Why do Small Wins matter so much...

Have you observed how a small success, however small they are, gets us into a very energetic and hyperactive mode throughout the day. While most of the time we don’t think about these to really understand them in detail, what has been found in various studies done across is that such small wins not only change the way we perform individually but also as a team. We have seen in multiple sports how a single win in a close match suddenly re-energizes the team and takes their performance to a different level altogether. So are such small wins really something which can alter performance levels in such a big way.

In the movie 1983 which is based on India’s unexpected win in the 1983 world cup there is this scintillating knock of 175 which was played by the then Indian captain Kapil Dev when India was almost on the verge on elimination. India then went onto beat every other team in all the balance matches to clinch and unexpected win.

The same played out in the 1992 world cup where Pakistan then led by Imran Khan fought against all odds to win a knockout match and then went onto win the world cup. Since we are about to enter the IPL season, we often see this happen with Mumbai Indians who start slowly but suddenly rediscover their momentum towards the championship phase of the IPL which has led them to be team with the maximum wins in the IPL.

At an individual level there is the widely documented study about Michael Phelps about how his routine got build which led to him becoming the most successful individual athlete of all time. For those who aren’t aware Phelps has won a total of 28 Olympic gold medals spread across four Olympics. He also holds the record for the maximum number of golds in a single Olympics with eight gold medals. Michael was pushed into swimming by his family to address the abundance of energy that he seemed to possess. What his initial coaches observed was the natural body build that he had for swimming. He had a bigger upper body and arms compared to a smaller lower body considered ideal for swimming.

But great success is not achieved by just being physically talented. Like most of us Phelps also had his fair share of outburst and troubles and emotional challenges. To build in a routine his coach made him practice what would be small wins every morning and every night. You can watch more on this in the link below.

?Michael Phelps Daily Routine - Day in the life of an Athlete (youtube.com)

In addition to this as Phelps grew in stature there were several set routines that he followed some of which we will cover in similar such articles.

These small wins and routines helped Phelps transform into the world beating swimmer. It also helped him in an unexpected situation which came up later. In the 2008 Olympic games Phelps was supposed to swim the 200 meters butterfly at 10 am. He was through with his usual morning routines and was ready at the starting block. As soon as the race started Phelps knew that there was something wrong as moisture was building in his goggles. He realized that water was seeping into his goggles. By the time he got into his final lap the googles were fully filled up and he couldn’t see anything.

He just went back into his daily visualization routine of the perfect swim and counted the strokes that he would need to reach after the final turn to the finish line. He could hear the crowd cheering, but he couldn’t see if it was for him or for someone else. As he counted the strokes and touched the finish line he looked up and saw that not only had he won the race he also had set a world record for the event... All this while swimming almost blind for a good part of the race.

Small wins are not something which leads to small linear improvements which in turn leads to visible improvements. These are often scattered but provide confidence to people which in turn leads to a series of developments which often results in unexpectedly huge results in the end.

This is also the reason why we are very often told to start the day with a small win. ?The small win could be anything from making your bed, or doing a small routine of exercises or anything which can be done consistently to help start of the day with a small win.

In our busy day to day lives what we often forget to do is to celebrate the small wins as and when they occur. As we have seen through various real-life scenarios the transformative potential of each incremental step forward achieved through these small wins is immense. Moreover, the power of small wins extends far beyond the individual achievement, by creating a culture of positivity and motivation, propelling teams towards greater collaboration and innovation.

One of the biggest challenges that we face while embarking on bigger projects is our self-doubt because of which we hold ourselves back from even attempting many of them. If we break these bigger challenges into multiple smaller challenges these small wins would then propel us towards the bigger goal. To continue getting more insights on such similar topics subscribe to my LinkedIn page, Rejo's Business Bytes, or my website, rejofrancis.com.

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