Tiny changes. Big results.

.I was having a conversation with a new friend and telling her about my power hour. Actually, It’s not an hour. I have a set of things I do each day, at least 5 days a week— catalog 10 postcards (I collect Thomas Gyger), catalog three cookbooks (I collect vintage and antique ones), put one clothing item up on the internet for sale and knit one row of a blanket. I have been knitting the blanket since before the pandemic.? She reminded me of James Clear’s book, Atomic Habits, which I read years ago and makes the case for tiny changes that lead to big results. “Meanwhile,?improving by 1 percent?isn’t particularly notable— sometimes it isn’t even noticeable—but it can be far more meaningful,? especially in the long run. The difference a tiny improvement can make over time is astounding. Here’s? how? the math works out: if you can? get 1 percent better each day for one year, you’ll end up thirty-seven times better by the time you’re done.” — James Clear

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So far I have finished cataloging my postcards and so, upped my cookbook cataloging to four a day. I have made about $100 selling clothes. I knit just before bed which relaxes me and helps me sleep better. The point is that tiny changes don’t yield big results if isn’t for the systems. My system is that each morning, I catalog cookbooks, photograph, and post a clothing item for sale in this order. “If you’re having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn’t you. The problem is your system. Bad habits repeat themselves again and again not because you don’t want to change, but because you have the wrong system for change. You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.” — James Clear ?After which, I can begin my day. Also, I don’t beat myself up if I miss a day because I know that it will eventually get done.

“First, you take any new habit you want, and you scale it back so that it's super-tiny. In the case of wanting to read more, that might mean read one paragraph. In the case of meditating, it might be take three calming breaths. You make it so simple that it's almost like you have no excuse not to do it. So even when you're in a rush or you're sick or you're distracted, it's so tiny that you can still do it.”? — Maria Godoy and Sylvie Douglis, NPR Why does this work? It is so tiny that you can’t not do it. As long as there is no deadline, you can take your time to complete the task and it will get done.

Another friend who helped me understand how to turn my blog into a book keeps asking me about my book. I tell her it is going well. The thought of categorizing the posts is daunting to me. So I made it a tiny habit by dividing my blogs into two initial categories: productivity and parenting. Once the blogs are categorized, I can go through and place each post in a more detailed category based on the topic. Why didn’t I think of this earlier?! I’ll start with ten posts a day. So as my blanket is progressing each day my book will too.

Atomic Habits summary with visuals

#productivity #parenting #habitstacking

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