Matt’s daughter told him that this episode’s guest is someone who can change the world.

Caroline Gaynor, a highly successful business person, and endurance athlete, demonstrates that satisfaction is often found when acting in the service of others. Take a moment to imagine training to complete a full Ironman triathlon (2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike, and 26.2-mile run). Now imagine doing that same event, nearly 30 times, guiding someone every step of the way – specifically someone who cannot see the path ahead. Listen to this amazing conversation with Matt and Caroline now.

In a recent WSJ piece, Jason Zweig discusses two things to do when the stock market gets crazy. The article and Zweig’s advice are worth your time (and the tips should sound familiar).

What’s more, Zweig highlights some long view thoughts from recent podcast guest, Hal Hershfield.

“Our distant future selves feel like different people from who we are now,” says Hal Hershfield, a behavioral scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles, who studies how time affects people’s decisions. “It can become especially difficult to keep those distant selves in mind when there’s so many emotions in the present—in the form of temptation or fear.”

If you haven’t already, listen here to the podcast episode with Hal Hershfield.

When tackling big, audacious goals, you don’t need big, audacious actions. All you need is the contagious magic of micro-actions.

Let me give you an example.

When I travel, I often don’t feel like exercising, even though I know I’ll feel way better if I
do. So, in the morning, I don’t commit to a program to lose 12 pounds in twelve days or promise myself to run for 40 minutes. I just put on my gym clothes.

That’s it.

And then, since my gym clothes are on, I almost always decide to just walk to the gym and take a look.

What happens next is what almost always happens when I step into a gym: I see the bikes and think, “I bet it will feel good to get on one of those for a few minutes.” So I do.

And other exercises naturally follow that.

After I exercise, I think, “Man, it would feel great to stretch,” so I do that, too. And then, since I’m on a roll, I decide to eat a healthy breakfast instead of sugary garbage. Later at work, I’m extra productive since my body feels great.

See what I mean about contagious?

There’s a reason 80% of New Year’s Resolutions fail. The problem isn’t the goals, it’s the way we go about trying to tackle them. We try to go big and burn out, forgetting that “slow and steady wins the race.”

The magic here is in breaking down big, hard, sometimes even scary goals into attainable pieces. Find something small and attainable you can do, start there, and let the contagious magic of micro-actions do the rest.