I know I’ve reflected on the concept of little by little growth and little by little living. But today, I think of it again as I’m building a new course for the Honor’s College at Penn State. Because no one can predict what will happen yet in the fall semester, I’m designing week-by-week modules where students can access everything they need remotely. Each week features key objectives, the homework for the week, the things to read and watch, and discussions to post. It’s a laborious task. Each week takes a long time to build, so when you think of sixteen weeks, it’s overwhelming.
But it’s not overwhelming if you simply build day-by-day. The day-by-day turns into the week-by-week, and soon, the whole thing works. But each time I sit at my desk, I tell myself that I only need to build little-by-little, maybe even only one week a day.
It’s how I weeded the garden. It’s how I even clean the kitchen. I have to start in a really small space, do that thing, and move on to the next really small thing. And it all adds up to finishing the Big Thing–whatever that thing is.
So start small today. Do a tiny little bit.