2-3-4 Friday

‘Seeking to spark the most potential within you per word of any online newsletter’

1 thought

If you want to make any change in your life, start tiny. So often, we look at the big and significant changes that we need to make to accomplish something. Like weightloss. But tiny is mighty. Because tiny is sustainable.

 

BJ Fogg, the Silicon Valley hotshot who inspired the likes of Instagram, argues that because we hear the stories of the Olympic athlete who trained 12 hours a day to reach her Olympic dream, or the entrepreneur who sold off all his assets to move to India to find serenity, we think that any type of significant change starts from there. 

 

It can… but often it doesn’t continue. BJ Fogg started sharing his two post-pee pushups as an example of tiny behaviours that moved him towards his goal of a healthier weight.

 

You might think - two pushups after peeing? You must be kidding me. That would neverwork. Well, it did for him, resulting in 20 pounds of weight loss. 

 

It did for me too. Coming into lockdown in April 2020, I committed to 10 minutes of exercise everyday. Whether I was tired or not, I would just put on my shoes and lift some weights.

 

It resulted in 14kg of weight drop in 3 months. These sound incredible. 

 

But tiny is mighty. To put this into action, look at an aspiration you have today. It may be something like - change a job. What’s one small action you could take? Actions and aspirations are different. Aspirations are in the future. Actions are things you can do right now. 

It may be as small as sending one CV every day. Just one. Nothing more. No need for fancy edits to the CV. Just find one opening, and send it. Tiny action, big aspiration. 

1 talk

Tiny is mighty. 

1 tip 

Want to change a habit instead?

 

Use the Swarm of Behaviors Approach by BJ Fogg. On a piece of paper, write down all the actions that lead to your specific behavior. Say you want to stop ‘having poor sleep’. The behaviours may be: 

1. Having a 3pm coffee 
2. Using my phone in bed 
3. Checking emails at 9pm 
4. … 

You get the idea. Start from the easiest behavior that you can address - say ‘checking my emails at 9pm’. Then find an alternative habit that addresses why you’re doing the current habit.

 

With emails, I realised I was doing that because I wanted to feel needed, important, and that I could solve someone’s problem. Knowing that, I switched those late night emails to writing letters to my friends, something that helped me feel like I was encouraging them, and with none of the downside of the blue light. 

 

Again, start small. I didn’t start trying to write a letter every night. It was just 2 sentences. If I was tired, I stopped. 

Start tiny. Radically tiny. 

 

That’s the way to lasting change. 

 

P.S. Want to think differently about a problem you're facing? Talk to me, (and no worries, there's no fee!)

 

John

Live Young, Live Well - Work Your Love