“We’ll get there by making small adjustments, little by little and taking it one moment at a time.“
In last week’s post, I mentioned that I am working on making adjustments to get a healthier mode of operating going and today I wanted to share some of the “little things” that have been helping me along in that process!
Before I get to that though, I want to talk briefly about goals.
Ya’ll.
Goals are hard! At least for me they are.
Trying to identify and differentiate between what I want, what I need, what’s best for me… vs. societal influence, expectations others may have, and my own negative/limiting thoughts… THAT’S what’s hard.
Then attempting to visualize and break down said goals into actions while depressive thoughts attempt to suffocate them? Man.
When I tell you it’s a daily struggle, it is just that.
BUT I have found that shrinking my goals down to verrry small steps has been helpful in tricking my brain to have a bit less resistance to the changes.
How am I doing that?
Well, that leads me to what I want to share today- two books that I’ve found quite beneficial:
Master Your Time in 10 Minutes a Day and Mini Habits: Smaller Habits, Bigger Results.
These books have easily been some of the most helpful books I’ve read in quite some time. They take the “baby steps” concept and break it all the way down, showing you just HOW to do so.
For me, baby steps have always been hard because I want to do all of the things! Now! And sometimes I can! But… most times I can’t. And to be honest, not only is that not sustainable, but that’s not how lasting change happens. It happens gradually, and these books do a wonderful job at showing you how to harness that power.
This is the shorter of the two books and gives you a new way of thinking about not only time management, but life management. And how much you can really get done during the course of each day- when your goals are clear, and you set aside time (even a little time) for what’s important to you.
This book goes a little more in depth on the science behind why this method works (which I always find intriguing because I love learning more about how our brains work), and guides you through a few different ways that you can successfully implement mini habits into your daily routine.
What makes these so different from other habit books? In short, the fact that it encourages you to break down your goals so that they’re so stupidly small, you feel silly avoiding it. Not only that, but the fact that you’re making such small commitments, they bypass the brain’s natural inclination to resist change.
I know everyone’s journey is different, but whether you’re looking to make progress with your personal or professional development, daily habits are key. If you’ve struggled with trying to implement changes (which, I feel like we all have in some form or fashion), I highly suggest giving these a read, or a listen- they’re both on audible as well.
I’d love to hear what you think after you have a chance to check them out!
What are some “little things” (books or otherwise) that have been helpful to you in your efforts to make changes?
