In NASA, the smallest miscalculation can cause a fatal disaster. Being a slight degree off, 1/100 of inch, can lead a space shuttle in a completely different direction. The power of small is a phrase I use that means the smallest adjustment can make an enormous of change. This is obviously the negative side of it. However, since we already understand the power of perception, we know that with every negative, there is always a positive. If you haven’t already, you are about to realize that a small change can also impact you in a tremendously positive way.
I had a friend in college who had the potential of being a fantastic golfer, except he lacked direction. He had a powerful swing that can launch a ball into outer space ;). Unfortunately, outer space wasn’t the hole, therefore his talent was being wasted. His coach started to spend some extra time working on the way he held his golf club before and during his swing. Turns out that he cocked his wrist slightly on his way down to hit the ball. The slight change sent the ball in the complete wrong direction. His coach made him realize his the answer to becoming a better golfer was a small shift in his grip. Finally, he learned to slightly shift the club in the right direction, allowing him to control where the ball goes.
Right now, you are probably in a position where you are trying to make money in your career or business, mastering a skill, or just improving your overall personal development. Most of you are not happy with where you’re at right now or else you wouldn’t be browsing the internet to find blogs like mine for a solution. Some of you may say, “AJ you’re wrong, I’m happy with where I’m at right now and I just want to do better.” Well, the fact that you’re looking to do or be better than you currently are says to me that you’re not happy and you want to make a positive change. THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT. It’s absolutely amazing that you want to grow, especially considering that most people are just too lazy to search for an answer in the first place.
Wait a second…
Here is what I don’t want to do: I don’t want to change your entire way of being and doing, especially if what you’re doing is working. Some great advice that I’ve gotten once is that you should never change what you’re doing if it’s working for you, just add to it.
What I want you to do: I want to you to read my blog and create small incremental add-ons in your life that will allow big and major changes to occur over time. A great example would be for someone who goes to the gym; You don’t go from benching 135lbs to 225lbs after 1 set, you go through everything in between.
Here are some examples of you small incremental changes can become tremendously positive changes over time.
Dieting
Eliminate soda
1 can of soda is roughly 140 calories. Over the course of a year, if you drink 1 a day, that’s over 51,000 calories! That’s about 14 pounds!
Hold the Mayo!
When you eat a sandwich, avoid the mayo and you’ll save around 100 calories and 10 grams of fat. Stick with mustard instead.
Agua
Having a glass of water in the morning and before you go to bed can easily help you shed off a few pounds
Business/ Career
Prospect
If you need business, if you want to make money, then it is up to you to go get it. Start talking to people, making cold calls, door knock, etc. Calling 100 people a day will give you 10-15 contacts you can speak to. Out of the 10-15 contacts, 3-5 will be interested, and out of the 3-5, 0-1 might be. Now take this over the course of 1 year. And you’ll get hundreds of sales. Calling is just a few hours worth of work!
Learn and apply
Apply 1 new technique you learn from personal development into your career each day. This can lead to insightful achievements toward your success.
Read 1 book a month
I’ve written about this before: usually books on personal development contain experiences of someone’s life over the course of 10+ years. That means you’ll gain over 120+years of knowledge in just 1 year.
A good idea would be for you to ask a friend to hold you accountable and examine something your trying to do. You will more than likely not be able to see some of the small changes you probably need to make. Do the same with them!
Now that you’re consciously aware of the Power of Small, how will you take advantage of this type of mindset?
Seems like common sense yet not many take the time to do.
You are right! It should be common sense, however most people don’t think about it. Almost everything I write is common sense, but unfortunately, people are just not consciously aware…
Brings up a point by conscious awareness. My buddy Dhrumil Purohit talks about this on his podcasts and webinars a lot.
Thanks for the link! I’ll check it out.
I’ll begin drinking more water … always told myself to do it, but now I’ll just set a reminder at 10am and 9pm to drink one or two glasses.
The reading thing is good, but you should read about stuff you care for in every case. After you read the third book about personal development, you’ll often want to puke if you read another line of YOU CAN DO IT! and JUST DO IT LIKE ME!
Good post 🙂
lol. I agree, read something of interest to you, not necessarily personal development. However, I do suggest your reading informative books and not fiction books. Unless your reading the fiction books for entertainment, just don’t expect to get life experiences from there.
Loved this post.. sometimes u need someone to drive sense in
Thanks, I’d love to hear about how you applied something like this before, or how you can in the future 🙂
What you describe is the old Japanese ‘Kaizen’ method. Better example would be to agree with yourself to make one phone call. The first step is the hardest.
Totally disagree with you that if you read this, you are unhappy. What if people are looking to learn, grow, improve?
If you want to learn, grow, and improve, this means that you want to change who are right now. This means you are not COMPLETELY satisfied with who you are and want to be someone different. It is not a bad thing to be unhappy with who you are right now, in fact, its GOOD because you want to grow! By unhappy I don’t mean depressed, I mean more along the lines of not being complacent…does that make sense?
