One of my favorite books is "Atomic Habits" by James Clear and in it, he uses an analogy that resonates with anybody looking to grow and change their behaviors.
The impact created by a change in your habits is similar to the effect of shifting the route of an airplane by just a few degrees. Success is a product of daily habits, not once in a lifetime transformations. Small changes make all the difference.
I want to share with you one of the most powerful analogies that I've ever heard. It's from the book Atomic Habits by James Clear. And if you've ever been on a cross country flight, this will especially resonate with you. We're going to throw it back to when we were all in kindergarten and we're going to have some fun here. And I'm going to be your kindergarten teacher reading you a passage from this book. And I'll make sure to bring my glasses down so I look all distinguished when I do this. I'm kidding, because that would be really.
It would look really stupid when I do that over this long passage. But on page 17 of the book it reads, quote, the impact created by a change in your habits is similar to the effect of shifting the route of an airplane by just a few degrees. Imagine you are flying from LA to New York City. C. instead of New York. Such a small change is barely noticeable. At takeoff. The nose of the airplane moves just a few feet, but when magnified across the entire US you end up hundreds of miles apart. Similarly, a slight change in your daily habits can guide your life to a very different destination.
Making a Choice that is 1% better or 1% worse seems insignificant in the moment. But over the span of moments that make up a lifetime, these choices determine the difference between who you are and who you could be. Success is a product of daily habits, not once in a lifetime transformations. So let's unpack that quote a little bit because it is so powerful. When we try and accomplish goals or change your behavior, we often think about the magnitude of this big shift that we have to make. For example, if I want to lose 25 pounds in the next six months, this can seem overwhelming at first and I might feel the urge to drastically change my diet.
I'm going to completely cut out all sweets, alcohol, fried foods. I'm going to eat three servings of vegetables a day. I'm going to walk 10,000 steps a day. If you are currently only getting 3,000 steps a day on average, and you rarely even eat one serving of vegetables a day, those steps, although well intentioned, might be overly ambitious and you're not going to succeed and it's going to leave you feeling discouraged. As you saw with that quote, small changes make all the difference. So for example, if you're trying to add some steps and lose some weight, let's say I'm going to add 500 steps to my daily average over the next week.
That's much more manageable. For example, rather than trying to blow everything up and eat three servings of vegetables every day, making the statement I'm going to have one serving of vegetables every day with lunch or with dinner. Again, much more manageable and sustainable, leading to long term growth. These more manageable steps are more realistic and will increase the likelihood that these steps become habits towards growth. These compound over time and create that growth that you're looking for.
Accomplishing goals and changing our behavior is challenging. If it was easy, everyone would do it. But I encourage you to look at your habits and ask yourself what can you do today to get 1% better.
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