The Power Behind Chunking Large Things Into Small Pieces
Anything worthy of accomplishing is sure to appear as a lofty endeavor at first glance. Oftentimes, such a thing will seem unattainable when taken in as a whole. In order for it – whatever it may be – to be rightfully accomplished, you must break it up, even if only inside your own mind.
For example, if you come to the conclusion that in the best interest of your metabolic health, your aim is to lose 30 pounds. Assuming the weight is there to lose, this is entirely possible, though not in a week’s time.
As the 14th century English playwright, John Heywood once coined, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.”
Rome, in fact, was not built in a day. It was built through a body of work, over many days, weeks, months and years. Bricks were laid each day, to speak figuratively. To attempt this construction in a week’s time would be ludicrous – just as much now as it would have been then.
The same is to be said for the goals you set for yourself. The weight won’t come off today. Your resting heart rate won’t drop twenty beats in 24 hours-time. Your legs won’t be prepared to carry you 60 miles after just a day’s work.
These things take time, and the ability to think micro when working on the macro.
Start With One
It’s incredibly easy to get ahead of yourself, when diving head-first into something that has your curiosity and interest peaked – something you’re excited about. This is where we humans tend to encounter burnout.
Not good. But, it can be avoided.
Here’s a really solid example:
On December 24th, 2009, Joe Rogan, who at the time was known as the “Fear Factor Guy,” sat down to record his first podcast. Rogan has many times discussed this decision, and how it was openly mocked by his friends and co-workers.
It seems crazy to us, in the year 2023, that podcasts were virtually non-existent just fourteen years ago – but it’s true. No one could quite comprehend the vision that he had at the time. No one, but him. And that’s all he needed.
Present day, The Joe Rogan Experience is known as the world’s most popular podcast, reaching hundreds of millions of listeners. The podcast has landed Joe an incredibly lucrative deal with Spotify for the rights to stream his content exclusively. What has now become a massive success story, began with just one episode. One decision that eventually led to its current state.
What should come as a surprise to no one is that the fame and riches didn’t automatically appear after that first episode, nor the second, or even the fifty-second. The process took many years, and well over a thousand podcast recordings.
A key aspect to this level of success – Joe himself attests to this – has been his ability to break things down. Working with the primary goal in mind, but taking it step by step. His focus from the jump was whatever is next on the calendar. Whichever guest is next to appear on his show. Over time, this consistency compounds. The proof is in the pudding, so to speak.
If this example of Joe Rogan’s success in the podcasting sphere seems basic and borderline trivial, good – that’s because it is.
At the end of the day, the fame that Joe has amassed would be non-existent if not for his ability to begin with one. To begin with just one without the thoughts of future successes in mind. To begin with just one and to live in the moment.
Your future depends on the moments you live right this second. How you spend your time is a testament to the future you should expect. And this is in your hands entirely.
Chunk It Up
It’s easy to become overwhelmed when addressing a large task or daunting challenge. This is true in your work life, extracurricular endeavors, home projects, and everything in between the lines.
Coincidentally, I just recently had an eye opening conversation with a student of mine. We’ll call this student Bobby.
Currently, my students are finishing up the final weeks of their school year. We, as adults, can likely remember the feelings associated with closing in on another school year gone by – I know that I most certainly can. The feelings of anticipation, of bliss, and of a weight lifted from your shoulders.
Summer time, at last.
Oh, but the final two weeks of the school year. There is still work yet to be completed and turned in for final grades. Time crunch, initiated.
Bobby came to me just the other day, really upset and overwhelmed. A poetry project for English class was due in just two days. “five poems in two days!” He exclaimed. “There just isn’t enough time!” Throughout the remainder of the conversation, I facilitated the roll of stability, to calm Bobby down and offer some level of clarity. Sure, five poems in just two days seems like an awful lot, when phrased as such. This mindset is sure to get the best of us worked up.
Five poems in two days? No – two poems today, one poem tonight, two poems tomorrow. Each poem allowed time for its fair share of attention and detail. This breakdown – or, chunking – made sense to Bobby. Suddenly, the task wasn’t so terrifying after all – it was no longer unattainable.
Bobby was then good to go, ready to attack each task, one at a time.
This scenario is all-too similar to a useful mindset that I’ve adopted in my long-distance running efforts.
I’ll elaborate.
Break it down, Then break it down again
It’s 5:00 am, a pitch dark Saturday morning. You stand at the start line of a 100 kilometer race. Your nerve levels are spiked, exponentially. It’s time to let it fly!
The gun sounds, and you’re off.
If, even for a second, you say to yourself “Only 13 hours and 60 miles to go!” You’re done for. You might as well mail it in. The magnitude of such an undertaking is too much for the mind to fully conceptualize as a whole. Herein lies the importance of breaking things up into smaller, more digestible and quantifiable pieces – just as Bobby was able to do with his poetry project.
I repeat – take the macro and make it micro.
From the start line of a lengthy race, let’s say that aid station #1 is at mile-marker ten. In this case, those ten miles are all that you can give the time of day. Upon reaching the first aid station, refueling and re-calibrating, your focus is allowed to shift.
As I often say, onto the next.
This, however, does not mean that your focus is shifted toward the remaining 50 miles, but rather the 12 miles that lay between your current standing and that of the next aid station. This level of chunking continues, until even the 10-13 miles between aid stations becomes too long a distance to fathom. It’s at this point that the DNF’s (Did Not Finish) begin to stack up – the equivalent of throwing in the towel on a work project with an approaching deadline that seems impossible to complete with the mass of work left to conquer.
When you’ve run 45 miles, and your feet feel (literally) broken beneath you, each muscle and tendon in your legs thumping with a heartbeat of its own and your gut is beginning to reject certain foods and fluids – your brain doesn’t want to let you take another step, much less run another 17 miles. But, your body can.
And so, it becomes one mile at a time. Checking them off one by one, until, of course, this becomes (and it will) just too much. One mile may as well be halfway across the country after your body has carried you 50+ miles over the last ten hours.
Your body is broken, your mind numb. You look up toward the horizon ahead and pick out a road sign. This becomes your new finish line. Your new goal. From where you stand, getting your body to that next road sign is all that matters at that moment. When that goal is attained, you reward yourself by walking (limping) to the next road sign. On and on this will continue, until the job is finished.
The magnitude of something once so large has now been broken into the smallest of pieces. Pieces that your mind and body can comprehend, even in their most exhausted state.
The parallels to life, work and everything in between should speak for themselves.
You’re no longer engulfed in and consumed by something unattainable. You’re somewhere between two road signs, in the middle of nowhere. Where most might be lost, you know exactly where you are.
Forged in Fire 
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