Small Steps to Living Big

July 2nd at noon marked the halfway point of the year. Yes, we are already in the back-half 2021, moving quickly towards to end of another year. For a lot of people, it feels like 2021 just got started. Perhaps there is truth in the saying that ‘time flies when you’re having fun.’ However, I believe time flies no matter what.

In a world full of shades of grey, there are very few things as black and white as time. It’s so complex in our pursuit to master it, yet so simple to understand. There are 24 hours in each day. 168 hours in each week. 8,736 hours in each year. Measuring time is not difficult with clear delineations like hours and minutes, yet we tend to let it slip away under the more vague markers of soon and later. This is how we end up in the middle of a year we thought we just started.

Thankfully, that doesn’t have to be our fate. We don’t have to let our lives pass by like the hauntingly real lyrics of Cat’s in the Cradle (a song that likely planted the Origami Day seed in me as a 7-year-old). We CAN live intentionally, valuing each minute and making the most of each hour. We CAN soak in every last drop of the year, ensuring none of it flies by without our knowledge. We CAN be present in life while still being productive. And there is no better time to start than now.

Don’t wait until the end of the year to start making it matter. Start now. Start taking small steps to help you feel proud of your life when you raise a glass at midnight on New Year’s Eve. In the same way a year is made up of days and hours, your success will be made up of smaller wins. Consider the following small steps to make the most of the remaining year.

• Do one thing today that you’ve been putting off.
• Make a plan for today.
• Make a plan for tomorrow.
• Follow one new social media account that is good for you.
• Unfollow two social media accounts that don’t line up with the life you want.
• Write down one thing you want to happen before 2021 is over.
• Tell that one thing to one friend.
• Make a list of things that will make that one thing happen.
• Choose one of those things to do today.
• Make a plan for next week.
• Include one thing from your above list on next week’s plan.
• Schedule a recurring reminder in your digital calendar to make a plan every week.
• Take a moment to purge phone apps you don’t need.
• Unsubscribe to one email you don’t need.
• Start thinking about your time in minutes and hours, not later and soon.
• Review tomorrow’s plan before ending today.
• Block off a day on your calendar next month to catch up.
• Google ‘time management batching.’
• Count how many days are left in this year.
• Take note of your successes.