In New York in the early 80's there was a frequently run commercial for GEMINI, a Broadway show by playwright Albert Innaurato. The humorous ad was memorable for a particular moment when a motherly character tells her overweight son to "take human bites" as he wolfs down her home cooked meal. The line was funny at the time in the context of the scene from the play, and it still resonates with me all these years later as a mantra for much more than dining etiquette.
Human Bites = Small Attainable Goals
This is not rocket science. We perform better when we feel confident. We feel confident when we have a sense of accomplishment. We have a sense of accomplishment when we are productive and achieve goals. To regularly accomplish goals, we have to set them to be challenging yet attainable. To make goals attainable we have to break them down into human bites. A daily "to-do" list of 100 items is not a human bite. With a daily list that large you are destined for despair. 5 tasks you will actually complete in a day is a bite sized meal that will leave you satisfied that you got stuff done and feeling motivated to do more.
The Whole Is Equal To The Sum Of It's Parts
Break down big goals into a series of smaller attainable accomplishments. This works for just about everything. At the gym faced with 25 reps of your least favorite exercise? Count them off as 5 sets of 5 and see how much easier it is. Long term goals can be achieved one year, one month, one week, one day at a time. Celebrate each small step as an accomplishment and an important move closer to your bigger prize.
You can't consume an entire meal in one gulp. Take human bites!
