Small steps lead to large changes.
I picked up a book called “The Leading Brain” in an airport and have been fascinated by it every time I read it.
One of the things I find very confusing is the disconnect between my willingness to read it (very low) and the joy I feel after reading through it and processing the information.
Its as if the writing and the presentation styles are completely alien and not palatable to me, but the information being presented is like the sweetest nectar for me and I want more and more.
The latest chapter is about kaizen — the art of small improvements. I was happy to read through it as I feel that this approach is partially what helped me stay on my path to becoming better.
Sure, the largest changes happened with massive pushes when I had to force myself to start being physically active when it hurt a lot. When everything inside of me was screaming stop.
That was the push, the thing that got the ball rolling, but it is not sustainable. Maybe someone out there can switch from a lazy good for nothing that I was to this ultimate unstoppable machine, but I couldn’t.
To become who I am today, I had to negotiate, balance and figure out a softer approaches, so I wouldn’t drop this obsession all together.
So little improvements happened — Sunday #1 I did nothing, Sunday #2 I went for a 10 minute walk, Sunday #3 I went for a 15 minute walk.
This way, a couple months in, I was walking no less than an hour every Sunday and over time, this grew into a habit that I am now not willing to forego.
Where Sunday used to be lazy do nothing days, they are now another opportunity to push my body physically and grow stronger and more endurant.