The Power of Tiny Habits: Small Changes, Big Results

Sleep. There are many articles and opinions on the importance of sleep for our health, well-being, and work productivity.

For many years, working full-time and raising children, I took sleep for granted without considering its importance; it was just something I had to do to get up and do what I needed to do again the next day.

There is now excellent education and information about building great sleep habits. There are whole books written on it, apps that support us to sleep better, with tips and insights and articles galore; ask Google, and you will see.

The overarching fact is that we need to sleep, and we need to sleep well. We can rest when we are dead; however, for now, we need to sleep to live well. One of the key aspects I have now embraced is that sleeping well, just like planning well, is about having great habits. Solid rituals become great habits to serve you as a leader in business and life.

One of the best books on habits is ‘Atomic Habits’ by James Clear. The reason it is so good is because of the focus on atomic. The word atomic means microscopic, minute, or granular. So, creating great habits means doing small things one at a time until a change is made. Then build on that habit with another microscopic change, again and again. As you build on these small changes, great habits are formed, life changes, and significant results can be achieved. It is that simple. Well, simple in terms of knowing what to do. For many of us more complex to learn how to create the change we want or be inspired to make the change. It takes discipline.

In his book Atomic Habits, James Clear states, "When scientists analyse people who appear to have tremendous self-control, it turns out those individuals aren’t all that different from those who are struggling. Instead, ‘disciplined' people are better at structuring their lives in a way that does not require heroic willpower and self-control."

Discipline is simply choosing between what you want now and what you want most. So, if you want a good sleep, a successful business, or a great relationship, building great habits is critical to achieving what you desire. Ask yourself, are you content or happy with where things are at for you now? For example, is business great, relationships great, health great? If you can say yes to all these three examples, you may have the system of creating great habits down pat. If not, there may be different questions to ask.

"Some people spend their entire lives waiting for the time to be right to make an improvement." James Clear

Staying with these three examples of living life, if you could not say yes to all three, ask yourself what am I willing to take responsibility for to change so that I can say yes? Asking great questions is more important than the quality of the answer. There could be multiple answers because all responses are influenced by the meaning we give situations. It is easy to say, "I can't" or "It's impossible". The exciting thing is that it is also easy to say, "I can" or "It's possible". Humans can say "I'm possible" because it simply takes the 'Im' off ‘impossible’. As James Clear says, "Some people spend their entire lives waiting for the time to be right to make an improvement".

"We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them." Albert Einstein

Here are three tips to get you started on creating change using the atomic approach:

1. Decide what habit you want to change.

Changing habits can be challenging if you do not change your thinking. When you have a new goal and need a plan to achieve it, you must change aspects of yourself. As Albert Einstein is famous for quoting, "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them." Decide the habit to change that will lead you towards the new goal and challenge your thinking around the importance of this because your habits decide your future.

2. Do one small thing differently each day towards that change.

Identify the one small aspect of your current habit to change and give this your focus. The most effective way to achieve anything is to focus on what you want to the exclusion of everything else. For example, you tell yourself that you should develop a business plan instead of winging it for your business. You have a goal that is in your head, not on paper. Write your goal down. Then every day, write your goal for that one day. What you can language you can have, so it is possible when you can be clear about what you want to achieve!

3. Repeat that one small thing every day for a month.

Repeat writing down your goal every day for one month. This could be an intention, an outcome, a specific result to achieve or a task to tick off. By the end of the month, this will be a regular activity for you, and you will be amazed by the change you can create for yourself and your business.

When you have a great business, you can have a great life, and your habits are crucial to showing up as an effective leader for yourself and others. Creating the change you want in your life is very empowering, and it starts with changing habits that are not serving you now to habits that will help you in the future. The next five years will pass whether you do anything differently or not. As always, everything is a choice. Those ten powerful two-letter words come to mind again; it is up to me if it is to be.

Book a Free Strategy Session with a lead coach at Leaders Network if you want support to develop great habits.