✅ Big transformations require small experiments
The Power of Small Experiments
I love an upgrade. I love tweaking a process for the better. I really like seeing transformation. And after years of trying to revamp, update, and demand change on my timeline, I realized there's another way that's highly effective, long lasting, and.... easy.
Small experiments, small changes, tiny habits are all ways I now know will help me move to my goals. And I've made massive changes in my life over the past two years by doing the smallest next step possible. So this newsletter is my anti-advice for making big, lasting change.
This week, I want to offer some anti-advice.
We live in the midst of the optimization movement, bombarded by new apps and op-eds offering the latest in productivity hacks, and the like-- meant to improve and upgrade your life.
As Alexandra Schwartz put it in 2018,
“We are being sold on the need to upgrade all parts of ourselves, all at once,
including parts that we did not previously know needed upgrading.”
All of this draws on a natural human instinct to grow, changing our behaviors can feel like a monumental task. We pressure ourselves to go big or go home. Caterpillar directly to butterfly. ASAP. Big expectations and sweeping changes are often unmanageable over time. So we end up back where we started but unmotivated and self-critical.
This is certainly common pattern I see in myself and my clients, who are ambitious and can lean towards perfectionism in their desire to get it right.
I know it might seem ironic coming from a coach, but hear me out: I want you to take a look at one thing that isn’t working in your life and think of one very small thing you could do differently for a limited time. (Maybe a couple weeks or a few months).
Watch what can happen with even the smallest change in your routine or approach.
How is one small thing going to make a difference in my life?
Understanding how to build new habits (and how your current habits work) is essential for making progress. We have to navigate the gap from caterpillar to butterfly in several steps - not one leap.
It doesn’t have to be overly complicated. Start with something so small that you won’t face any resistance trying to meet it. It’s simple, intuitive, and consistent with the suggestions of other brilliant thinkers about habits such as BJ Fogg and James Clear.
The compounding effects of small habits are underestimated. All big things come from small beginnings with consistent practice. Actually being able to start and continue a new pattern is crucial.
You can always grow your goal, but it’s not as feasible to scale your goal down (without feeling as if you’ve defeated the goal!). As Fogg says, in a culture that emphasizes going big, it takes courage to start small.
With enough repetitions of even getting 1% better, you’ll get compounding results. All you have to do is follow the curve of tiny gains (or tiny losses!)
Try a small experiment of your own.
Determine one area you’d like to see a change
Define the smallest step you can make
Define a small new habit that moves you towards this change
Decide when you’ll start your new habit (tip: connect it to a standing habit or milestone you won’t miss)
Track + celebrate what you’ve done (woo-hoo!) - I have a chart below that’s great to use.
Take a look back after a few weeks and assess your results.
Take the next step forward.
...and be sure to let me know what ends up happening!
Dive Deeper
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BJ Fogg has done great work in this space of changing habits. Check out his work.
Atomic Habits by James Clear gives research and many techniques for setting new habits, breaking bad habits and more. He's been a guest on many a podcast as well.
A tidy don’t break the chain tracker designed by one of my clients (!!). Keep yourself accountable and Don't Break The Chain of your new commitment.
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