Big Change, Little Effort

Ok. First things first. Are you a sceptic? Don’t believe that small, focused changes made consistently over a longer period of time can bring enormous change? If eating 1 extra pad of butter each day for a year can lead to a 10 pound weight increase, and walking an extra block each day for a month can significantly increase our cardio health, then committing to 1 small, daily, life-enhancing action can bring about greater peace of mind, empowerment, financial benefits, health gains, and a vast variety of other things – depending on where you focus your energy. Try this:

  1. Set a Goal to change something small – try switching from white bread to multi-grain, or go to bed 5 minutes earlier each night. Whatever you choose, make it small and easily do-able each day.
  2. Connect the Goal to something bigger – for example, by switching to multi-grain, you are enhancing your overall health. Getting to bed 5 minutes earlier might not seem like much, but 5 minutes of extra sleep may be a great place to start if you are sleep deprived, or perhaps, you will be able to get up 5 minutes earlier and walk to the subway, or finally get that garbage to the curb on time. Again, these are small actions that contribute to your overall life satisfaction.
  3. Try breaking your giant task down into tiny steps. Have something HUGE to do? Like cook Thanksgiving dinner for 15? Chop the carrots and put them in the freezer on Monday, dice the turnip on Tuesday, peel and cut the yams on Wednesday. You get the picture. Small goals consistently undertaken get the job down easily and quickly.

Small goals work for a few reasons:

  • First, it is easier to find 10 minutes a day to dedicate to your goal, then 1 or so each week.
  • Second, big goals can feel overwhelming.
  • Third, small tasks can often be delegated to others. Yup that’s right – maybe you don’t even have to dice the turnip!

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