THE POWER OF MARGINAL ADJUSTMENTS

What can you do in just 3 minutes? You can change your life in that time!

I know – most of you would find it absolutely absurd. You might think, ‘How can just three minutes change my life? People spend months and years’ worth of hard work before they see a change in their stories.?But the fact is, it is in these 3 minutes that most lost battles are won.?

Have you ever felt like the day is running out faster than usual and at the end of it, you feel as though you have made no real accomplishments? Do you ever look at your plans powerlessly because you feel there is ‘no time’ to work on them??

Today, as most of the jobs adopt a work-from-home engagement and the boundaries between personal and professional life blur progressively, the area that a lot of people struggle with is effective time management. They are unable to spare time for themselves and their goals in the midst of fulfilling other personal and professional commitments. With offices now being virtually at home, a lot of professionals find it hard to really disconnect from work. This imbalance in personal and professional life becomes a major cause of demotivation and burn-out – eventually leading to a decline in productivity and efficiency.

What if, instead of dwelling on the chaos, we modified our approach to resolve the issue? What if instead of trying to ‘find time’, we ‘made time’? The key difference between ‘finding time’ and ‘making time’ is in your approach. In the former case, you are just reacting to life as life tosses uncertainties at you. In the latter, you are proactively taking control of your life and steering it in the direction you want it to. Instead of ‘making’ larger time, why not start slow but steady until we win the race?

MARGINAL ADJUSTMENTS AND THEIR IMPACT

While trying to achieve our goals and attain feat, we dedicate months and years of toil to eventually take the leap of success. But this approach has its own limitations. This is because our first instinct is to take the bull by its horns and tread down the difficult path right at the start. This might lead us to lose sight of our goals as we unwittingly get tangled up in the clutter along the way. By the time we achieve our goal, we are left exhausted and inert. Instead of feeling accomplished, we feel relieved for getting over with a mammoth task.?

Now compare this with if you made just 1% progress daily. That 1% would accumulate to a whopping figure annually. Not only would that smooth-sail you to your goals, you would also see yourself gaining invaluable skills and a new mindset. All of these factors would then set you up for higher achievements in the future. While 3 minutes might not seem like a lot of time, if used rightly, the power that comes in that little package far exceeds that of years.?

Using marginal adjustments is one of the best ways to master a skill, because as you take those small steps everyday – those steps become deeply ingrained in your subconscious. Those skills and thriving behaviour become a part of your natural response. Marginal adjustment also fosters innovation and divergent thinking. As you would see in the following section, when you apply marginal adjustments – you begin to innovate and find solutions to issues.?

Needless to say, your observation, focus, reasoning and discipline also get a huge boost as you keep practicing this. Another big advantage of marginal adjustments is that it allows you space to acknowledge and appreciate yourself for every little triumph. This builds your intrinsic motivation and stamina to withstand setbacks.

HOW TO APPLY MARGINAL ADJUSTMENTS TO YOUR LIFE

Applying marginal adjustments is one of the easiest things to do. Unlike traditional methods where you introduce drastic changes in your schedule, marginal adjustments require you to first make time by ‘stealing’ 3 minutes per hour from your schedule and put that accumulated time to good use. So, to reap the benefits of marginal adjustments:

• Accumulate at least 3 minutes per hour

Look for avenues where you could save up at least three minutes per hour. If need be, look for ways in which you could perform tasks at a quicker rate. You may take out three minutes from your social media browsing, delegate tasks to people to save time or look for any other way where you would be left with at least 1 hour at the bare minimum for yourself. Avoid making this one hour by postponing tasks, as that too, would lead to further accumulation of work and stress.

• Break down a goal into many smaller targets

Instead of facing the larger goals head-on, break them down into a series of smaller, interconnected targets. Achieve these targets each day as you inch closer to your ultimate goal. As I said earlier, trying to achieve bigger goals right at the start is not only overwhelming but would also drain more than what is required from you. This could lead to undesirable outcomes and leave you questioning your abilities.

• Identify, note down and tackle distractions

The beauty in this technique lies in the fact that you are required to take things, one step at a time. There would be a lot of distractions for the first few days when you try this technique. Note down all the thoughts/factors that were compelling you to leave mid-way. At the end of the day, use a tiny fraction of your accumulated time to tackle these distractions. For example, you can leave your mobile phone in ‘do not disturb’ mode to avoid constant notifications during key times. You could also inform your family members/flat-mates to cooperate with you in this. Use your innovation and create divergent solutions to all your distractions.

• Aim for bigger goals, by repeating the above steps all over again

Habits are developed through repetition and persistence. Once you have patiently transformed every marginal gain into eventual goal accomplishment, you would have developed the habit and mindset to strive for improvement. Set higher goals, and each time you do so, go back to step 1 and do it all over again for every goal.

In no time, you would find yourself out-performing expectations and accomplishing the goals that once seemed to be buried under the chaos.?

CONCLUSION

Our success does not lie in the giant leaps that we take, but in the little steps that we take, one after the other. Marginal adjustments, as the name suggests, are all about adding to whatever you have at present, strengthening them and building on them so that your foundations are solid. You can apply this powerful concept to any skills that you want to learn - time management, communication skills or any other skill that you want to develop.Your foundations are your mindset and your habits – and strengthening these leads you to achieve the unimaginable.

To grow, you don’t have to necessarily take the most painful and difficult route. You can grow exponentially by making small, conscious yet powerful choices. Like I said in the very beginning:

What can just three minutes do? Change your life!

Tell me what you think in the comments below!