If you’re feeling lost or defeated, try being micro-ambitious

a practical guide towards improving your life one day at a time

I’m a big advocate for kaizen. It’s a Japanese concept that runs on the theory of small but consistent improvements over time. Many of us often jump into resolutions head first or expect grand changes after a short period of time. Then our motivation gets deflated when our expectations are mismatched against reality.

This is an issue that many of us experience. It’s probably endemic for our time. We’re so used to everything being instant that we’ve forgotten what it feels like to play the long game.

However, the long game can be tiring and often leave us feeling lost and defeated with a sense that we’re not making enough progress. In part, it’s because we’re projecting too far ahead and waiting too long to experience that high you get from a win.

That is why, if you want to succeed in the long game, you should try being micro-ambitious instead.

Creating a series of little highs

When we make grand promises to ourselves, we often get distracted by the grandeur of the end goal. We forget about the stepping stone process required to get to the destination — or rather, we fail to see our micro…