"Well-being is realised by small steps, but is truly no small thing." - Zeno of Citium, Founder of Stoicism.

Anytime we find something that the great minds of the past and present agree on, we should take time to reflect on it.

What Zeno was talking about here was the reaching our our ideal selves through small actions. Actions that compound and yield the results that we want.

It's the logic that underlies the Kaizen method, the foundation of Atomic Habits, and is one of the most overlooked weapons in our arsenal of personal development.

Terminate Your Self-Doubt.

Arnold Scwarzenegger spoke about this in his book, Be Useful. He wrote about people who are so locked down in the grind of daily life and completely weighed down by self-doubt and past disappointments.

From this position, it can seem almost impossible to even come up with a long-term vision, let alone pursue it with the intensity required to make it a reality.

Arnold's advice is simple: Start small. Set one task to complete today that will make you feel better about yourself and get you moving in the right direction.

Do this day after day, and then eventually move onto weekly goals, enough of those and you can shift to monthly goals. You build your vision and your life, step by step.

What about A Hundred Days Of It?

Let's say you're not completely down in the dumps, but instead, you have a vision or even some long-term goals. That's great but if you're not careful, this position can be even more painful.

If you're someone who can think strategic, but never move towards your strategic vision, you'll stagnate just like those without vision. Except, you carry the damage to your self-respect that not executing brings.

There's a great Connor McGregor clip, where he explains that you reach your goals by doing what you'll say you're going to do. Getting up when you say you will, training when you say will, eating what you say you will. It brings you to another level. While the opposite will drag you down and strangle the life out of you.

You need to be able to trust yourself - and failing to move towards your strategic vision or your long term goals is a betrayal of this trust.

There's a simple maxim form Jocko Willink that we should keep in mind: Think Strategically, Act Tactically.

We need to be doing the small tactical things every day to build towards our long-term vision.

One of my favourite Jocko clips is where he speaks about the difference a hundred days can make. "One day in the gym is basically imperceivable" he states, while "a hundred days in the gym and you're basically a new person."

This goes for anything and everything. The small tactical decisions add up - especially over a decent enough period like 100 days (which is why you should do your own 100 EVOLVE). But think even bigger, what would your life look like after a year, 5 years, or even 10 years, of doing the right things day in and day out? Who could you become?

The truth is the same for the opposite. The wrong decisions, inaction, and mistakes can compound over time - so we need to start moving in the right direction.

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Whether you're someone who's at a complete loss about what to do, or someone who's actions are not quite in line with their long-term goals yet, the answer is the same: START SMALL AND START NOW.

Until next week,

Zachariah