Micro Changes make a Macro Impact!

I have been noodling around on this question for the last week for a variety of reasons:

What can I do today that is a little better than yesterday? 

I have been thinking about this a lot lately because I tend to approach goals and life challenges in an all-in or all-out kind of approach. In case you are wondering, it isn’t the best way to go. 

I like to immerse myself in things I am working on, and then have a hard time staying the course long term. This seems to be especially true when it comes to my health. I can be all in on the latest diet idea, but after about 60-90 days I really just want to eat a Dairy Queen dilly bar. 

There are a few people I have been learning from lately that talk about this “micro improvement” idea quite a bit. 

The first is this awesome lady, Corinne Crabtree. She is known for losing 100 pounds by making some small changes and getting a little better every day. She has a program and a podcast and both seem pretty solid to me.

She told a story about how over time she made one change that was a little better than the day before, and before she knew it, she was making a noticeable difference in accomplishing her goals. The example she used in a recent podcast was about changing from mayo to mustard on her McDonald’s burger, then making the change from a supersize to a normal size, then changing from a McFlurry to an ice cream cone. Before she knew it when she went to McDonald’s she was rocking a happy meal. 

The thing I love about this story is that she never said “I can never have McDonald’s again.” She let herself make some small changes and was willing to take the time needed to get the results she wanted. Love it! 

The second person that I love on this topic is James Clear. He is a little more sophisticated and his content is a little heavier, but the concept is the same. He has an awesome newsletter I subscribe to called the 3-2-1 Newsletter. In his weekly newsletter, he offers information in this format, 3 short ideas from him, 2 quotes from others, and 1 question for you to ponder. I love it and I highly recommend it. 

In his book Atomic Habits, he says this:

“Here’s the punchline:

If you get one percent better each day for one year, you’ll end up thirty-seven times better by the time you’re done.”

He has an entire approach for you to follow on accomplishing goals, but I think if you are looking for some inspiration to get better I encourage you to start small and build on your successes. We often hear the phrase "change is hard", but it doesn’t have to be, and we don’t have to think about it like that. 

We all have one or two things that we are trying to change or make better in our lives. This can be true if you are battling anxiety, health issues, addictions (like shopping, drugs or alcohol), or you are trying to make your work performance better. 

What if we gave ourselves a giant hug, a little bit of love, and genuine support and decided to shift our mindset about change. 

Instead, over the course of this next week I encourage you to think about this question: What is one thing you can do today to get a little bit better? 

Wishing you all the best!

Love and light,

Kara