The Key to Making Progress on the SAT or ACT is Smaller Than You Think

Want to know how to make progress with your test prep?

Even though it's important to have a big-picture goal, that isn't always enough. Along with knowing what you are aspiring toward and why you want to get there, it's also important to understand how to make attaining that goal feasible. That means understanding the small steps that compound to realize your big goal. Big goals aren't  reached in a spurt of intense work, but through small, consistent investments of time and energy.  

The problem is that sometimes small and consistent actions come with their own resistance. 

Sure, they are more sustainable than weeks spent living, breathing, and sleeping a goal. But they also require perseverance. They require saying "Yes," and then saying "Yes" again.

I've already given you a list of suggestions of what to do when you're not in the mood, but there's something I didn't mention in that post... 

Something that's so key that it pretty much requires its own post so that you can really let it sink in...

Sometimes starting small isn't saying "I'm going to do an hour of prep three days a week for 8 weeks" vs. "I'm going to do three 8-hour days of prep the week before the test." 

We often think of small steps as a daily goal, like doing an hour of prep work or completing a practice test. But, when coming up against resistance, it is more helpful to think of small steps as the even smallerpreparatory micro-steps position us to do the work.

Sometimes starting small is saying, "You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to walk to my desk. Then, I'm going to open my prep book."

The key to starting is often found in taking the smallest steps possible to put yourself in a position to do something.

An object in motion stays in motion—but first you need to get the ball rolling. {Tweet It!}

One day last week, I looked down at my rug and thought, "I really ought to vacuum." 
But, rather than vacuuming, I filed it away as a note in my head. 

I said the same thing to myself the next day. 
And the next day. 
And the next day.

Until it has probably been a week of my telling myself, "I really ought to vacuum."  

Finally, I actually scheduled it in, and, when the time came, I took out the vacuum.

Taking out the vacuum was the hardest part, because the HUGE irony is that once I started vacuuming, I had SO MUCH FUN! I remembered that I love vacuuming! I love how it seems to make the air cleaner and it sucks up all of the specks of dust and how it is such little effort for such impressive results. (I also happen to think my particular vacuum cleaner is quite aesthetically pleasing.)

Some days, when I had intended to go for a run but am not in the mood, I tell myself, "Just put on your running clothes, and then decide what you want to do." So, I put on my running clothes.
By the time I'm laced up, I'm usually mentally energized for my run.

On the rare occasion that I'm still feeling resistance, I tell myself, "Just grab your keys, and walk downstairs, and out the door."

If I'm still feeling resistance, I tell myself, "Just run to Central Park, and keep going for five minutes."

Once those first five minutes are done, I'm good for at least another fifteen.  (Maybe forty.)

All I need to do is get started. Once I've started, my brain pattern switches from, "I don't feel like it" to, "Now that I've come this far, I bet I can go even further." 

As hard as it is to initiate actions, the process of taking an action that is in alignment with our goals feels good, above and beyond any pleasure we feel from the activity itself.

So, the next time you have prep work to do and just don't feel like it, start by setting a smaller goal. Do a before-prep ritual like free writing or meditating. Take out your prep book. If your goal is to finish two sections, start with one. Then, see how you feel.

Hopefully, the rush of "mission accomplished" is enough to carry you to the next level. By the end of the session, you'll have achieved everything you set out to do, one small step at a time.

PS: Visual cues can also be helpful in the "one small step" process. That could mean posting a calendar on your wall where you check off the days when you've completed your prep, putting your prep book on your desk in the morning, so that it's ready for you when you come home from school, or even coming up with some sort of motivating mantra, like "I act with purpose" (one of my favorites) or "I accomplish what I set out to do," and writing it in your  school planner every week.


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