Why small changes can make a difference? Have you figured it out yet? Do you think it takes big sweeping changes like cutting up your credit cards, fasting, or stop shopping to take control of your life? If you do, I would like to open up the discussion and prove to you that small changes are much more effective.
Games are more than Fun
When I was a child I spent a great deal of time playing games. There were no computers, computer games, Xbox 360, PlayStation, Wii or Nintendo. I played board games, cards and team sports in school. The importance of playing games was discussed before. Games and sports are a bunch of rules, details and skills! You learn them and become good at it. You generally slowly get better by practicing the skills. Games teach you strategy and how small changes will make you a better player.
Diet
About thirty-five years ago, I lost a lot of weight (35-40 lbs.). I was in a high stress job and I would frequent the candy machine every day. Between candy and the holidays, I added an extra fifteen to twenty pounds. My waistline reached 36 inches which was a 4 inch growth from my usual 32 inch waist. In January when many people make weight loss resolutions, I started a diet. I joined the many millions of people on a diet! My approach was different; I brought my lunch to work with enough food for the day. I started eating at ten in the morning and finished around mid afternoon. I made small changes in what I ate which made a huge difference.
My lunch was a sandwich, fruit, vegetables and a snack. The difference from before was a series of small changes. I looked for vegetables that were satisfying, but low in calories. For example seven (7) stalks of celery are less than fifty (50) calories. I saved some of the lunch to eat in the afternoon to replace the candy addiction. I made small changes to meet my goal. In about five or six weeks, I lost the extra weight (15-20 lbs.). I was so motivated, I continued with my diet for four to five more weeks. I went from 185 lbs. to 145 lbs. in roughly ten (10) weeks by making small changes.
Personal Finance
Sweeping changes do not work! Extreme budgets are very difficult to maintain. How long can you stick with a budget that denies you all the things you enjoy? I am not giving you permission to go wild! Small changes will help you achieve your goal. One of the small changes I use is setting up a payroll deduction for retirement savings. I started using a payroll deduction for savings when I was roughly twenty-six (26) years old. I bought my first house and I wanted to make sure I would have the annual property insurance and taxes. I use payroll deductions as a way to support my savings goals and can be used to reduce debt by setting up automatic payments.
Early in my career, I reduced my expenses by bringing my lunch to work one day a week. Slowly, I added additional days and ate lunch out just one day a week. My approach to lowering my expenses is small changes. I review all my bills monthly and look for ways to reduce expenses. I contacted the cable company, reduced utilities, changed vendors and changed how I do things. I started using online banking and saved $150 per year in stamps alone. More importantly, I could set up automatic payments for my mortgage, insurance or loans. The savings in interest alone can add up to a significant amount. Small changes yield big dollar savings.
Final thoughts
If you are out of control, you have a losing strategy! Getting control takes small steps or changes. Spend less than you earn! I know you heard that before, but you can make small changes to reduce your expenses to get control of your finances. Small changes in our personal life whether diet; habits or relationships will make your life better. Change is difficult for most of us, but small changes can easily slip through and you can adapt easily. A small change may be substituting a fruit for a high calorie dessert or parking further away from the office so you add some exercise. What small changes are you willing to make to reach your goal?
Photo by: Rafa Garces
You are right that extreme diets and budgets won’t work longer term. Changes in lifestyle need to occur. I plan on eating more fruits and vegetables along with simply not using credit anymore to start and will go from there.
Good start! Start with the desired outcome and work backwards.
Well done on losing all that weight! I think that small changes ultimately make the biggest difference, so I couldn’t agree with you more. It does seem to be tough to convince people though doesn’t it? Everyone wants big changes they can see straight away, but often they aren’t ready for them.
They want dramatic results without doing anything. Look at all the diet books that are out there. Change takes 21 straight days to form a habit.
Congratulations on your weight loss! I think in addition to small changes it is important to identify what caused the problems to begin with. I am guessing you also found a different way to relieve stress rather than hitting the candy machine every afternoon.
I went through some major life changes these last 5-7 years. I needed to get a handle on numerous aspects of my life. I told myself I couldn’t continue this way.
The first step for me was awareness. Once I was aware of what I needed to change I came up with a plan for each piece, similar to you.
