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The Power of Small Changes — 17 Comments

  1. Hello! I like a lot your articles, they are easy to understand and give practical advices on how to proceed. I would appreciate if you can comment more on how to divide big challenges into small ones to allow better planning (and other good things). What if you know what you should get at the end, but since you are doing it for the first time you have no idea what kind of specific challenges/steps it may involve.Thanks!

    • Hi Irnya,

      thanks for the comment & it’s a great question. What if you know where you want to get but not the exact steps to get there? Well, first of all the main thing by far is knowing where you want to get, because then you can ‘course-correct’, not only that but if you have absolute clarity about where you are trying to get to with anything, it’s something you’re going to keep coming back to and something magical happens – we ‘align’ ourselves to that goal even sub-consciously – read this article on visualization if you haven’t already.

      But then you still need to actually work out what to do next at any given point. How you go about this depends very much on your priorities.

      Often people get overwhelmed by how big something is and procrastinate – the thing to do is not to say ‘I’m not ready to take this big decision’ but to look at any smaller decision (or task) that you can make.

      The following articles may be of interest:

      http://lifestoogood.net/trends-matter/
      http://lifestoogood.net/efficiency-hack-4-tiny-decisions/
      http://lifestoogood.net/efficiency-hack-8-timeboxing/
      http://lifestoogood.net/how-to-avoid-procrastination/

      All of these are relevant to your question in different ways.

      In terms of the more technical aspects of planning and estimating whats needed to reach goals (particularly for something you’ve never done before like a brand new project) – I’ll write something on this subject but it’s going to take a few weeks as we have some articles already in the queue for the next few weeks. If you’re on our email list, drop me a mail and I’ll let you know directly when I publish this if you like.

      Thanks for the comment and the question – I hope this helps.

  2. Hi Alan!
    life is not easy because it have many changes and challenge which happen in our life always.but changes in life can learn many things so in begin it would be hard but in after you have to make a habit of these changes.

    • Hey Nilesh, thanks for stopping by and for this comment.

      – and you’re absolutely right, changing our life often seems really difficult and more difficult for some than others, but what is true for everyone is that it’s easier if we change things one small step at a time and beyond that perhaps if we focus on the only two trends that matter.

      Thanks again for the comment & take care,
      Alan

  3. I have been experimenting a bit more with the food I eat, but now I am concrete – I have a basic idea or outline of how I should eat (instead of eating more at lunch and eating nothing for dinner, I am just going to eat more at dinner and less for lunch). By less, I mean the quantity (and I am focusing on nutritious food, such as those wheat bars which claim to contain a lot of vitamins and proteins).

    It has been great so far. Small changes, big effects 😉

    I agree with you on that (I especially have experienced this in life and in my blog, especially when I experiment). The small changes we make – whether it is a shift in perspective or something else – it all adds up.

    Another thing I have done recently is to adapt and work with my schedule, instead of resisting everything and trying to get more things done with less time (so, I am focused now. 3-4 hours free I get at college for blogging and when I am blogging, it’s all college work).

    Lots of time to do both (And of course, managing blogging in those 3-4 hours means no distractions, no checking twitter when I am doing something important related to class).

    It’s all good.

    Great to hear that your son is adapting to the new school, Alan (Yeah, I can relate in my case how people change. I felt a lot older – like an adult the first day I entered college).

    Anyways, hope all is good with you 🙂

    Jeevan Jacob John

    • Hey Jeevan,

      sounds good though I am a little concerned about you eating less at lunch and more at dinner – did I understand that right, that you now plan to eat more in the evenings and less earlier in the day?

