The part about task initiation induced stress -> flight or fight -> distraction/relief-seeking resonated with me. I hadn't noticed that before. The small steps bit reminds me of BJ Fogg's "brush one tooth."
One common failure mode of "do the smallest/easiest thing first" that the article didn't address was that sometimes it's so easy to "buy the running shoes" that you end up with a house full of "easy first steps." I think a better approach is to aim to eliminate unnecessary complexity in moving towards the goal. You can do this by aiming for the smallest, easiest, and simplest first step that simultaneously maximises progress towards the goal. e.g. "I want to make a stand to hold my XYZ." Bad first step: Buy a 3D printer. Good first step: Improvise something out of cardboard.
Ha--totally agree about the 'house full of easy first steps'. I have a few.
But I think it all still applies; the key is to keep taking small steps toward the thing, not just 'keep taking small steps'. You look at a successful small step and (like I wrote) ask 'what's the next step?' that will build on it.
2025 was the first time I have been able to implement and maintain a series of routines for the entire year (still going strong), and the concept of starting tiny was a key epiphany for me. I wrote about my experiences with it recently on my blog[0], but the point you make about good first steps is a great one.
A phrase I heard some time back that has stuck with me is "don't buy something hoping to be someone." In other words, don't buy running shoes hoping to become a runner.
In my personal experience, a good first step is the smallest version of doing the thing you ultimately want to be doing. "Brush one tooth" is a great example. Doing one push-up is another. For running, maybe just getting dressed, walking outside, and doing some stretching. The idea is that it's the stuff you would have to do anyways if you were going to do a more robust/thorough version of the thing you're trying to ultimately do. Buying shoes, on the other hand, is just purchasing more stuff.
Variations of this are a common talking point in the self-help world, and while it's a powerful antidote against "I'm sure some day this giant thing will suddenly be easy and I'll just do it", it's not a silver bullet. Here are some counter-considerations:
- Doing anything usually involves prep work. Want to take a step? First put on your shoes (literally or figuratively, depending). If your attempted habit is 70% prep, your brain will somewhat rightfully conclude "this is stupid" fairly quickly.
- "Just do X every day for [long time period]" has an inherent falsification problem: You aren't "allowed" to argue against it until you tried it. Stopped after 2 years because you saw no change (and 5 was recommended)? You are still not allowed to argue against the strategy!
- You can actually make steps so small that they're useless. I once set out to have (at least) one github commit online per day (going for that green tile!). This led to my brain finding hacks like rephrasing one sentence of an old blog post. Doing that for 20 days is way less effective than one single coding session, at 20 times the emotional cost.
- Doing something daily for a long time is extremely hard to achieve, especially if it's not the main thing you're doing. It's rare in the wild. You will find piano virtuosos who play piano daily, but not piano virtuosos who also go to the gym daily.
To me just sitting around shoes on without going out would prob just become boring pretty quick. For my thrill-seeking brain starting new things and doing big decisions is actually pretty easy. I get a kick out the idea of new things and places, especially if there is a small risk involved - I like lifting free weights over machines for instance. And yes, I have ADHD.
Problem is not starting things, it is keeping up with them. Best thing for me is to make doing the thing easy as possible. Nearer the gym is to your home the better, preferably one without music (impossible I know). Studying is easier when I have my books all the time accessible on ipad. Somehow also the bodybuilder Bob Paris’ motto ”Just do it now” helps to push me into action rather than ruminating over whether I should or not.
I've found the biggest impediment to this strategy is social pressure. The small step methodology goes against the common sense knowledge that the greatest gains come from hard work, so it often receives a lot of push back from friends and family. In my experience, if someone witnesses you taking a small step, they're likely to tell you you're not trying hard enough, or give you some of their own advice on what you should be doing instead.
> When we are stressed/anxious/afraid, the part of the brain called the amygdala activates our “fight or flight” response. When that happens, we stop thinking rationally and start looking for the quickest way to relieve the stress/anxiety/fear.
It’s typically the right amygdala responsible for this. Authors often write “amygdala” in an ambiguous fashion. You have two amygdala (amygdalae is the plural term) which have differing-but-related responsibilities.
