Small Wins

This idea comes from the current book I’m reading titled The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg.  I can also attribute it to my mom who has counseled me to do life this way through the years and Dave Ramsey who uses this concept in his debt snowball method of paying off debt.  It certainly isn’t a new idea but can give you a lot of traction when you’re tackling something new.

In the book he also talks about keystone habits and how those can cause small wins and then it’s basically a ripple effect.  The example he gives is of a CEO at Alcoa, an aluminum company.  He started with safety as his corporations keystone habit; that was what they were going to focus on first.  From there, they were able to find efficiencies that make processes safer and cut costs and boost productivity in other areas.  But it all started with the keystone habit of safety.

He also mentions exercise as a keystone habit that has ripple effects and can help cause other good habits to emerge.  If you’re exercising regularly you’re more likely to eat better as you realize you need proper nutrition to fuel your workouts.  A small win would be getting out of bed and getting a workout in before work.  Or working out after work even though you’re exhausted by then.

In the book it mentions how small wins have a disproportionate effect on our psyche.  They make us feel more accomplished than is really warranted.  However, it can become like pouring gas on a fire and really light up one’s road to creating better habits.  The first time you experience a runner’s high for instance makes you want to keep working out.  Until you get to the point where you get an endorphin rush though exercise can feel like drudgery.  That’s when you really have to just gut it out for lack of a more polished phrase.