Tiny Discipline – Living with incremental changes
One of the biggest challenges to any resolution or goal is the inability to make sweeping changes. Humans are creatures of habit, and breaking habits is hard. For example, going from a high-calorie, high-fat diet to celery on a whim is just too huge of a change to be sustainable. The first slice of French Silk Pie to come along is going to be trouble. Instead, the better method to sustainable change is through small, incremental moves in the right direction. I’m calling these moves tiny discipline.
Tiny discipline has three primary components:
- Make the smallest possible decision.
- Make the decision that supports your goals.
- Make the wrong decision sometimes. It is not the end of the world.
Tiny discipline is the smallest possible decision in any given situation. Making a positive choice that supports a goal will eventually make that goal a reality. It’s the loose change after a trip to Starbucks that turns into $150 in cash when the change jar is cashed in. Those small choices impact the future. In the book, Cracking the Millionaire Code
“Your future one month from today depends on what you do in the next 10 minutes.”
Perhaps it’s a bit campy, but it summarizes the point. I can provide an example.
I, without a doubt, am a frosting fiend. I love birthday cake, carrot cake, and cinnamon rolls. Anything covered with a layer of processed sugar attracts me like Homer to donuts. My biggest weakness of all is the frosting-covered sugar cookie. (Curse you Wal-mart!). I could eat half a dozen without coming up for air. One of my goals, however, is to “be fit”. That is in diametric opposition to the cookie. The thought of never again tasting these sugary delights makes me sad. What to do?!?
A few weeks ago at work somebody brought in a dozen of those cookies. The container ended up at the coffee station which I had to walk past on three occasions. The first time my eye caught the cookies, I started salivating. Fortunately, I was wearing that bib (I jest). I thought about having a cookie but tiny discipline kicked in. In that situation, the smallest possible choice was to pass on the cookies (both literally and figuratively). That is what I did. It was hard the first time.
The second time I passed the cookies I was faced with the same decision. To cookie or to not cookie, that is the question. Bolstered by my previous good decision, it was easier to skip one this time. Tiny discipline in action! The third time got a little more difficult only because there was only one cookie left, but I made the right choice.
Choosing not to snack on one occasion did not make or break my diet, but a month later I’ve lost five pounds. An good choice made multiple times can be thanked for that.
Destined to fail – I’m okay with that!
Failing to meet an objective is never fun. The frustration and disappointment of not making it can sometimes be overwhelming. Fortunately, tiny discipline builds in room for failure. Commercial airliners are off course 90% of the time but still arrive at their destination. Why? Even though a single course correction fails to put the aircraft back on the right course, the sum of all course corrections does.
When faced with a decision, making a small, incorrect choice will not matter when averaged against all of the good choices. My sister-in-law left us with a Cinnabon the other day. I chose to have some. I could have loathed my poor choice and given up my goal, or I could have lived with it and made the right choice the next time. In fact, the next decision came a few bites later when I put down the Cinnabon and walked away.
Final thought
My final thought on the benefit of tiny discipline is a phrase we remember my mom saying often in the face of overwhelming situations. It encapsulates the spirit of persistence of tiny discipline:
How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time!
Making small choices and changes is the best way to overcome large problems and obstacles.
Be tiny!
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