Small Shifts, Huge Results

From Liz Uible

Ahhh… the New Year’s resolution. It is that time of year again. The New Year is a natural marker in time to evaluate where we have been and where we are going.

The New Years resolution can be huge. People quit smoking, take up exercise, and find love based on their New Years resolutions. That is big stuff. But I find that in my life it is generally the small, barely perceptible shifts in trajectory that create the big changes down the road.

Let me paint an image to describe what I mean. Imagine you start walking the long way on a football field, straight down the middle. Now, veer ever so slightly to the right-just a small shift to a different course. After several yards, that slight shift in trajectory takes you to a place far from the center course you originally had. And the further down the field you get, the further from the original course you will get. Eventually you might be in the stands. That is what I mean by a change in trajectory… the destination will be different in 50 yards. And you will have a different view of the field.

That’s how life works. Just slight changes in your life, implemented today, can mean HUGE rewards over the next five years.

This is so powerful, I am getting chills… 2007 marks five years since I started my own business while simultaneously working 50 hours per week at someone else’s company and commuting 3 hours per day (that’s 15 hours a week of commuting, if anyone is counting). I didn’t do much in my business that first year. But I did make an almost imperceptible change in trajectory. I began to listen to motivation, training and success principles on my ride instead of negative disk jockeys and traffic reports. The results weren’t thunderous. They were slight at first. I was in a better mood when I got to work. I was in a better mood when I got home. I probably honked at my fellow commuters a little less.

As time went on, the impact got more dramatic. My new path, just slightly shifted from the old one, got further and further from the center line. My destination was different. My view of the field changed, too.

I didn’t start listening to positive CDs because I really believed that I would quit my job and become financially independent. I wanted to make some money in my business and learn how to make more at work. I listened to tapes because it was more fun than the traffic report (there was always traffic- sometimes with an accident, sometimes without). I truly believe that listening to tapes daily- that small shift in behavior -created an entirely different view of the field, a whole different view on life.

And here I sit, 5 years later, with several businesses, a great relationship with my husband and business associates who inspire me every day. I don’t commute 15 hours a week anymore, as my office is next to my bedroom. My new trajectory was almost imperceptible at first, but it allowed me a different view of the field, of life.

To me, that’s what New Years is about. Looking back over the last year and forward into the next is not about making a sharp right turn. You might just want to make a one-degree turn to the right… an almost imperceptible change to the outside world. Those little shifts in daily habits that build up... reading for just 15 minutes a day, listening to something positive on the ride to work, saying “I love you” to your spouse and children every single day, or writing a card to a different business associate every week. These things can change everything over the next three to five years.

What can you start doing today to shift your trajectory? What little action will create a different view of the field?