Three Surprising Moves For A Big Life
“there are no hacks to get us to our goals quickly. There is only persistence, consistency, and the power of compounding”
If there is one lesson I’ve learned in the last year, it’s the significant impact of small actions. Think of the athlete who won a championship after ten years of very specific training and plenty of failures. The musician who came out of nowhere with a top track after twenty years of playing in dive bars for pennies. The author with a national bestselling novel-turned-movie after hundreds of rejection letters, draft manuscripts collecting dust, and years of frustration.
As a writer, that last one in particular hits home and I sat back to ponder where small actions are compounding, either for, or against me in everyday life. As much as we revel in the ‘ta-da’ moments of other people on social media, there are no hacks to get us to our goals quickly. There is only persistence, consistency, and the power of compounding. Anyone who’s read author James Clear’s wildly popular book, Atomic Habits can attest that it’s both life-changing and backed by a boatload of science. Implementing small behavioural changes is the road to better health, relationships, work, and well, everything. The old fable was right, it is the turtle, not the hare, that wins at life.
THIS ANNOYS ME TO NO END.
I operate in the other world, the one with the least amount of structure and consistency possible. The one that’s filled with doing whatever I want, whenever I want, often by my mood rather than reason. I also love big change and can pivot on a dime. It’s exhilarating. Ask me to consistently do anything though and I’ll immediately feel disdain. Who wants to be caged like that? Give me all the freedom!
Is that really freedom though? Or is it simply being confined by another keeper - our whims?
“Good, better, best. Never let it rest. 'Til your good is better and your better is best.” St. Jerome
MINDSET
This brings me back to small actions and not just small actions but the structure, environment, and consistent habits that provide the backbone needed to both thrive and enjoy freedom. At least, that’s the case for me and I am my own nemesis without them. How can we put this into play? Let’s use the example of working from home, something many of us have adopted either full or part-time over the last few years.
First, superimpose a structure.
This can look like having a set start time, break, and end time daily for work. I’ve used calendar blocking in the past where the mornings were for focused work and the afternoons were for organizational tasks. Maybe it’s creating a policy where there are no meetings or calls before 10 a.m. or designating certain days for specific tasks. When I stopped working for others and switched to working for myself, there was still a need for structure. Otherwise, I would procrastinate like a champ!
Instead of relying on work to set the tone, I had to set it up myself in the form of commitments. I picked days to meet other self-employed professionals at co-working locations or coffee shops and scheduled virtual meetings with other authors for longer writing sessions.
Next, create the environment
An environment that will promote achieving your goals versus hinder efforts. This meant having a dedicated workspace that was free of distractions. A little hard sometimes when you work from home and the laundry is screaming at you to be done.
So here’s what I did, I created two distinct spaces to write and work so that I could optimize daylight and movement while steering clear of distractions. One was in the living area, with a stand-up desk by Human Home Ottawa and a Movemate™ Active Standing Board. This space got the most sunlight in the morning and it was easy to grab those coffee refills. Having the Movemate™ Active Standing Board at the stand-up desk meant that I could constantly and unconsciously fidget and keep my body moving while doing focused work. It also made it easy to do basic movements like squats and play on the board during breaks. I felt better during the day for moving and the pain from the days of prolonged sitting at the office disappeared. Goodbye joint stiffness.
The second office space was created upstairs for the afternoon sun. It has the typical desk and chair for virtual meetings and a fitness sandbag on the floor for breaks. Both environments are bright, of minimalist design, and include some plants.
Lastly, develop the habits.
Minimizing distractions is supported by a few habits like closing the bedroom doors during work hours so that I can’t see the laundry and running the dishwasher every night so that there aren’t piles of dishes egging me on from the corner of my eye during the day. My phone is always kept on silent and notifications are turned off. Often, I leave the phone in another room entirely. I listen to the Narnia soundtrack through headphones, like I am right now, or gaming soundtracks on Spotify to increase concentration. It was my amazing developmental editor, AJ Harper, who first recommended the Narnia soundtrack (the winter soundtrack on YoutTube is 5 hours long) for focused writing, and let me tell you, it works like magic. I say no to meetings and calls that would disrupt focused work and move them to afternoons instead. When it’s time to dive into tasks, it’s the one I least want to do that gets done first.
How do structure, environment, and small consistent habits provide freedom?
Freedom comes in the form of time, energy, or health. Through structure, freedom lies in having evenings and weekends off completely, knowing that work was done during work hours and not bleeding over into personal time. Through environment, distractions are minimized and it gives the space needed to create while promoting good health through movement. And finally, I see the freedom of compounding healthy habits instead of forever trying to recover from negatively impacting one as giving the freedom of energy and health.
Three LITTLE QUESTIONS, ONE big life
Now I spend far less time procrastinating, notice my health improving with less aches and stress, and have the energy to enjoy the freedoms I enjoy most like jumping off the dock into cold lakes in the fall with friends after work or taking more adventurous hikes on the weekends. It’s wild sometimes how what we like the least can serve us the best. All it takes is a little awareness, humility, and action to start down a better path for yourself.
Perhaps it can start with these three little questions;
What structure do you have imposed over your time?
Does your environment promote movement and energy?
Do your habits help or hinder your goals?
Feel free to tag me on Instagram or LinkedIn with your comments and insights.