During lockdown, my daughter became obsessed with plants. She would grab a tomato seed from our dinner plate or an apple core from our hands to see if she could grow a plant in a jar near the window. Eventually she moved it outside and created several gardens, using the rest of our food waste as compost. It’s amazing what can come from a tiny seed—a giant watermelon or pumpkin or several bushels of tomatoes
In that same way, our little daily habits can turn into something grand. I just finished reading The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy. The main idea is that consistency and very small habits combine to help you meet your big goals.
This idea is proposed in other habit books, but sometimes you have to hear something several times and in different ways before it sinks in. I’ve always known that small habits are the way to start. But this book emphasized that you have to do these for a very long time—sometimes for a year or more—in order to see any results at all.
It’s hard to stick with something that doesn’t appear to be working. But I think we all know what tiny habits will work eventually. Investing a small amount of money each paycheck for many years, cutting out a few calories every day for a year or longer, reading five pages of a book each night, watering those plants regularly.
When I visit a classroom, I try to inspire students to write more by telling them that 15 minutes of writing a day led to my first novel.
In project management, breaking projects down into small tasks is important for getting things done and staying motivated. But you have to be consistent in the execution of those tasks as well.
Darren Hardy emphasizes that our not-so-good daily habits shape our destinies too. Going out for coffee or cocktails daily, scrolling on socials when we are bored, putting off work tasks until after email.
The other thing that I picked up was that just when you don’t want to continue with something is exactly when you should—that is where you will start to pull away from the pack.
So that is what I am thinking about on this lovely fall day, as I think about what I will do with all the tomatoes and squash and the rest of the garden bounty.