Good article — taking the micro-steps towards the longer-term habits is wise.
I recommend The Now Habit if you found this line of thinking to be useful. It provides frameworks to understand why you have such mental blocks and more concrete strategies to try.
Curious about that book - did it help you? Silly questions, but serious: How much did it help? What, specifically, did you get from it? Asking for a relative who has serious anxiety issues (no, really, it's not me... I have depression, and Burns' "Feeling Good" helped me substantially, specifically by identifying brain-spirals I get into, which lead to depression, and once known can be avoided). I'd love to recommend something good for them. Thanks!
It's not hyperbole to say it changed my life. The most valuable thing I got from it is a good understanding of what's actually happening, and how I can change it. It's such a great, readable, easy-to-understand book (in my opinion). I've given away several copies.
Entirely agree. Breaking things down, also helps to get mental clarity of what you are actually trying to do.
I think one part why this helps (at least me), is that our executive functions are limited by a working memory for a maximum of about 7 things. Many tasks are actually comprised of many more atomic tasks. Doing them step by step helps to really know what you are doing and not being overwhelmed.
Genuine question to understand - have you tried this approach to build or break any habit for yourself? What were the learnings from it - what worked and what didn't? And how did you tweak the approach for the next habit?
Short answer: yes, I have--walking. I think the main learnings were (a) have faith in absurdly small steps, repeated, and (b) my anxious brain is always looking for the slightest excuse to skip it. No real tweaks, except keep trying to make the step smaller.
I've found this to be the case with language learning. Its actually an enjoyable thing to do once you "get into the groove". Apps like duolingo are pretty easy for daily routines but the learning can be quite passive. I now force myself to write one sentence each day on Snapalabra, and that often leads to a highly rewarding 30 minute session.
If you are having trouble working out, first get into the habit of going to the gym first. Make it a habit to go even for less than 5 minutes. The more you go, the longer you'll stay.
This reminded me of James Clear’s: do one pushup. I think all good books about habits are build around this idea, of small tasks that can be sustained, but somehow our brains are still smarter and still find ways to move away.
> Large steps activate the amygdala. But there’s a genuine hack: small steps “sneak” past the amygdala without activating the fight or flight response.
I don't really think this is the correct way to frame why small steps are effective.
Anxiety is not why I avoid large steps. Even if it was, small steps tend to be slow and ineffective at resolving anxiety anyway.
No, I avoid large steps because they fucking suck. They're too much of a commitment when I know I have other things I could be doing that are more productive in the short term. That productivity seems guaranteed because I'm already familiar and I can bang those tasks out quickly. I avoid work when the productivity gain is long term and I'm not sure it will pay off. This is not anxiety about whether it will pay off. This is rational pruning of bullshit in my way.
What I do instead is schedule small steps towards something I'm unsure about earlier in the day so I at least feel like I'm trying something new, and then do the other routine stuff later in the day so I go to bed knowing I accomplished something. If the small steps are starting to pay off, I have something to look forward to tomorrow. If they are not, I can still look forward to replacing those tasks with something more interesting.
It's important to not waste time and maintain control. Trying new things is productive and educational, but forcing yourself to stick with something is just delusional and bad for mental health.
The part about task initiation induced stress -> flight or fight -> distraction/relief-seeking resonated with me. I hadn't noticed that before. The small steps bit reminds me of BJ Fogg's "brush one tooth."
One common failure mode of "do the smallest/easiest thing first" that the article didn't address was that sometimes it's so easy to "buy the running shoes" that you end up with a house full of "easy first steps." I think a better approach is to aim to eliminate unnecessary complexity in moving towards the goal. You can do this by aiming for the smallest, easiest, and simplest first step that simultaneously maximises progress towards the goal. e.g. "I want to make a stand to hold my XYZ." Bad first step: Buy a 3D printer. Good first step: Improvise something out of cardboard.
Ha--totally agree about the 'house full of easy first steps'. I have a few.
But I think it all still applies; the key is to keep taking small steps toward the thing, not just 'keep taking small steps'. You look at a successful small step and (like I wrote) ask 'what's the next step?' that will build on it.
