Starting small for the win

I’ve written before about lowering the bar in order to make change. It’s an idea which generates quite a visceral discomfort in my high achieving, action-oriented clients.

Today I opened the excellent Atomic Habits to a random page and this is what I read:

Even when you know you should start small, it’s easy to start too big. When you dream about making a change, excitement inevitably takes over and you end up trying to do too much too soon. The most effective way to counteract this tendency is to use the “Two-Minute Rule” which states, “When you start a new habit, it should take less than two minutes to do”.

So,

  • “Run a marathon” becomes “put on my shoes and get out the door”

  • “Write a novel” becomes “write two sentences”

  • “Fold the laundry” becomes “fold one pair of socks”

The idea is to minimise what Shaun Achor calls the “activation energy” required to get moving. Inertia can make the thought of starting seem like an insurmountable obstacle. Once you’ve started, it’s easier to keep going.

This is such a powerful strategy for individuals. It got me to thinking about how it might apply in organisations.

When there is a shift in thinking/behaviour/strategy that is desired, expecting people and systems to leap from A to a quite different B can be unrealistic.

How often do you see an organisation make announcements about their dramatic change in direction, only to have quiet resistance from within slow things down or even undermine it completely?

We can keep the big goals and achieve dramatic changes, but breaking down the next step required into something small and ridiculously easy could be the secret recipe to success.

Until next week,

Take care of yourself and others

Madeleine

I work with clients from executive leadership teams to the front line, helping them to make clearer decisions about what they want, and adapt faster and more easily to change and transition. I use deep purpose as a key to unlock powerful thriving in work and life.

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Madeleine Shaw