I understand your opinion, I just do not agree :-). I am ok the way I am now, and I am satisfied with it. This does not mean that I will go and sit on the couch enjoying my happiness. I want go out and do things, and therefore learn, which is just something I like doing..
haha …can’t win everyone’s opinion 😉 I am also happy as far as my life and the things that I have going on, however I am unhappy with my personal development, my skills, which is why I strive so hard, spend numerous hours each day to push myself forward. The moment I become happy with where I’m at, is the moment I stop from growing.
Hmm, do you mean something like “the journey is the reward”?
no, but I like the sound of that 🙂
I mean it more in the sense that I’m continuously trying to learn and grow each and every day. I will never be happy with my growth, for if I was, I wouldn’t grow.
Does that make sense?
good advice – actionable and practical.
Do 3 little but practical things periodically, add incremental value to yourself and others. Get Results.
Loved that
Yeah, and there are a number of different things you can do, but hey it’s a start right? Also, like you said, practical, everyone can do it 🙂
Kaizen!
This book is a great read on this topic. Check it out.
One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way, by Robert Maurer
Thanks David, I’ll have to look into it. What does Kaizen mean?
Kai (change) zen (good) is Japanese. Literally it means good change. The philosophy is about continuous improvement (in small steps).
wow… I like that kaizen.com would of been a cool site to have 🙂
Wow, awesome post AJ.
I gotta say the small things make the difference.
Also, I am starting to see this trend in business. Small businesses starting up and becoming great. I think the time for big box stores is slowly being replaced by “small gians” which by the way is a title of a book which talks about small companies that are great.
True…Don’t get me wrong, there are people who randomly make it big quickly, though it is rare. Taking the smaller gains is something everyone can achieve.
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Yes, I agree Direction is utmost important.
Even diamond do not know its power till it meets Johari(Jeweller/Goldsmith).
But where to find coach if one is unable to pay to hire services of a professional.
No need for a professional coach. Read a blog like mine 😉 along with several others and implement what you read. Have a close friend, family member, etc. do the same and hold each other accountable. In my old job, we would have our clients give us checks for $100 that we would only CASH if our client didn’t do what they were supposed to. Hobo, go ahead and send me $100 and tell me what to hold you accountable for and if you don’t do it, I’ll cash it 😉
I didnt get what you said ?
Re .: $100 if I have I would have travel & travel to write more…
What I meant is that we used to have our clients give us checks to hold them accountable to what they want to. We would only cash the checks if the clients didn’t do it. We used it as a form of accountability. You can do something like that with a friend. Accountability is the key to success. The more people that hold you accountable, the better chances you have of achieving your goal.
?
Please e.mail.
Sorry, all bounced above my head.
No worries!
Another nice post Aj, I particularly like the use of pun in the title.
Thank you Ace man! I do what I can 🙂
I have to agree…unhappy with life? I think you have a good point AJ, Sleep is highly over rated, more can be done in 30 min of reading, 30 min of follow up email, and 30 min of seeking new contacts from 5:30 to 7:00 am than most people realize. I think that those who do realize this are not unhappy, but seeking like minded individuals to share in motivational topics.
So i do think you may be right about some, but, i also think there are those like Mark and Myself 20% of the posters on this blog who you could say are the exception?…or the Rule???
Thanks,
Frank
Frank, I understand what you mean, however, I think you are misunderstanding the point of this post. I’m saying unhappy as far as being unsatisfied with your personal development, not as in your depressed with your life. If you are happy and content with you personal development, then you wouldn’t be interesting in growing (learning new info, practicing etc.) Not being satisfied or “unhappy” as I called it allows you to grow and move forward.
Does that make sense?
AJ, I think you highly overrate yourself saying that reading your blog is better than a professional coach. You post your opinion and then defend it, without really listening to the commenters. At least you have self confidence 🙂
A coach listens and lets his clients find the answers themselves by asking the right questions.
Hey Mark, I never said reading my blog is better than a professional coach. One can definitely read my blog and implement the information without a coach and still succeed. I listen to each one of my commenters. I’m one of the limited bloggers out there that respond to almost every comment I get 🙂
Great technique used for dieting/exercising. Start off small and then move up from there.
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
– Confucius
The quote, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step,” is from the Chinese philosopher Lao-tzu (604 BC – 531 BC). It is at the essence of Kaizen. In the book “One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way”, by Robert Maurer the author has one of his clients just stand on the treadmill for 1 minute to get started. It was a journey of a thousand miles for his client who overcame their inability to get healthy and exercise. It was one single step that put it in motion.
very interesting, I will surely get that book 🙂
Thanks
great quote!
Correction:
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.â€
– Lao-tzu
//Thanks David.
Good quote!
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Yep. Sure is. I remember one chinese saying. Study everyday for one hour and after one year, you have studied for 365 hours.
For business matters, call two people a day. Then after one month, you have already called 60 people.
For savings , maybe save just a dollar each day, then after a year, you already have $365. Or make it $10 to have $3,650.
I'll begin drinking more water … always told myself to do it, but now I'll just set a reminder at 10am and 9pm to drink one or two glasses.
The reading thing is good, but you should read about stuff you care for in every case. After you read the third book about personal development, you'll often want to puke if you read another line of YOU CAN DO IT! and JUST DO IT LIKE ME!
Good post 🙂
great post