Sometimes I imagine a sign in my office, just above the door, that says “Perfection is the enemy of progress.” I think about this a lot, especially when I see people who are hard on themselves, who discount small efforts as insufficient, or who describe themselves as lazy, or incompetent, or unfocused. They are none of these. If anything they are precisely the opposite — hard-working, goal-directed and applied — but they tend to believe that if they can’t give it their all, there’s no sense trying because there can be no chance of success.

But it is not true that you need to do yoga at least a couple of times a week in order to benefit. And it’s not true that you need to start running 2 miles every day to be in shape or call yourself active. Just as you probably don’t need to scrub every last bit of sugar from your diet to consider yourself a healthy eater.

What is true, in both an abstract as well as a mathematical way — which is why I like thinking about it this way — is that whereas 10 minutes is twice 5 (and I seriously hope that there is no objection about that), 5 is infinitely more than 0. Going for a walk, no matter how short or long, is so very much more than not walking at all.

Increasing your activity level is about doing a little bit more than you used to. It’s about going slowly, so you don’t injure yourself and end up right back where you started. It’s about finding more opportunities to move, even if they are small. You’re not training for the Olympics, you’re just trying to move.

Do the math!