Mother Theresa says, “Do small things with great love.” When I read her quote, my mind goes to her lifetime filled with acts of kindness to everyone she touched. But I also believe it applies to ourselves. Are you doing small things with love for yourself?

It is the small things done with presence, done with love, that change your life.

A small thing could be getting up 15 minutes earlier each day to spend some time in quiet or learning something new about how to make even better donor calls. Both are small things, but they make a big difference.

Why? Because they are small acts that lead to bigger goals that fulfill your life. Your bigger goal might be to have more peace and presence throughout your day, or to learn how to build more trust and partnerships with your donors. Bigger goals can feel overwhelming and impossible to reach, but the amazing truth is the only way to get there is one small step at a time.

So all you need to do is that one small step!

Many of us have heard the Chinese proverb from the Dao De Jing, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” I particularly like thinking about taking one small step at a time with love. Love can be defined in many ways and has many faces, but to get us started, I think of self-love meaning something like: I choose to get up 15 minutes earlier because I want to give myself the gift of peace. That I choose a difference life of presence for myself and know I can access my whole self if I give myself that quiet time.

It would mean learning how to make better donor calls – not because I’m beating myself up or thinking I’m not good enough or that I should be better than Joe down the hall, but because I believe I can create a more meaningful experience for me and for my donors.

When you are reaching out to donors from love, those partnerships will result in revenue, and that revenue becomes about love because your donor wants to change the world.

OK, so let’s have some fun with this. Here is an article that lists 100 simple ways to improve your life. Use the article to identify one small thing you want to do this week. And then use these questions to set yourself up to do one small thing this week with love.

1. What would you be thinking, saying to yourself, and feeling if you were doing that small thing, not because you have to, but because you get to?
2. If you are doing this with love, realistically how many times do you want to do this small thing this week?
3. At the end of the week, check in with yourself on how it felt to do that one small thing with love.
4. And then either continue with that one small thing, add a second small thing, or try a new one.

Notice how different it feels to do a small thing with love than do a small thing because you feel you have to or “should.”

The crazy thing is all we really have is each moment. Let me know how shifting to doing one small thing with love shifts your life and where it leads you.

Karen