Sunday Email - Small Actions / The Lag

Read time: ~8.45 minutes

Happy Sunday!

Every Sunday I offer strategies for the week ahead and a thought to fuel your action.

Save just $100 every month with a 7% annual return and you will have a million dollars in under 59 years. 

This is a powerful demonstration of compounding, a principle we often share with young clients and kids.

Consider this: doubling a penny every day can turn it into a million dollars in just 27 days! It's astounding. Such examples illustrate the power of compounding… by seemingly doing nothing, our money grows for us.

Yet, despite understanding the power of compounding and advocating for it, we often struggle to apply this principle in our personal growth. As we wrap up the year, during the holidays, we set ambitious goals. Our minds are calm, free from daily pressures, allowing us to envision a better future. 

However, once the holidays end and everyday life resumes, we often find we've made little progress on these resolutions, leading many to abandon them within weeks or months. 

This common occurrence can be attributed to a few cognitive biases. The overconfidence bias, for example, leads us to underestimate the effort required to achieve our goals. Similarly, the illusion of control makes us believe we can manage our time and outcomes more than we actually can.

Realizing that challenges are greater and outcomes less controllable than anticipated, we stop pursuing these resolutions.

As we approach another new year and enjoy relaxed time with friends and family, it's worth considering a different approach. 

The Kaizen method, rooted in Japanese management philosophy, advocates for continuous improvement through small, incremental changes. This method embraces the power of stacking small wins, preferring gradual improvements over large leaps. It includes room for reflection and course correction.

New Year's resolutions often represent a large, infrequent leap. 

Imagine investing substantial time in a project, only to have it critiqued. The critique leading to a feeling of wasted time and defensiveness given the effort that was put into the project. A feeling that makes us struggle to alter the plan, knowing the extent of time needed to adjust and time that has already been invested. This reaction underscores why we should focus on small, incremental actions that we're more easier to adjust to as we progress. Allowing the small progress to build to the big change. 

We don't know the exact path to our goals. The journey is discovered through small actions and iterations, adapting and adjusting based on the unknowns encountered between decisions and outcomes.

I often tell my team a story about two groups heading to an island. One group plots meticulously on the beach while the other immediately sets out to sea, learning and adjusting their course. The beach group may scoff at the zigzagging of the first group, but that group is gaining invaluable, actionable insights.

As we look to another year, focus on doing one small thing daily that progresses you toward your goal. James Clear's 2-minute rule in "Atomic Habits" suggests starting with actions that take no more than two minutes. If your goal is weight loss, for example, start with a simple daily action like weighing yourself, setting out your workout shoes each night or committing to drinking one bottle of water each day.

Focus on the process, not the outcome. We often mistakenly obsess over outcomes, which are largely beyond our control. What we can manage is the process—the next action in each moment.

That's why at the end of every insightful conversation on my podcast "Bridging the Gap," I ask guests for one actionable thing listeners can do to improve themselves or their business today or tomorrow. These actions, though small, build on each other, creating change and progress.

Eventually, we'll marvel at the progress we've made, not attributable to a single grand moment but to a compounding of many small actions that have collectively created something extraordinary.

Make this changed mentality the goal for the coming year. You will be amazed at the impact it will have. 

A Thought To Ponder This Week

Watching horse racing is always an exhilarating experience.

It amazes me every time – the sheer power and strategy behind each race. Do you sprint ahead from the start, or do you bide your time in the back?

The most thrilling races? Those where a horse starts in the back, then suddenly surges forward in the final stretch. They take the outside lane, sprinting towards a photo finish, and astonishingly, they win. The frontrunner, caught off guard, is left behind.

In sales, consistency fuels growth. Many teams struggle with inconsistent growth, often blaming market cycles.

However, a closer look reveals a pattern: activity dips just as results begin to improve. It's human nature – we briefly relax after tasting success, leading to a slowdown in results.

It's like the leading jockey in the race, easing up as the finish line nears, only to be outpaced by someone who’s been steadily gaining ground.

As we step into the new year, here is a thought to ponder: What daily activity can you commit to that will drive consistent sales growth throughout the year?

The best is ahead!

-Matt