I am so glad I went through this now verses later because I know I will be a much more successful adult as a result of it.
Hey the tallest mountains were conquered with the first small step!
Very true! I think back when I started my plan for financial freedom. My effort was daily and roughly seven (7) years later, I made it. It took a lot of small changes to get there!
You’re absolutely right crash diets and extreme austerity measures do not work. The best thing one can do is to implement gradual changes that will work over the long term.
A small changes can change everything! Just saving $2K a year in a 401K can yield over a million dollars 40 years later.
Too bad most people don’t have the patience for this and simply spend the 2k
$2K is just $40 per week which is little over $5 per day! It is the cost of lunch for the week or a good dinner. For as little as $5 per day, you can be a millionaire
I totally agree with you. Small changes can definitely add up over time in all areas of life. Small changes were what eventually drove me to get out of debt and start working on our finances. Great job losing all that weight. 🙂
A small change can be setting up a 401K with just $40 per week. It would add up to $2K per year and over a million dollars in 40 years.
Any change takes small steps. It is just a matter of staying on track and not losing focus. Congrats on the weight loss!
Part of any plan is monitoring your progress. Comparing your progress with your objectives and adjusting your efforts requires change. Adjusting and changing are part of any successful plan.
How timely this post is in my case. I need to start changing my life – I am a marathon runner who was unable to run for the last two months. And the rule is – what makes you fit is the one mile you run every day, not the 7 miles you run on Sunday.
I love this article and can’t agree with you more! I read a book awhile back called the Kaizen Way – One Small Step Can Change your Life- which basically tells you that small steps, no matter how small they are will add up over time day in and day out. The book uses the example of exercise, if you are doing no exercise now, get up and walk in place 5 minutes in front of the tv. Then the next day do 10 minutes and so on. I really believe this is how we need to look at personal finance, otherwise it becomes so overwhelming it’s like it’s something we can’t achieve. Taking small steps daily can add up over time.
Great post!
This year, I tackled improving my patience as a goal. Everyone thought it was impossible! I kept a journal of all the triggers, it made me aware of what I needed to change. It is still a work in progress, but I have changed.
Great question, great post! I am willing to commit to two yoga classes a week, as a small change from 0 classes a week for the past 2 months!
This is a great approach with almost anything in life. If you go too fast or take bigger steps, you could potentially fail and get discouraged quickly. Slow and steady changes really helps. Think of fable called tortoise and the hare. Slow and steady turtle wins the race beating out fast rabbit. 🙂
It is better to make the change a habit and include it as routine. If you eat junk food, you can’t give it up cold turkey! You could replace one at a time though.
Very true! Replacing the candy was just the first step! Getting some positive results also helped.
It would be great, if we did not have to go through something to change. I am trying to tackle issues before it gets too big or requires a change.
Very interesting! I used to run for exercise only 20+ years ago. I stopped because I was concerned about injury. For the last 20 years, I ride a bicycle for exercise. I learned recently that just not sitting down for hours burns calories too. I am losing inches, much to my surprise!
Start with one and let the success of maintaining the once a week session grow to two. That is what I did when I wanted to add one additional workout a week. It quickly grew to two workouts!
Just like anything in life making drastic changes can be stressful and most often end up not being successful. With spending, make easy cuts first so you build success. Then you can make smaller more difficult cuts when you are ready for them.
You can start small with a 401K contribution of $40 per week and have a million dollars in 40 years. Chipping away at debt works well too.
Isn’t there a Chinese proverb about how dripping water wears away a stone? It’s having the strength to really focus on the little things that most of us are missing I thinkl
Staying focused certainly helps you reach any goal. In this case, I am suggesting small changes to reach your goal. I find it easier to adjust versus big sweep ing changes.
Small changes make goals so much more attainable and all the little bits of progress really do add up. I get more done when I break down tasks into parts so I get the satisfaction of crossing things off and can keep my momentum going. -Sydney
My plans are a breakdown of the goals. Each week, I monitor my progress and adjust accordingly.
I must say I couldnt agree more. Small changes in diet or finances make a big difference. I lost 30lbs buy just replacing one my daily meals with a 300 calorie salad. With that said, I’ve been saving for a wedding for the past 2 years and have not only got the budget buy have a few dollars to spend all by putting money aside everyday.
