Baby Steps Matter!
Late last year, the “75-Hard Challenge” did its rounds on TikTok. I should know! I spend an ungodly amount of time on that app. If you are not like me, a TikTok die-hard citizen, let me put you up to speed.
The 75-Hard Challenge was proposed by Andy Frisella, a podcaster, motivational speaker, supplement company owner and author. According to its creator, the challenge was designed to transform participants’ lives by improving their mental discipline. Interesting, right?
The catch was that challenge partakers needed to follow five strict rules religiously: (a) Take a selfie/photo daily, (b) Drink 1 gallon (4 liters) of water daily, (c) read at least ten pages of a motivational or entrepreneurial book daily — no audiobooks, (d) Stick to a diet plan for 75 days — no alcohol, no cheat meals, and lastly (e) do two 45-minute workouts every day — one outside, one indoors.
Now the kicker! If participants failed to meet the stated requirements, their efforts would be nullified until that point. They would need to start again from day one! Otherwise, they were deemed FAILURES! And quite obviously, TikTok statistics reported by Terrance Xin indicated that 95% of those who took on the 75-Hard Challenge failed!
How is that relevant to baby steps? Good question. Let me explain.
I have only recently learned that “nothing is wrong with failure.” For most of my life, failing scared me. It intimidated me. Every time I “failed” at something, the shame of my incompetence overwhelmed me. Some of that shame lasted hours. Sometimes it lasted days, months, and years. I still carry some of it today. So, despite active attempts to embrace my newfound truth that claims “there is nothing wrong with failure,” coming across the 75-Hard Challenge triggered me.
At the time, I was in a place in my life where I craved DISCIPLINE! I wanted to be the kind of person that compiles a to-do list for the day’s activities in the morning and has everything checked off by bedtime. So you see how participating in the 75-Hard Challenge would have fit into the puzzle of my goals. But the thing is, I knew I would fail even before I began. Seeing that I was emerging from a 6-month long depressive low, I knew a failure, despite its insignificance, would break me again. I could not break again!
I opted out of the 75-Hard trend to protect my fragile mental health despite it presenting a much-needed opportunity to prove to myself that I possess “what it takes to succeed.” In the ensuing process of battling the idea that “I was already a failure by refusal to participate,” I learned a valuable lesson — Baby steps matter!
Context means everything when you are on a self-improvement and/or self-healing journey. For instance, if you have been in a depressive state that has left you bed-bound for days, and today you manage to get out of bed and shower, those mundane daily tasks would mark your positive progress.
Say that scenario was contrasted with mine, a well-regulated and functional adult who has been up and about every morning of the work week — bed made, showered, teeth brushed, perfumed, and always ready for a productive day. For me, getting out of bed and showering is part of a routine. So, it does not contribute much to my progress in accountancy because it’s a habit and not a goal I am pursuing.
My point is you cannot compare your “step one” in goal pursuits to another person’s “step ten” and then beat yourself up for “not being as good as them.” That would be as insane as it would be to compare a baby’s first steps to an adult’s walk! Context matters! And so do baby steps!
So, if you are sailing in the same boat as me, built with the ambition to do and be better in whatever capacity, I invite you to take baby steps with me and forget that 75-Hard Challenge everyone seems inclined to hop on. Yes, you know failure is not the enemy. But in the here and now, you cannot take another “L!” Believe me! I get it.
Break the goal down into bite-sized pieces! That podcast said you must hop on a 30-day writing challenge to explore your writing interest. Too much? Make that three days of consistent writing. Boom! Baby steps! Soon enough, you will get to 7, 10, 14, 20, and eventually 30 days of consistent writing! For now, give yourself that win you need to boost your morale and confidence.
This is me at the end of a self-designed three-day writing challenge. My baby step on the path to a 30-day writing challenge. I have decided that this baby step matters! In the illuminating and comforting words of Kristin Armstrong, “I write about the power of trying because I want to be okay with failing.”
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