Think Small

To achieve big, you will need to think small

• Create an actionable plan

We usually assume that when we set ourselves a goal we will probably pursue it with focus and attention, drawing heavily on our slower, reflective system.

It’s a curious and wonderful thing about the human condition that we are often a mystery to ourselves

Think Small is not a checklist.

trengthening your social relationships;

getting healthy and active;

learning something new;

being more curious; and

giving to others.

The key to thinking small is to understand how and when to deploy the slow system, and how and where to encourage the fast system to take over. This isn’t easy, because although the fast

We have a slow, reflective system; and we have a fast, automatic system. The slow system enables us to learn how to drive a car. The fast system allows us to drive effortlessly once we’ve mastered the art

nally, once you start making progress, or even if you have a few setbacks along the way, you need to set some time aside for yourself to reflect on what seems to be working and what is holding you back. If you can do all of these things, you’ll be able to start thinking about how you will celebrate when you finally achieve your goal. Then, of course, with a bit more reflection, you’ll be able to start thinking about what you might want to focus on next

If we want to get better at a task over time, we need to think about how we are going to learn, so the best place to start is by thinking about how you are going to practise – by breaking your goal down and engaging yourself in effortful practice focused on making incremental improvements to how you go about tackling the task. If you do this, you’ll find that testing and trialling new ideas and new techniques will start to come naturally