By Leo Babauta

A lot of the time, we have so much we want to change about our lives that it feels daunting and overwhelming — and so we struggle to even get started. How can we tackle life changes when there is so much to be done?

I’m going to give you a few important tips that I hope will help.

1. Start somewhere — anywhere. Any small change is often better than none. Pick anything at random and get started with it! Don’t worry about the order, or how many, just pick one.

2. Don’t underestimate the power of doing little bits at a time. If you have a huge pile of clothes to fold, don’t worry about the whole pile — pick one up and get started on that. Do the next. Take a break after a little while, and come back to it. By doing a little at a time, you’ll clear the whole pile eventually. In your life, if you have a lot of things to tackle, can you do a little bit at a time?

3. Do small changes instead of big ones. If you want to start sleeping earlier, set your wake-up alarm for 15 minutes earlier, and set a reminder at night to shut down for bed just a little earlier than you’re doing now. Change slowly. Same with exercise — can you just do 10 minutes today? Decluttering, tackling your finances, tackling your todo list — these can all be done in small steps instead of big ones.

4. Change your environment. Make it harder to do the comfortable thing, and easier to do the thing that will help you in the long run. For example, have an Internet blocker that shuts down your Internet access at a certain time at night, so it’ll be easier to go to sleep. Have a nice book to read to bed. Do exercise with another person. These kinds of changes will help us make the choices we really want to make.

What one small change can you start with today?