In a recent blog, Can a step in the right direction be too small? this question was asked and answered with a resounding, ‘No.’
I thought to take up this topic through the lens of a Manifesto Musing, as the small step or action, is at the heart of Mark McKergow’s Six Solutions Tools model of his Solution Focused Coaching. He further amplifies the potential richness of the small step through his ‘5 Ways a Small Step Becomes a Great Small Step’. This model and this strategy are foundation stones in the coaching that follows the elicitation of a personal manifesto in the my manifesto process
In the check-in which concludes the Premium Experience, the my manifesto coach demonstrates with your newly minted personal manifesto, how to use it as a framework to guide you towards leading an intentional, authentic life. Your manifesto represents your best life and as such has an aspirational quality to it. In determining how close you see yourself to successfully living that life in your present day, the coach asks you to rate yourself. In most instances, you do not rate yourself as a 10/10 – however, it is possible to be this rating – albeit often fleetingly.
The next question the coach will ask concerns your rating (note, this rating is subjective, of course as all coaching with my manifesto is based on the understanding that you know you best). Initially discovering how you have achieved your rating, the coach will list the steps you have taken, the actions you have identified, which have led to your current rating. In encouraging you to choose your next step to begin to close the gap from your current reality to the life of your personal manifesto, the coach will ask if any of these steps or actions could be done again. To expand the list, you will be asked whether there is anything else you could also do.
This list of your steps becomes your track record of what has succeeded for you, what has worked well. In the spirit of the wisdom identified in our earlier blog, the selection of a small step or single action, from a personally generated and trialled list, is the most sustainable approach to proceeding; it also has the most potential to succeed. From that success, an energy is generated which has the potential to fuel further steps.
McKergow’s ‘5 Ways’… adds further scope for greater impact from your small step. Your small step needs to pass the following checklist:
Your small step, or should we now say, ‘your road tested great small step’, can take you closer to living your preferred life in a unique, achievable, and sustainable way. Go well!