I’m sure at some point you’ve heard someone say, “If you take care of the small things, the big things will take care of themselves.” This quote is attributed to American poet Emily Dickinson, who often wrote about the importance of prioritizing life’s small moments. 

  This philosophy can be applied to all areas of life, but I find it to be especially powerful when we apply it to our health. 

  One of the first things we usually do when considering our health is identify areas we’d like to improve and set goals for them. These goals often include lofty ideals, such as losing a certain amount of weight, or vague outcomes such as getting stronger. While these are great places to start, identifying these outcomes is not where we should settle. 

 In relation to our health, we’ll call the initial goals we set the big things. These big things cannot be achieved in one day and will take time and effort to be actualized. They are our desired destination, but aren’t actionable themselves. “Losing weight” or “getting stronger” are not things we can specifically take action on. Rather, they are a byproduct of consistency of actions we do have control over, which we will call the small things. 

The small things are every day actions that we have control over right now. Examples of these can include and are not limited to what I eat, how much I eat, what type and how much exercise I do, how much water I drink, what I choose to consume through education or entertainment, what help and guidance I seek, and who I spend my time with. These types of actions, the small things, need to align with our desired outcome, the big thing. 

When we identify the small things that are necessary to lead us to our big thing, it’s important we spend the majority of our time focusing on them. 

If we get wrapped up in constantly looking at whether or not we have reached our goal yet, then we will not take the daily actions necessary to actually get there. If we spend our time focused on the small things, eventually we will reach our big thing with what feels like minimal effort. 

If I had a goal of getting stronger, my small things would include making sure I prioritize strength training at least three days per week, eating enough protein to promote muscle growth, and sleeping at least eight hours per night.      

Consistency of these small things would directly lead to me achieving my big thing of getting stronger. Focusing all of my attention on wishing I was stronger, however, will not.

Emily Dickinson was not famous for her poetry while she was alive. She spent the majority of her time alone, writing. It wasn’t until after her death that people close to her found her body of work and shared it with the public. She focused on the small thing, creating what was important to her, and the rest was taken care of. The same kind of focus on the small things of our health will lead us to the outcome we desire.