Start small so big changes feel doable

You’ve promised yourself you’ll revamp your savings. The total target — $5,000 a year — feels too distant, so you never start. Instead, you decide on a micro-goal: transfer $5 into savings the day your paycheck arrives. That’s under five clicks on your banking app.

Next payday, your phone dings at 1 p.m. when you clear the email backlog. You’ve pre-decided, “As soon as I send that email, I’ll move $5.” It takes seconds, and you cross it off your checklist. No sweat. A few days later, you bump it to $10. Then $25. Because each step was tiny and consistent, you’ve built a habit before you realized it.

Six months later, you hover over your account and see $1,200 saved. You quietly grin and give yourself a mental high-five. That first micro-step unlocked a cascade of progress toward your real goal.

Pick one trivial daily action — $5 saved, two sentences written, one push-up — and link it to an existing cue. Track it on a tiny checklist every morning or evening. When you’ve nailed it for two weeks straight, gently raise the bar. Keep adding micro-goals at a pace that feels almost effortless. Watch how small wins unlock your bigger milestones.