The Secret to Accomplishing Your Massive Project: Start Small (Like Really, Really Small)

Have you been wanting to write a book, run a marathon, or accomplish some other massive project, but you haven’t been getting anywhere?

Psychology professor Robert Boice says you’re probably approaching it the wrong way. Boice spent years studying the writing habits of college professors to see what routines led to greater productivity and success. What he found is surprising.

After reviewing his findings, Boice concluded that the most productive writers actually focused on writing less. Rather than trying to blitz through their books and research papers, the most productive writers worked in short spurts — between 10 minutes and 4 hours at a time. On average, they produced less per day but more overall.

In 1994, Boice published his findings in an awkwardly titled book How Writers Journey to Comfort and Fluency. While the book didn’t exactly vault to the top of the bestseller’s list — to this day, it only has 33 ratings on Goodreads — Boice’s research recently resurfaced in Oliver Burkeman’s smash hit Four Thousand Weeks.

Radical Incrementalism

Burkeman leverages Boice’s research and gives it the catchy phrase “radical incrementalism.” Ever since I read that phrase, I haven’t been able to get it out of my head.

“So if a certain activity really matters to you — a creative project, say…the only way to be sure it will happen is to do some of it today, no matter how little, and no matter how many other genuinely big rocks may be begging for your attention.” -Oliver Burkeman

For years, I’ve left a number of big projects on the back burner because they felt too daunting to get started. The most glaring example was a book I’ve wanted to write. Four years ago, I started jotting down ideas for this book, but it remained unwritten. The very idea of writing a book felt MASSIVE, and it seemed like I didn’t have the time. I naively assumed that at some later time, I would (magically) have time to write the book.

So, guess what happened? The seeds of my book remained unwatered in the dark pages of my journal and never saw the light of day.

And, if not for radical incrementalism, they probably would have stayed that way. But then I read about Boice’s research and realized the key was just to take one small step forward.

That small step would be ridiculously inadequate and shockingly imperfect…but that’s precisely why it would help. Because success on mammoth projects is all about incremental progress — not perfection.

Start with Step 1

“Far too often, we don’t start because we can’t get our minds around the entire thing. We don’t take the first step because we can’t figure out the seventeenth step. But you don’t have to know the seventeenth step. You only have to know the first step…Start with 1.” -Rob Bell

In the vast majority of creative projects, we won’t know the seventeenth step of the process. Heck, we probably won’t even know the third step. For my book idea, I didn’t know what I would title the book, how I would find an agent or publisher, how I would market the book, and a host of other things.

But those things didn’t really matter. What mattered was Step 1. And I knew Step 1: start writing.

Step 1 is often ridiculously small, knee-knockingly scary, and disproportionately powerful.

So I set the microscopic goal of writing for 10 minutes per night. I figured that some nights, I’d put in my 10 minutes then call it a day, but on other nights, I’d probably want to keep writing.

Sure enough, my hypothesis has proven true. After three weeks embracing radical incrementalism, I’ve written eight chapters of my book (when I had previously made hardly any progress on it for the past several years).

“One of the best rules I’ve heard as a writer is that the way to write a book is by producing ‘two crappy pages a day.’” -Ryan Holiday

I share this personal example because it’s tangible and illustrative of the type of battle we all face with our seemingly MASSIVE projects. Whether it’s writing a book, running a marathon, learning a new language, composing a symphony, or simply cleaning out your garage, projects often loom larger in our brains than they are in reality.

Out on the horizon, we see a foggy image of our project, and it looks enormous. We can’t make out its full form, which makes it seem scarier. Because we can’t picture the whole thing, we allow the blurry edges of the project to expand and take on a monstrous quality. It seems ferocious, daunting, difficult to wrangle.

If you feel like that about something in your life right now, you are not alone. But just like the oft-repeated adage, the only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. The key is to identify the first step, then move boldly in that direction.

Success on mammoth projects is all about incremental progress — not perfection.

Step 1 is often ridiculously small, knee-knockingly scary, and disproportionately powerful. Here are a few examples of what Step 1 could look like for your project:

• If you want to run a marathon -> Set your alarm for tomorrow morning and set out your running shoes by your bed
• If you want to learn a new language -> Download an app like DuoLingo and arrange it prominently on your phone’s home screen
• If you want to clean out your garage -> Make an appointment for yourself to do it and write it on your calendar

What’s Your First Step?

What project has been sitting dormant in your journal, brain, garage, or sketchbook?

Does it feel truly MASSIVE?
The most important things always do.
That’s how you know they’re important.

And if you feel scared or overwhelmed, I totally get it.
I feel the same. Everyone does.
But you don’t need to figure out the full thing. You just need step 1.

What’s step 1? You probably already know.
I’m guessing it’s something small but still daunting.
Now you just need to decide to take that step.

In the words of author Nick Bilton, “Most people go through life thinking that tomorrow they’re going to do something great.”

Don’t be that person. Today, start small on something BIG.