Small Changes Beat Big Changes

(Transcript edited for clarity.)

Hi, I'm Wes. Welcome to Small Changes Beat Big Changes. You could also look at this as Start Small and Win Big. Those ideas all tie together here.

Today we're going to talk about how you can make huge changes in your life, wherever you decide change is important. You can make huge changes in your life without changing everything all at once.

I've learned that most of the time when I make big changes, they don't start with changing everything at once. I'll envision the big change I want, and then I'll plan it out.

A lot of times, I'll find someone else who has accomplished what I want to accomplish, figure out exactly what they did, and then break it down into small steps. I'll take one or two small steps every day, and then I start what I call stacking wins.

I'll stack a small win or two today with a small win or two tomorrow. As you keep doing that, these small steps or small wins eventually stack up and get you to your big goal.

Most people, when they want to accomplish something big or reach a very important goal, try to put everything in place immediately.

They start, get motivated, get worked up, and are ready to go. They've got a plan, and they dive in and try to change 10 things at once.

What happens is that it's very difficult to maintain. It's difficult to maintain from a willpower standpoint, a motivation standpoint, and also from a simple stick-with-it standpoint.

It becomes overwhelming. You think, "I've got to do these 10 things perfectly today," and that quickly wears you down mentally.

Instead, focus on one thing: What's the next thing?

You should have a plan. You should have the big plan to reach your big goals, but instead of focusing on the big plan right now, focus on the next thing to do.

Instead of trying to change everything, which can work for a few days before life usually gets in the way, figure out a small-step system.

That's what I mean when I say, "Start small and win big." That's what I mean when I say, "Small changes beat big changes."

Small changes might not feel exciting, but they're the ones that actually last.

I used to think I needed to start a completely new life the next day, or immediately, whenever I wanted to accomplish a big goal.

I made lots of starts, and I had lots of what we'll call failures because they didn't work.

What I eventually learned was that when I started stacking small wins, it actually got me much closer, much faster, to the large goals. It helped me follow through and reach the large goals.

Everything changed when I stopped trying to change everything at once. Don't fall into that trap.

I'm going to give you a couple of examples of how this worked in my life.

The first one is that I decided when I was young that I eventually wanted to publish a book.

I've always read a lot of books. I've read a lot my whole life. When I was in, I think, sixth grade, I was reading a lot of books, and I read some that just weren't very good.

I remember thinking at the time, "I could do better than this." As a sixth grader, there was no way I could have written a better book than that. But in my mind, I thought, "Some of these aren't very good, and if they can get published, then I can get published."

That thought stayed with me for a lot of years after that, but I never did much with it.

Then, in my early 20s, I decided, "I'm going to write a book." So I sat down and started writing one.

Let me tell you what happened.

I'm not going to say this happens to everyone who wants to write, but it happens to a lot of people I've personally known who wanted to write.

They start trying to write a book, a big novel, or even a big nonfiction book of some sort. Then they find out it's hard. They find out that maybe they can't do it right then.

I found that out.

I struggled, and I thought, "Maybe I'm not good enough."

But here's what I did. I got the opportunity to write a few articles for someone else about what I wanted the book to be about.

I wrote an article, and then I got better at writing. Then I wrote another article, and I got better. I wrote a bunch of articles.

Eventually, instead of starting with, "I'm going to write a book," I backed off and said, "Let's write something short and manageable that I can learn from and build on."

Eventually, I wrote enough articles that it was the same amount of writing as a book.

The next time I started writing a book, I actually had a plan. Instead of trying to write the whole book at once, you know what I did? I broke it up into chapters.

Each chapter, in my mind, was now an article. I knew I could write articles.

Could I write 20 articles for the 20 chapters in this book? Yes. So that's what I did.

I broke it down into smaller steps. Isn't that what we just talked about? I learned that the hard way.

You know the other thing I did at that point? I started writing every day.

I didn't try to write a book every day. I didn't even try to write an article every day. I got in the habit of writing every day.

Whether it was 100 words, 500 words, or 1,000 words, I'd write every day.

Eventually, I got better. I was able to write more, and I was able to communicate better.

Again, this is simply an example. You can use this example to accomplish any big goal you want in your life.

Think about where I started: "I'm going to write a book."

Eventually, I've written several books now. I was able to do that, but I certainly failed repeatedly when I simply said at the beginning, "I'm going to write a book."

I needed to break it down.

I broke it down into starting to write every day, then starting to write articles, and then getting better.

I learned from writing every day. I learned to communicate better with the written word.

I learned that there were certain things you should and shouldn't do while writing.

I started writing freelance articles for other people, and then I started getting feedback: "I like this. I don't like this. Let's do this differently."

That's how I learned to write. I stacked small wins.

Big goals often create big pressure.

But here's something else that writing every day and starting to write articles for others did for me. This is important. Don't miss this.

I went from someone who wanted to write a book to someone who was building the confidence required to be able to write the book.

That was just as important as anything.

In my mind, I thought, "I can write a book," but I didn't have the true confidence I needed.

After I started writing every day, I started building confidence. After I started writing articles for others, I started building even more confidence.

Then I had the confidence to say, "Yes, I can write 20 chapters. We're simply going to call each one an article." I had the confidence at that point.

Small wins not only build progress. They build confidence in your ability to continue making progress.

Here's the other thing: consistency.

Remember how I said I wrote every day? Consistency beats intensity.

Intensity is the willpower, the charge ahead, and the motivation. You're excited. You think, "I'm going to hammer this huge goal."

But you often can't create, solve, or reach a huge goal in one day. Consistency gets you there.

Consistency beats intensity. That's what I did. I started writing every day, consistently.

Every small success makes the next one easier.

It sounds simple, right? But when you're looking at a huge goal and trying to change everything at one time, that's not how our minds work.

When we break it down and start stacking small wins, each small win, each step, and each successful small win makes the next one easier.

Once you get used to stacking small wins, you can stack one small win a day or two or three small wins every day.

After a week, you might have 20 small wins behind you. After a month, you might have a hundred small wins.

That's momentum. It makes the next step easier because you keep focusing on the small wins.

Momentum is built this way, not found.

Here's my closing thought.

You don't have to change your whole life today.

You only have to do one small thing today. Get one small win today. Get one small win right now.

Lasting change usually starts with one small change, not dozens at one time.

Thanks for being with me. Please subscribe. Have a great day.

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