Love BJ Fogg's Tiny Habits!
2025 was the first time I have been able to implement and maintain a series of routines for the entire year (still going strong), and the concept of starting tiny was a key epiphany for me. I wrote about my experiences with it recently on my blog[0], but the point you make about good first steps is a great one.
A phrase I heard some time back that has stuck with me is "don't buy something hoping to be someone." In other words, don't buy running shoes hoping to become a runner.
In my personal experience, a good first step is the smallest version of doing the thing you ultimately want to be doing. "Brush one tooth" is a great example. Doing one push-up is another. For running, maybe just getting dressed, walking outside, and doing some stretching. The idea is that it's the stuff you would have to do anyways if you were going to do a more robust/thorough version of the thing you're trying to ultimately do. Buying shoes, on the other hand, is just purchasing more stuff.
[0] https://onebadbit.com/posts/2025/12/year-in-review/
And hunting for the perfect first step product becomes a dopamine chasing activity itself.
Variations of this are a common talking point in the self-help world, and while it's a powerful antidote against "I'm sure some day this giant thing will suddenly be easy and I'll just do it", it's not a silver bullet. Here are some counter-considerations:
- Doing anything usually involves prep work. Want to take a step? First put on your shoes (literally or figuratively, depending). If your attempted habit is 70% prep, your brain will somewhat rightfully conclude "this is stupid" fairly quickly.
- "Just do X every day for [long time period]" has an inherent falsification problem: You aren't "allowed" to argue against it until you tried it. Stopped after 2 years because you saw no change (and 5 was recommended)? You are still not allowed to argue against the strategy!
- You can actually make steps so small that they're useless. I once set out to have (at least) one github commit online per day (going for that green tile!). This led to my brain finding hacks like rephrasing one sentence of an old blog post. Doing that for 20 days is way less effective than one single coding session, at 20 times the emotional cost.
- Doing something daily for a long time is extremely hard to achieve, especially if it's not the main thing you're doing. It's rare in the wild. You will find piano virtuosos who play piano daily, but not piano virtuosos who also go to the gym daily.
Q: What’s the smallest step I can take towards my goal?
A: Spend a minute stressing about my goal.
If you aren't any closer to the goal after the step than you were before it, you didn't take a step towards the goal.
To me just sitting around shoes on without going out would prob just become boring pretty quick. For my thrill-seeking brain starting new things and doing big decisions is actually pretty easy. I get a kick out the idea of new things and places, especially if there is a small risk involved - I like lifting free weights over machines for instance. And yes, I have ADHD.
Problem is not starting things, it is keeping up with them. Best thing for me is to make doing the thing easy as possible. Nearer the gym is to your home the better, preferably one without music (impossible I know). Studying is easier when I have my books all the time accessible on ipad. Somehow also the bodybuilder Bob Paris’ motto ”Just do it now” helps to push me into action rather than ruminating over whether I should or not.
I've found the biggest impediment to this strategy is social pressure. The small step methodology goes against the common sense knowledge that the greatest gains come from hard work, so it often receives a lot of push back from friends and family. In my experience, if someone witnesses you taking a small step, they're likely to tell you you're not trying hard enough, or give you some of their own advice on what you should be doing instead.
Small steps are best taken in private.
This is deceptively difficult but profoundly powerful. The Getting Things Done methodology also talks about natural project planning like this.
But small doesn’t mean “no thought required”. It requires mental power to distill larger projects (or goals) into small steps.
My mistake, for a long time, was thinking that breaking it down into smaller steps was less brainpower.
Better clarity, but also more upfront mental energy to distill what the next physical action to be done was.
> When we are stressed/anxious/afraid, the part of the brain called the amygdala activates our “fight or flight” response. When that happens, we stop thinking rationally and start looking for the quickest way to relieve the stress/anxiety/fear.
It’s typically the right amygdala responsible for this. Authors often write “amygdala” in an ambiguous fashion. You have two amygdala (amygdalae is the plural term) which have differing-but-related responsibilities.
