Why Size Matters

We live in a world obsessed with size.

We are always told that bigger is better... Cars, Houses, Bank balances.

We're a bold, brash, 'going big or going home' kinda society.

The capitalist paradigm tells us that good, well-run, powerful companies are always growing - or there's a problem. And not just growing, but growing in line 'with market expectations'.

Everything should be big we're told... (oh except when it comes to women, the ideal there is small, petite, demure, beautiful, quiet, and perpetually horny, but ever lady-like - but I digress)

We're told everything should be big AND THAT'S THE PROBLEM...

We don't respect small

We don't understand small

Hell, half the time, we don't even see small, and so we miss out on such incredible opportunities to be found in small things.

Everything isn't meant to be big. Some things should be. But many other things have much more power in small form.

So in today's #SaturdayServing - we're talking about why size matters - but highlight things that I've decided should be always be big for me, but also what should be small.

The Big Things...

We focus so much on mundane and irrelevant things that we lose our sense of wonder and awesome in this incredible world that we live in.

It's a big wide world, so we shouldn't never get so caught up on screens and devises to remember that.

Things I have resolved should always be big for me, in order to show up in the world the way that I should and to be authentic in my walk

• My visions and dreams for the world and the future I want to build. If they don't scare me, or if I look at them and think, it's a matter of time or I can get it done alone... then they're not big enough!
• My compassion for humanity - the crappy things in the world, injustice, inequity... it should never just wash over me. No matter how hard it is, no matter how tired I get. For me to be me, they should matter.
• The joy of seeing another day - it's a day that I have been given, a gift for using to the max.
• My thinking, the magic of thinking big is real. It's so important that we expand our mind and thoughts so we can consider ever bigger and bolder opporutnities
• Love, for people - not just the ones that have been assigned to me, but for those I've never met, but can make an impact on for the better. My mission has to be about more than just me, or personal gain, or else, I may as well stay in bed.
• Curiosity to learn, grow, to discover more, to seek truth and to uncover just what I'm made of and capable of.'
• Faith - it'll feel big, but according to the good book will be pretty small in the grand scheme of what it should be... but it'll at least give the resilience to keep going in the face of set backs.

The world does need big things, and yet it's the power of small things that really make such a huge difference

The Things that are better Small

Actions

We're obsessed with 'massive action' and I must confess that I'm not about that life. Massive Action is from the Bro-hustle school of business, and I call B.S on it... all day every day. It's great for the ego - but is NOT the most effective use of our time or energy.

Activation energy (which is the effort needed to get something started) tells us that massive action takes too much effort, will be met by too much resistance and therefore will be unsustainable.

Massive action requires preparation, resources, mental strength, a huge leap... and all that time, you could have been taking and compounding smaller actions - and doing so on a consistent basis.

Small actions done consistently are NOT glamorous - but the results that they bring definitely are...a case in point is my little #SaturdayServing project, that you are currently enjoying the output of. I committed to writing an article a week on LinkedIn - and so far I'm 37 weeks into my project. I don't have 50 articles... I don't have monetized writing (yet). But I had zero at the start of the year, and I'm much further along than I am to the start now.

And what I do have is tangible evidence to anyone looking for it, that I'm a person who does what they say they're going to do, and I have a 37 week streak showing that come rain or shine (I live in the UK, we've had both), you can rely on me to act, show up and be committed. I also have a publicly available body of writing which I can point to and highlight my voice, style, and matter of fact edutaining style of writing. These are seeds I'm planting today, to eat the fruit from the trees tomorrow.

It wasn't a massive action - but it's been a lasting one.

Stop wasting time building up to massive actions, and instead focus on tiny actions that you can do consistently.

It all counts, and examples of small actions can be:

• To begin a weightloss journey, a small action could be to jump on the scales daily.
• To start exercising, begin with 5 squats a day or 30 second sprints on the spot
• I start unwanted tasks by setting a timer and agreeing to do it (to the fullest, but only) for 4 mins.
• If I struggle with a book, I agree to read for 5 minutes, or a single page.

Books are not written, words are. Actions don't have to be massive for results to be. Get to grips with small actions and it will change the game!

Habits

James Clear has said it better than I can in his game changing book Atomic Habits - but for many reasons highlighted above habits, especially when changing them should be small, and manageable, and help you to ingrain them powerfully into your routines...

But I wrote more about habits here

Wins

I've said this before and wrote a whole article about micro-wins so I won't repeat myself... but small wins really are magic.

They create momentum, they reinforce a new and more empowered identity and they support our growth both from the inside out, while supporting change from the outside in.

The great thing about small wins as well is that they don't cannibalize the big wins and so they give us more bang for our buck.

Proportions count

So let's keep things in proportion to get the most out of life... Keep your faith big, and your actions small and they'll see you through to some pretty powerful places.