels like more than I can manage, I remember to focus on micro movements. 

One. Step. At. A. Time.

So, what’s one step you’re going to take today?

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Thank you for listening to Pressing Pause, you can find details of what I shared in this episode in the show notes at gabrielletreanor.com/podcast. 

As I said at the start of the episode The Calm & Joy Catalyst is currently open to join for the last time this year and until Friday 26 August you can get the Early Bird bonus! You get so much more from the Catalyst then just a few minutes of calm and joy each day, it has a powerful positive impact on your relationships, on your work, your focus, your time… the benefits are more far-reaching than you may think. So, to find out more about The Calm & Joy Catalyst and join go to gabrielletreanor.com/catalyst. Doors close Friday 2 September and you’ll get the early bird bonus if you join before Friday 26 August.

If you have any questions about the Catalyst or this episode, or you have an idea of what you’d like me to talk about on the podcast I’d love to hear from you, so feel free to drop me a line at [email protected].

Thanks again for listening, until next time.