Imagine this:
You’re not a natural athlete.
You’re not the kind of person who thrives in a gym, lifting weights or pounding out miles on a treadmill.
You’re just a person, maybe heavier than you’d like to be, maybe out of shape after years of work and routine.
That was Stephen Duneier in 2007.
Looking in the mirror, he saw the reality: 25 pounds overweight and ready for a change.
But instead of the usual promises—no pizza, no excuses, a gym membership he’d never use—he asked himself a simple question:
“What am I already doing that I enjoy?”
The answer wasn’t flashy.
It wasn’t lifting weights or signing up for boot camp.
It was walking.
Fresh air. A little quiet. A chance to think.
So, instead of vowing to shed 25 pounds, he made a different kind of commitment:
He’d hike all 33 trails in the front country of the Santa Barbara mountains.
Here’s the surprising part: Stephen had never hiked before.
Not once.
But he broke the goal into steps—literally.
The first decision wasn’t about summiting a peak.
It was about putting down the remote, tying his shoes, and stepping outside the front door.
Small choices, stacking up day by day.
By the end of the year, he had done it: all 33 trails, some of them multiple times.
The weight came off, but it wasn’t just about that anymore.
It was about the habits he’d built, the sense of accomplishment he carried with him, and the way those trails changed something deeper inside him.
Stephen didn’t stop there.
That year, he capped it all off with the Pier to Peak half marathon, often called one of the hardest in the world.
And he crossed the finish line.
But here’s the real lesson:
Big changes don’t start with big, dramatic gestures.
They begin with the smallest, simplest decision—the one you make when no one else is watching.
For Stephen, it was choosing to get up from the couch and take that first step.
Change doesn’t happen overnight.
It’s built through small, quiet moments—the ones that often go unnoticed.
For Stephen, it was a simple walk.
What’s a step you could take, just for yourself?
This post was inspired by Stephen Duneier’s Ted Talk, How to Achieve Your Most Ambitious Goals.