Small things

Dear Friend,

Many times I have people come up to me and say "Oh I wish I could be like you and workout regularly" or "I really want to lose weight"

And the one thing I always say is, start by taking a 30minute walk everyday.

I still don't know one person who has taken this advice seriously.

The 'overnight success" narrative leads us to believe that big changes happen in some grand memorable moment, or this mighty effort must be made for great change to happen but the truth is that overnight success is more of an exception than a rule.

The truth is that consistent small improvements over time will inadvertently compound and snowball into the achievement you've been working towards. Notice I said working, not dreaming, not wishing, but working towards.

I have a very recent example of how doing a small thing consistently resulted in a big win for me.

Sometime last year, I decided to take the Multi Specialty Recruitment Assessment. An exam for doctors in the United Kingdom looking to enter specialty training. I wasn't too excited about this exam because I truly have no desire to pursue any further medical specialty training, however I am tired of my current role and ready for a change.

My lack of excitement about the exam meant that I didn't pay much attention to how the exam was graded and what would be a good target score to aim for. However I knew that I would only want to attempt it once so I had to do enough to pass at my first sitting. The exam was set to hold sometime between January - February 2021.

In October 2020, I started my modified version of 75 Hard. One of the requisites was to read 10 pages of a book everyday. I decided to do 10 questions from my question bank in lieu of 10 pages of a book. Everyday for 75 days, I did 10 questions. Only ten. This would typically take me about 45 minutes a day.

At the end of the 75 days, I decided to carry on doing the 10 questions daily until I sat for the exam.

I remember having a conversation with one of my dear friends a few days to the exam. She asked me what my target score was and I told her I didn't know, I was just looking to pass the thing.

I took my exam at the end of January 2021.

The results were released a couple of weeks ago and I scored higher than anyone I know who took it this year.

And if that isn't a testimony of the power of doing small things consistently, I don't know what is.

It is also a pretty solid example of the importance of systems vs goals, but we'll get to that later.

If I had tried to study by doing 50 questions a day for approximately 3 hrs everyday, chances are I would not have been able to sustain that momentum for such a long period of time and the pressure may have reduced my retention capacity so even though I may appear to be making more effort, the output would still be sub optimal.

Doing small things works. And it works both ways.

We are truly the sum of our habits. Where one small good habit can improve your efficiency and ultimately lead you to fulfill your potential, one small bad habit, can do the exact opposite.

Any habit that decreases your productivity may seem small and insignificant when taken alone, but over time, those seemingly insignificant habits add up to decrease your overall productivity and efficiency.

For instance, perhaps you don't go to bed early enough, so you don't get enough sleep and then you wake up cranky every working day. You're setting yourself up for a less than productive day. Imagine doing this constantly. The net result is an overall decrease in efficiency and reduction in output. A big minus.

And we want pluses, not minuses.

What does a plus look like.

So you want to lose weight. What's a small thing that you know you can do, maybe not everyday, but regularly enough, that is associated with losing weight.

Maybe instead of paying for a personal trainer and buying an expensive gym membership, you start taking daily walks.

Maybe instead of constantly depriving your body of much needed nutrients by eliminating entire food groups from your diet, you try adding some new vegetable or fruit you haven't tried before.

You want to learn a new language so you start listening to a 10 - 15min language podcast on your walk to work.

Every year I tell myself this is the year I improve my flexibility, every year I attend a couple of yoga classes every few months and forget all about it. This year I have decided to do one yoga session a week. Just one. To improve my chances of compliance, I have chosen to do this on Sundays, the one day that I am most likely to have a chill day. When I'm not confused by the time difference I join a zoom class taught by Sandra who was my yoga teacher in Lagos. Other times I turn to Adrienne on Youtube.

It's only March but I can already feel my feet getting a little closer to the ground when i'm in downward dog, so i know that If i continue like this, I shall one day be able to drop into a full split when this song comes on.

Thats one of my many small things I've started recently towards achieving my many many desires.

So my darling. What's the one small thing you know you can start TODAY to get you one teeny tiny step closer to that which you truly desire.

Not tomorrow, Not at the beginning of next month. Today.

Now.

Think about it and feel free to share it with me.

This week I read

A Woman Is No Man by Etaf Rum. I don't know how I feel about the abrupt way the story ended, but it reminded me that for some women, the woman experience will never be one of joy and happiness.

Hear more about 75 hard from the creator himself. He screams at you and swears a lot so prepare yourself.

Have a kick ass week friend,

And don't hesitate to write me back if you feel like it.

I always write back.

Chioma.