The Importance of Micro Moments

When we’re striving to reach a particular goal in our lives, it’s easy to get caught up in the trap of thinking everything has to happen now. We get antsy and put pressure on ourselves to go from 0 to 100 quickly, and what often happens is that one failure is enough to derail the whole effort. Think of it trying to start a health journey. If you have a sedentary lifestyle with a poor diet on Monday, you can’t just change everything on Tuesday and expect it to stick. You might maintain your enthusiasm for a couple of days, but what usually happens is that people throw in the towel completely if they “mess up” and have a handful of candy on Friday evening. Meaningful change simply doesn’t happen overnight. 

This week’s podcast guest is Darleen Santore (or “Coach Dar” as she is known to many). With her unique background in business sports and as a board certified occupational therapist, Coach Dar works with CEOs, founders, leaders, and professional athletes who want to optimize their personal and professional lives (she even used to be a mental performance coach for the Phoenix Suns!). These types of people typically expect a lot from themselves and want to see results quickly; instead, Coach Dar helps them take the approach of “good, better, best.” It’s the little shifts that allow us all to start building lasting habits.

One of the things we discussed during our conversation was the importance of “micro moments”: those anchor points along our journey that allow us to pause and reflect. Coach Dar encourages her clients to check in with themselves on a daily basis to gauge their progress, and she gave several examples of how to set ourselves up to do so.   

Try it yourself:

• Set up a morning routine. After getting to know her clients and understand their goals, one of the very first things Coach Dar asks is whether they have a morning routine. Creating a moment of quiet and time for reflection right as you wake up helps fuel you for the day and allows you to move with intention. 

• Quiet your environment. Coach Dar told the story of an executive she worked with who lived in a major city with a lot of noise. There was so much sensory input happening at all times, and the result was that he could never truly quiet his mind. She encouraged him to buy sound cancellation headphones and make a commitment to leaving his office every day – even if just for five or ten minutes – to sit on a park bench, let the sun hit his face, and turn on a soundscape in his headphones. Though it may seem insignificant, those tiny moments can actually have a tremendous impact on your day. Challenge yourself to get out of your hustle mentality and take a moment to just be quiet and still. 

• Be mindful of who exists in your micro moments. We are all influenced by the people around us. Negative Nancys have a different effect than Positive Pollys. This is not to say that you have to completely cut out the people who don’t always have a cheery demeanor; instead, Coach Dar stressed the importance of simply being aware of their existence and what that means for you. When you are refueling and reflecting in your micro moments, someone who is judgmental or gossipy will drain and exhaust you. Use those moments just for yourself.