Why Positive Change Often Starts With Small Daily Decisions
Large changes are usually built from smaller ones. Very few people wake up one morning and completely transform their health, finances, relationships or career. Most major progress in our lives actually begins with apparently minor decisions that don’t feel like much at the time. For example, a walk instead of an evening on the sofa, an hour spent studying instead of watching television, and going to bed at a sensible time instead of staying up for another episode. All relatively minor decisions, but all capable of launching more major lifestyle changes in the right circumstances.
The Decision to Start
Many important changes come from decisions – and sometimes those decisions are not small at all. For example, deciding to go to a PCP Cardiff clinic is a major and life-changing decision that will ultimately benefit your whole life. However, many of the most significant changes start with tiny, seemingly inconsequential decisions. For example, the person who ends up checking into the PCP clinic may have begun their journey months earlier, perhaps with a decision to monitor their drinking habits more closely, or with a decision to be more honest with themselves and their loved ones.
Small Decisions Add Up
Individual decisions rarely look significant in isolation. For example, skipping one workout is unlikely to change your fitness, reading ten pages of a book will not make you an expert, and saving a small amount of money will not make you wealthy. However, by skipping that one workout you tacitly give yourself permission to skip more workouts in the future. You derail the formation of a helpful habit. Similarly, reading ten pages of a book usually leads you to want to read more, and saving a few pounds can easily become the foundation of a healthy savings account.
This isn’t always the case, of course. One small decision doesn’t naturally lead to bigger lifestyle changes. If you like the direction that a small decision has taken you, you need to commit to make that decision consistently over a long period of time. So, rather than reading those ten pages and then abandoning the book, commit to reading ten pages every evening before bed.
The Difference Between Intentions and Actions
Many people know what they would like to change. The difficult part is actioning that change. It’s easy to make plans, but much less easy to follow through on those plans day in and day out – especially when you’re tired and uninspired. Often, the ability to make positive changes in your life is less about what you can achieve when you’re fired up and full of energy, and more about what you can achieve on a dull Tuesday evening after a long day at work.
Don’t Wait To Make A Change
When we want to change our lives for the better, the mistake many of us make is to wait for the ‘perfect time’. This is a mistake. For a start, if you need ‘perfect’ conditions to do something like start a new project or embark on a new workout routine or whatever, you’ll find it very hard to be consistent when conditions are less than perfect. Further, the ‘perfect time’ doesn’t really exist. In fact, many use ‘it’s not the right time’ as an excuse to procrastinate on making necessary changes. Don’t do this. If you can’t face making a major change right now, start the process with some small, easily manageable changes. Drink one more glass of water a day, for example, or park the car further away from the supermarket doors so you get some more steps in during your shop.
Don’t Expect Immediate Results
The problem with small decisions and small changes is that they typically don’t bring fast results. As we’ve mentioned, they require consistency and progression in order to turn into the kind of lifestyle changes that overhaul your health, finances, wellbeing etc. However, that doesn’t mean you should dismiss small changes and minor decisions. They’re sustainable ways to build to bigger changes – and it’s usually more than worth putting in the effort. With hindsight, you’ll realise that the little changes actually were the big changes – or, at least, that they fed the big changes.