      Generally speaking most research shows that it is better to eat more earlier in the day (because it sets you up to have more energy through the day and then burn that off as you go through the various activities of the day) and less later in the evening (because after the evening comes the night, where you’re not exactly burning the calories – unless of course you work a night-shift ;-))

      I love your ideas around being focused on your schedule and removing distractions. Awesome. I love time-boxing. Have a look at this brief post on the Pomodoro technique if you haven’t already – I’m probably going to write a little more on this subject too because I have more to say on that (particularly around prioritization and to-do lists) though debating whether to write that just for my list or in a blog post at the moment.

      thanks for another great comment Jeevan and keep me posted on the diet – drop me a mail if you like,

      take care & best wishes,
      Alan

      • Yeah, I am still thinking about that since I have also heard about studies saying that eating more at lunch and less at dinner is better (So, here is what I am going to do, eat less than usual – at all times, and exercise a bit more). I can then progressively increase (both – how much eat and how much time I exercise).

        Yeah, I have used pomodoro (Well, I was experimenting with distraction free blogging throughout the summer – tried different tools like Zen writer, Focus Booster, Rescue Time, To-do lists). All can help, if you used effectively (right now, I relying entirely on my mind to work it all out and be focused).

  4. Excellent! I’ve been on the same track for a while. In fact, even started a blog about being a Tiny Bit Better every day. And I will attest…a tiny little change every day adds up like crazy. It’s like compound interest and I LOVE the way the tiny little changes spill over into other areas. Thanks Alan!

  5. Well Alan, I didn’t participate because I don’t really have anything changes I need to make. As I had mentioned to you I’m by no means perfect but I also don’t have any bad habits. I’m not overweight, I walk every evening and I get everything done each day that needs to be accomplished. I don’t watch too much TV and I think all my habits are good ones.

    I’m sure there is something in my life that could be improved but at this moment in time I would have no clue what that would me. I lead a very simple life, just the way I love it.

    Glad you shared this with us though and you’ve given me something to think about. I’m sure there is something that I could change to make it better. I know there never seem to be enough hours in the day to accomplish what I would like but getting up earlier won’t do the trick either.

    Have a great week Alan.

    ~Adrienne

    • I can relate to what you’re saying Adrienne and admire your set up,

      however

      I do think that we all have something we can give up or some small change we can make to improve things.

      Life is about enjoying every moment and continually learning and adjusting from that learning (if you ask me).

      That being said, if you’re really happy with your lot, then it’s just no biggie, is it? At least you’re enjoying life and that’s great to hear and it’s awesome.

      How about a bit of clutter. There must be a bit of clutter somewhere you can remove 😉

      Actually, from what you’ve told me about you, I reckon that you are making small changes all the time but you maybe just don’t even realize it – and that’s a huge part of what has made you successful. You’re probably doing it right now – what do you think of that?

      • Like I said, I’m by no means perfect but I’m pretty darn content with my life.

        Clutter! Alan, I’m annoyingly organized and have been that way my entire life. I have no clutter. As a matter of fact, I don’t keep anything that takes up space. I live in a small one bedroom condo so you can imagine not having a lot of “extra room” to store things.

        I do get rid of things when I stop using them so I’m not a pack rat. I’m sure with time though I’ll find something new I want to do and the changes will begin.

  6. Hi Alan,

    Small changes can add up to a whole new direction for your life.

    Recently, I’ve been making the change of getting up a hour earlier to have some time to myself. I have quiet time to be still for a few minutes, journal and it helps with productivity. Just getting one or two things done in the morning can get my day off to a better start. Thanks for a great post on small changes.

    • Exactly Cathy,

      giving yourself enough time in the mornings (whatever that means for you) is definitely a good habit to get into.

      many thanks for the comment,

      take care & best wishes,
      Alan

  7. Making small changes in your life is definitely a much easier way to make a difference that will last larger than if you tried to make one big change.

    Personally I give up reading my local newspaper to give myself more time each day. It might sound like a trivial thing, but just by not spending twenty to thirty minutes each morning reading the paper gave me that time to start my day sooner.

    • I can relate to that Jason & good move.

      even in the best newspapers it’s so easy to take up time just reading ‘stuff’.

      plus these days it’s relatively easy to get very targeted news just in time as and when you want it. Much more efficient!

      also the number of times I’ve heard people say ‘It might sound like a trivial thing, but…’ these are usually the changes that really start to make a difference and lead on to more…

      thanks for stopping by Jason & for sharing this comment!

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