Good article — taking the micro-steps towards the longer-term habits is wise.
> But there’s a genuine hack: small steps “sneak” past the amygdala without activating the fight or flight response.
That is the most useful sentence I've read recently.
How can we know this is a fact and not a pop science observation
Very easy. Try it,
It's probably very true for exposure therapy as well.
I recommend The Now Habit if you found this line of thinking to be useful. It provides frameworks to understand why you have such mental blocks and more concrete strategies to try.
That's a good book. I actually came to understand all this better through a different book that I bought to understand my anxiety: Rewire Your Anxious Brain - https://www.amazon.com/Rewire-Your-Anxious-Brain-Neuroscienc...
Curious about that book - did it help you? Silly questions, but serious: How much did it help? What, specifically, did you get from it? Asking for a relative who has serious anxiety issues (no, really, it's not me... I have depression, and Burns' "Feeling Good" helped me substantially, specifically by identifying brain-spirals I get into, which lead to depression, and once known can be avoided). I'd love to recommend something good for them. Thanks!
It's not hyperbole to say it changed my life. The most valuable thing I got from it is a good understanding of what's actually happening, and how I can change it. It's such a great, readable, easy-to-understand book (in my opinion). I've given away several copies.
Thanks very much! Glad to hear it was so good for you.
Entirely agree. Breaking things down, also helps to get mental clarity of what you are actually trying to do. I think one part why this helps (at least me), is that our executive functions are limited by a working memory for a maximum of about 7 things. Many tasks are actually comprised of many more atomic tasks. Doing them step by step helps to really know what you are doing and not being overwhelmed.
(Probably not so relevant for building simpler habits, but definitely for the execution of more complex tasks that feel overwhelming)
I think this is mostly just a summary of the book Atomic Habits.
No, it’s an expansion of my reading of a different book: http://thinkhuman.com/book-notes-one-small-step-can-change-y...
I read Clear’s book, though, and like it. Neither book has new ideas, but they both present old ideas in useful ways.
Genuine question to understand - have you tried this approach to build or break any habit for yourself? What were the learnings from it - what worked and what didn't? And how did you tweak the approach for the next habit?
Short answer: yes, I have--walking. I think the main learnings were (a) have faith in absurdly small steps, repeated, and (b) my anxious brain is always looking for the slightest excuse to skip it. No real tweaks, except keep trying to make the step smaller.
Felt the same to me too ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I've found this to be the case with language learning. Its actually an enjoyable thing to do once you "get into the groove". Apps like duolingo are pretty easy for daily routines but the learning can be quite passive. I now force myself to write one sentence each day on Snapalabra, and that often leads to a highly rewarding 30 minute session.
If you are having trouble working out, first get into the habit of going to the gym first. Make it a habit to go even for less than 5 minutes. The more you go, the longer you'll stay.
This reminded me of James Clear’s: do one pushup. I think all good books about habits are build around this idea, of small tasks that can be sustained, but somehow our brains are still smarter and still find ways to move away.
> Large steps activate the amygdala. But there’s a genuine hack: small steps “sneak” past the amygdala without activating the fight or flight response.
I don't really think this is the correct way to frame why small steps are effective.
Anxiety is not why I avoid large steps. Even if it was, small steps tend to be slow and ineffective at resolving anxiety anyway.
No, I avoid large steps because they fucking suck. They're too much of a commitment when I know I have other things I could be doing that are more productive in the short term. That productivity seems guaranteed because I'm already familiar and I can bang those tasks out quickly. I avoid work when the productivity gain is long term and I'm not sure it will pay off. This is not anxiety about whether it will pay off. This is rational pruning of bullshit in my way.
What I do instead is schedule small steps towards something I'm unsure about earlier in the day so I at least feel like I'm trying something new, and then do the other routine stuff later in the day so I go to bed knowing I accomplished something. If the small steps are starting to pay off, I have something to look forward to tomorrow. If they are not, I can still look forward to replacing those tasks with something more interesting.
It's important to not waste time and maintain control. Trying new things is productive and educational, but forcing yourself to stick with something is just delusional and bad for mental health.