Developing new habits is usually including small changes that ultimately become habits. Small changes can be financial, personal or professional.
The funny thing is that it is small changes that lead to the most amount of success in the long run. No one responds well to big change specially if its all of a sudden.
Very true! It is easier to make small changes and adjust your effort. In the long run, that is success!
I love your weight loss story. In fact, I already have a post slated to be published soon where I discuss how I loss 40 lbs in 10 weeks too! Unlike you though, my changes were large to achieve that. I find that sometimes what I need to get the ball rolling though is to start small and then to increase to my preferred level of intensity. This is especially important when I don’t have an intrinsic motivation to complete something.
I am not that different! I need a compelling reason for a change. My son at the time was 2-3 years old and pointed at my stomach and said i was fat. It bothered me so much and motivated me to do something.
I like your sentiment. Small changes have a tendancy to stick for the long-term. When dieting, I try to cut-ut one bad food at a time so I don’t shock my system too much. This also allows me to focus on that until it becomes second nature that I don’t really miss it.
Small changes provide lasting results and help you reach your goals. I am constantly adjusting my effort daily to reach my goals.
This is so true. Big changes are too hard to adjust to. Small changes not only are easier to adjust to, but they give us a feeling of increasing control. So we can go from being out of control to being IN control a bit at a time. A good deal all around!
The best and most lasting changes occur over time. Whether we adjust or evolve, changing slowly or in small increments are the best changes.
Small changes make it more attainable and sustainable too. I always give up on drastic changes. I also like to change just one thing at a time. That way I could track and make changes easily.
I find it interesting how evrybody approaches it differently! Making small changes is similar to adjusting or fine tuning your effort. Keep it up!
I’m totally an 80/20 guy. If I can get 80% of the benefit with 20% of the effort, that works for me. Some people I know have to squeeze out that last 1% of the benefit with massive effort/changes. I have a friend who wanted to lose weight and he went to this all-juice diet thing. He lost a lot of weight and I’m happy for him. But I don’t think I’d want to go through what he did to get there. When he switched to nothing but juice, it made him physically ill. He had to take time off of work and he was getting headaches and couldn’t sleep. I guess completely altering your body’s intake for days straight will mess you up. Anyway, fast-forward a few months and he’s thinner and juicing, but I think I’d take the “juice for breakfast and dinner” route and still eat something solid for lunch or some sort of compromise. Social situations, when you don’t have a juicer around, etc? I wouldn’t want my life to revolve around food preparation.
Everybody is different, but that seems a little extreme to me. I incorporate (small) changes that I can live with in the long run.
Yes, we always say success is not overnight. big organizations today started small and grew without destabilizing themselves with difficult goals… i’ve seen how little changes helps our small cyber cafe. something like changing the banner out front so people can easy know its a cafe (the old one had all sorts of details on it), gently upgrading software (cos people complain if you upgrade the software on all the computers at the same time) and stuff like that. i’ve seen business improve all by itself(so it seems) and we didnt have to kill ourselves to crazy goals.
I totally agree. It’s easy to incorporate a small change into your life — you barely notice it. Its harder to make a massive shift.
I’ve cut back on eating out in the past few months, which is better for my wallet and waistline. But I haven’t done anything drastic … I still eat at restaurants with friends anytime I’m invited … I’ve just (mostly) stopped instigating it. It’s a small change that made a big difference.
Congrats on the 40 lb weight loss!
Thanks, that is how I started too. Cutting out lunch at a restaurant was one day at a time.
When you are working toward your goals, you adjust your efforts to reach the objective. Small changes or adjustments help us succeed.
Great message! When we make resolutions, we have good intentions, but perhaps they are too vague and hard to get a handle on. Lose weight, cut debt, earn more. Maybe a better resolution is switch to fruit instead of candy, pay off one credit card, sell your old stuff on eBay. Might have to think harder about my resolutions!
Good points! Goals can be big, but you need to break it down to small tasks or changes in order to reach your goal. The reason New Year’s resolutions do not happen is because of a poor plan or no plan to make it happen.
Very true. Small changes make more of a difference than sweeping changes. You can always work your way up to huge changes in the long run.
Very true! I feel as though I am always adjusting my efforts in order to achieve goals.