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Tiny changes in our lives seem insignificant yet are incredibly powerful. It is explained very nicely in James Clear’s bestseller, Atomic Habits. James digs into the science of forming habits and provides ideas on creating and eliminating good habits.
Have you read this book? If you still need to, here are things you can do to create a foundation and empower your life with tiny changes.
Focus on Systems, Not on Goals
Clear argues that while goals might be essential in setting systems on the right track, systems provide the path to progress. For example, regular exercise and good nutrition may serve instead of an obsession with daily habits and activities that would make such results realized. What is put across here is that small, consistent, beneficial changes to your systems and exact actions, like a correct quartz watch, build up over time and produce spectacular results.
The 1% Rule
This rule has significantly contributed to my life since I read this book. Tiny changes can lead to miraculous results, and it’s important not to expect significant change overnight. No matter how small, progress is still and adds up over time. From that initial 1%, you can progress to 50 to 100%, showing that significant change is possible with consistent effort.
The Four Laws of Behavior Change
Clear explains in detail how to know and modify habits in the context of these four laws:
Make It Obvious: He suggested designing your environment to make the excellent habit cues more visible and the bad ones less apparent.
Make It Attractive: During this concept, he insisted that the key to attracting good behavior is to enhance the attractiveness of good attitudes and reduce the attractiveness of bad ones.
Make It Easy: Do not complicate things; make habits easy to abide by by initiating smaller, manageable steps. This principle will help you avoid dramatic overhauls.
Make It Rewarding: Reinforcement is crucial in this matter. Rewards for any habit will ensure that it continues to stick and progress.
Habit Stacking
Let’s say you want to buy another Brand of watch and ensure the quality is just like your old one; habit stacking is also a technique wherein a new habit is connected with an existing one for easy establishment. I remember when my friend and I tried to teach this lesson. We had a habit of drinking coffee every morning before the class started, and then we stacked a new habit, like doing a few stretches right after coffee. In addition, linking up a new habit with an already established one helps to improve your routine and living.
Wrapping Up
That is the magic of tiny changes, brought about by these minor steps that you layer on and multiply over time. Small, constant steps in daily life create significant, long-lasting changes as time adds up. You are not forcing yourself to get considerable results in one attempt, relying upon extreme overhauls; remember, take it one step at a time, and you can get a little better day after day.
