Small Efforts Matter

 “Success is the sum of small efforts repeated day in and day out.”  - Robert Collier

Big things and little things, doesn’t it seem like that’s how we sort our lives out? Pandemic? That’s a big thing. Re-opening schools, also pretty big. Someone walking down a public street while being black? So not a big deal. Well, it shouldn’t be, but recently it was. The fact that one person did pick up the phone to report another person as suspicious because of their skin color is pretty big. Who does that? I wish I could say it was just a fluke, but it’s not. Calls like that happen every day, in small towns and big cities. What is the thought process that goes into making a call like that? Who thinks, “A brown person? OMG, I better call the cops!”  Never mind, I do not want to know, it would probably make me cranky, and almost no one enjoys that.

 

It’s hard not to get mired down in small, petty problems. Crankiness is not just a problem at my house; I think we are all pretty close to melting down and lashing out. Social media is full of arguments on the schools, public health, the upcoming election, masks, distancing, and so much else. People are screeching at each over their keyboards making every noisy kid party and every pick-up basketball game a “Get off my lawn” moment.  We’re all going from zero to sixty in a nanosecond. Guess what? The last straw is something nearly insignificant, but when you hit critical mass, emotionally, that last straw feels like someone dropped an anvil on your foot.

 

Recently, a very close friend got a frightening medical diagnosis. Do you want to talk big thing, versus little? This was big. Huge, even. There’s a plan in place, however, and it will all be fine because quite frankly, everyone who knows her will make sure of it. How will we do that? My bet is that it will be a long string of small moments and little gestures. Help with carpools, bringing a meal, picking a bunch of flowers and sticking them in a red Solo cup just for fun.

There’s probably some complicated math equation that has to be solved, some kind of ratio of how many kind moments, how many tiny efforts we have to make to shrink a big problem into something that can be dealt with easier. Think about it. On the one hand, we have this major virus happening. COVID rules our world now. It’s overwhelming and scary, and it touches every single part of our lives. What’s the answer? I have no idea. What I do know, however, is that every time someone shows me a kindness, no matter how small, it makes the larger issue a little easier to bear. There is immeasurable value in finding a box of tea, or a pan of brownies on your doorstep. Will brownies and chamomile solve the world’s problems? No, of course not. But when they come from someone who sees what you’re going through and understands that you just need that one small, bright moment? It can light up your world.

 

If we consider every major world problem or crisis, we find that matters like pandemics, wars, economic issues, and environmental concerns need big solutions, with lots of moving parts, thousands of people involved, millions of dollars, and usually years to come to fruition. That’s just reality.  Know what else is true? Enmeshed in all of these really big, really serious undertakings, are a ton of very small efforts, that might not always seem relevant. They are though. They are like small anchors that prevent us from getting swept away by a rogue wave.

 

If we get so overwhelmed by a problem that we can’t imagine what big steps to take, I’d say to take a few small steps first. Is there someone you know you can bounce ideas off? Bring them a coffee, sit down for a few, and tell them everything. You’d be surprised what you can gain from that. Is a friend facing something unimaginable, and you want to just make it all better, but you can’t? Show up with cookies. Seriously, isn’t everyone baking up a storm in the pandemic? You probably have a few sacks of flour and some chocolate chips in your cupboard, right? Make the cookies.

 

Sometimes you don’t need to fix every part of every problem. Sometimes small efforts really do add up to more than the whole. Ya, the math people will say that’s not true, but trust me, it is, especially now. No effort is too small if the goal is to help make a situation better.