THE POWER OF INCREMENTAL CHANGE

_The Power of Incremental Change

Incremental Change can be defined as tiny adjustments, changes, efforts and improvements that happens in our lives that ultimately leads to the BIG results. These small changes happens in very tiny pieces and in slow progress such that it's hard for someone to take notice. That's why someone who eventually wasted in drug abuse or alcoholism started with a single sip, two sips, three....one bottle, two, three...before you know it you're deep in it.

The Power of Incremental Change, in a positive way, is one of the least talked about or taught secrets of life. How we build our lives one block at a time over a long period of time. Whether you're into building wealth, ministry, personal health or achieve big feats in life in whichever area of interest, you have to embed the principle of incremental change in your life where you consciously commit to gradual, often very slow, growth over a long period of time. The power of incremental change is one of the most valuable wisdom for personal growth and transformation that is hidden away from vast majority of mankind. This is how the rich grow their wealth. People who have long term view have a clear sense of how things will turn out in 10,20,30 years and are willing to put a stake for it. Think about investing in stock market or in real estate, for example. The people who bought large swathes of land along Mombasa road/mlolongo/syokimau 10/15 years ago had this long term view. They bought so cheaply and now the land has gone up to 30x in value. Think about it. They bought at $2,500 a plot and now selling at $70,000. But note it has taken 10 - 15 years to achieve this. Got it!

For entrepreneurs, this lack of understanding on this principle is the pit where majority of us fall and resign. Because you've gone for some months without much growth, we slow down and eventually start down a path of giving up. If you watch carefully, you'll notice some results coming through. Measure your efforts that you put over time and you'll notice that you'll start receiving results, slowly but gradually. This is what you need. Often, the results are not commensurate with the efforts you put. It's simply because portions of the efforts you put might take much longer to mature and manifest. A client you laboured to win might take months before they give you a contract. Be keen to notice those small leaps. That's why I usually warn entrepreneurs against reading or listening to too much of motivational talks. They create this boom! attitude which is not applicable in real life situations as you get down to do real stuff. Read books and listen to talks of people who've been in the gutter and have actually done it. Their stories of struggles and triumphs are more real and will inspire you (not those temporal motivations).

Am presently reading a book, 'Million Dollar Habits' by Brian Tracy. At some point he says that from research, it takes 22 years of full commitment on average for someone to become a million dollar worth. This is a long time. How many of us look at our growth or savings or development in terms of these many years? Incremental change over time.

We can achieve great results in our lifetime if we discover the power of Incremental Change and put it to work in our lives. A long term commitment to growth. You set yourself small targets (say financial targets) that spreads and accumulates over a long period of time.

The problem with our thinking is that we do calculations in terms of 1,3,5 years. We want things real quick. We live in jackpot era where everything is instant and we want our life now. We want our lives and everything good that comes with it cooked now and served now. Sadly, we reap disappointments, end up frustrated and suicidal.

THINK INCREMENTAL CHANGE