From the author: This article is a continuation of my thoughts set out in the previous article on the topic “How to start taking action? Procrastination and laziness." Here I cover the topic of the art of taking small steps towards a big goal. I bring interesting metaphors and observations. I summarize this article with a very beautiful and deep prayer by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Happy reading! The first thing that comes to mind in connection with this topic is the Frank Oz film “What About Bob?” (English: What About Bob?). The main character Bob Wiley, played by the brilliant actor Bill Murray, came to his initial appointment with a new psychotherapist, Dr. Leo Marvin (Richard Dreyfuss), and learned that he was going on vacation and could not immediately begin psychotherapy with him. But the doctor gave the visiting patient his new book “Baby Steps” while the first one rested. Baby steps towards a big goal. Bob literally took the doctor’s advice and began to walk everywhere with “baby steps.” This is a very anecdotal situation, but it has a deep meaning. To reach your goal, you must literally go towards it with “baby steps.” I will give the following metaphor about a mammoth (or an elephant). The caveman caught a mammoth in a pit and decided to eat it alone. But if he tries to eat it in one go, he will definitely get a stomach ache, or it will cause vomiting (as the ancient Romans often did after another hedonistic feast), and maybe even worse - die from overeating. Afterwards there will be no such enthusiasm to catch a new mammoth. On the other hand, you can eat the mammoth one piece at a time. At one time - a delicious leg, the next time - a neck tenderloin, and so on from the trunk to the tip of the tail until only tusks and bones remain. Unfortunately, primitive people did not have modern refrigerators to store large carcasses of caught animals, and the whole flock had to eat elephants until the next hunt. However, eating a mammoth piece by piece allows you to thoroughly digest each part of it and appropriate it for yourself. In this metaphor we are talking about goal setting, correlating one’s strengths and capabilities with the task and goal set. “Mozart” in the world of psychology, Lev Semenovich Vygotsky, introduced the concept of “zone of proximal development” when he considered and spoke about the development of children. What it is? Vygotsky meant by this term the relationship between the learning process and the mental development of the child. Each child, being at his own point of development, has already acquired skills in the form of automatism. For him, this is a familiar and comfortable situation. Each subsequent task should be within the capabilities of a developing child. An adult helps to cope with new difficulties (helps, not does for him!). If you give the task more than the child’s capabilities, he will not cope and will most likely “close” for some time from search activities. If you give a task that is easy enough, the child will quickly complete it, remaining at the same point of development where he was. It is precisely the zone of proximal development that is determined by the content of those tasks that the child cannot yet solve on his own, but is able to solve in joint activities with an adult. What was previously impossible to accomplish on our own becomes habitual and turns into a new automatism. As an adult, each of us retains this plan and pattern of development. For example, young actors who are still studying at theater institutes and schools are gradually mastering acting skills. In this case, the course masters also help to gradually overcome difficulties, revealing the acting nature of each student. They learn the activity step by step. First, they make sketches of animals, objects and sketches for the memory of physical actions and sensations (abbr. PF&O). Afterwards they move on to studies of single organic silence, then to organic silence in pairs and then to improvisational studies with words. Then they make various excerpts on classical works of domestic and foreign