Regardless of who you are, where you live, how much you make, or even
your education, your life is on a certain path — similar to a train on a
track. You know there are going to be twists and turns, ups and downs,
but you can easily figure out where you’ll end up professionally and
personally if you stay on the track you’re currently on. For example, if
you continue to save this amount, you’ll end up with this. If you
continue to eat like this, you’ll end up like that. If you continue to
talk to your spouse like this, well, you get the gist. The hard part
isn’t so much determining the future; the hard part is changing it.
If you look at the path you’re on and you like where you’re headed,
you can sit back and keep doing exactly what you’ve been doing and enjoy
the ride. But what if you see where you’re going and you don’t like it? The only solution is to change your destination, which means you have
to jump on a whole new set of tracks. But how do you do that?
There are two ways to change direction to create a better, fuller, richer life: incremental change and radical change.
It’s that simple. You can improve anything in your life — your weight,
marriage, finances, health — by capitalizing on incremental and radical
change.
What is incremental change? It’s making small and consistent progress
toward a desired goal. It’s paying $50 a month toward your $3,000 of
credit card debt. It’s cutting out your nightly dessert or taking the
stairs to burn a few extra calories. It’s investing 3 percent of your
salary in a 401(k) plan. Incremental change is where most of us look for
answers because it’s safe and easy.
There’s nothing wrong with incremental change. Writing a page a day
will eventually lead to a book. Your 20 minute afternoon walk will help
you become healthier. The problem for most people with incremental
change is that it’s frustratingly slow. Small and consistent actions
tend to create small and consistent improvements, but is there a way to
create much faster change without getting out of your comfort zone?
The trick is to focus on “er.” Instead of jogging 2 miles a day,
saving $50 a paycheck, or writing for 30 minutes a night, you would jog a
little farther, save a greater amount, or write for a longer period of
time.
How can you bench press 100 pounds more than you can bench press
right now? The answer is by gradually adding a little more weight to the
bar each week until you got stronger and stronger. You’d start with 45
pounds and then move up to 50 pounds and then 75 pounds and so on. This
is an obvious and efficient way to reach the goal. The problem is that
most of us start by lifting 45 pounds, but never increase the weight. A
year later we’re still lifting 45 pounds and are no closer to our goal
than when we started. We’ll walk 20 minutes a day for a decade. We’ll
set aside 3% of our income to our 401(k) until we retire. Of course
lifting 45 pounds, walking 20 minutes, or saving 3 percent are
worthwhile endeavors that can improve your life, but remember, what
happens if you don’t like where your track is headed? You must do
something differently.
The antidote to stagnation is “er.” It guarantees small, consistent,
and most importantly, continuous progress toward your goals. Look at the
various areas of your life (e.g., health, finances, relationships)
where you can add “er” to push yourself a little more. In a future
column, I’ll show you how you can put “er” on autopilot, but next week
you’ll learn about the second type of change — radical change
— and how to implement it in your life to see dramatic and blisteringly
fast results. Until then, what can you do longer, greater, faster,
farther, or harder?
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