I’ve got a question for you!
How do we become the people we need to be to live the lives we want to live, do the things we want to do, and face the challenges we want to (or must, because of forces beyond our control)?
There are countless ways to pursue these outcomes.
The one I’ve found to be most effective and sustainable is to implement small, simple, daily changes and maintain them over time.
In practice, this means deciding to put away yesterday’s washed dishes each morning before you do anything else because that makes you feel productive and accomplished first thing, leading into the rest of your day.
Or maybe it means deciding to take up a new learning path, formal or informal, and making reading/study/research/practice part of each afternoon, evening, or whenever else you consistently have (or can set aside) time for such things.
The key is to keep your plans simple!
This way they don’t become pointless milestones or spiral into bigger and unsustainable undertakings.
The approach I’m suggesting helps reduce overwhelm and exhaustion.
Big, bold, brash ambitions are more appealing when we’re thinking about and planning them.
But tiny little bits of growth tend to be more achievable at a regular pace. Over time they tend to come together into something much larger (even if that might not be obvious on a day-to-day basis).
This small-ness has the added benefit of increasing the regularity at which you can pivot your approach based on what you learn along the way. This pivoting can make all the difference in the world as you continue along your path.
A journey of 1,000 steps provides us with 1,000 opportunities to change direction.
An impressive, dramatic undertaking with just a few massive steps leaves us with fewer opportunities to make adjustments as we go along.
The “every day” component of this approach is flexible, and can instead mean “on a regular basis.” I find when I’m unable to make something work daily, that usually means it’s not small and simple enough yet. I may be able to squeeze it in and make it work better if I rethink what I hope to accomplish each time I do what it is I want to do.
Remember, though, that making something small and simple and routine doesn’t mean you should do it thoughtlessly.
Make your habits work FOR you rather than AGAINST you!
There’s value in mere practice and rote repetition in some cases. But ideally there’s opportunity to pause and assess periodically, even when going through the motions is the most valuable thing you can do each day, most of the time.
Also, pulling complex projects apart in this way so as to make them fundamental to your everyday rhythm doesn’t mean you can’t also have more in-depth, time and energy-hungry exertions blended in with those less-taxing daily doses.
The tidbits tend to benefit from larger, less-frequent, supplementary efforts, and the same is true in reverse.
This approach is optimized so that you build a framework from which understanding and skill can develop, while also weaving a new body of knowledge and capability into your lifestyle.
You might think of it as exercise that develops sturdy and resilient internal tissues and tiny core muscles, upon which you can then build whatever else you hope to safely build and maintain.
Thank you for reading my newsletter. If you enjoy it please pass it on to a family member or friend. Or Buy Me a Coffee, thank you!
shelli
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