How to Make Small Changes that Last
We all have goals in our personal or professional lives that require some element of change. But too often, I see (and I’ve been guilty of it also) giant leaps into change that ultimately come crashing down into unattained goals and feelings of failure, particularly around the new year when we make dramatic resolutions to improve the quality of our lives. That’s because change can be challenging. And big changes––those are hard.
Have you ever started the new year with a goal that sounds something like this: lose 15 lbs., become vegan, and exercise 5-6 days per week? Or, perhaps the goal was to quit your job as a project manager and instead travel the world teaching yoga? But come March, you’re back to your old eating/exercise habits and have put on 5 lbs., or you’re still buried under mounds of work, and you signed up for a yoga class but don’t have the time to go.
Next time you have a goal, dream, or pursuit that requires change––start small. Small changes are much easier to maintain and later build on. For example, if you want to become vegan and you currently eat everything under the sun, you might start with the goal of reducing meat-eating days to four days per week. Once you’ve successfully maintained that for a couple of months, you might reduce it to two days per week or only allow yourself to eat healthy fish on meat-eating days. Then, gradually reduce that until you can fully maintain a vegetarian diet without relapse. Repeat the process by eliminating dairy one day per week and build on it.
Get some friends together once a month at the park and lead a yoga workout with them. First, ensure that you enjoy teaching yoga because that is a very different experience than practicing yoga. Then, volunteer at a local yoga studio each Saturday. Network and talk to people in the field. Use a week of vacation to teach as a guest instructor at an overseas retreat. Experiment and make small changes.
Small changes are how you grow.
If you’re in a job search and are trying to grow your network from virtually nothing, you probably don’t want to start with a goal to go to a networking event five days per week. That dramatic level of change will likely leave you feeling burnt-out, exhausted, and overwhelmed. Instead, consider going to one coffee meeting or one networking event (virtual networking events in the era of COVID) per week instead. Again, small changes are much more likely to last.
Additionally, multitasking isn’t really a thing. Attempting it actually decreases productivity and increases mistakes. So does trying to focus on too many goals at once. Make a list of 25 things you want to do this year. Circle the top five. DO NOT touch the other 20 until the first five are complete. If you overwhelm yourself, you significantly decrease your chances of success.
#jobsearch #career #selfanalysis #tipsandtricks #success #goals
