Incrementalism, Our Friend OR Foe
Your Choice
Your Choice
Over the years I have experimented and read a lot about various goals people try to achieve. One of those goals, for instance, losing weight. Different people always say that they have simple ways to make that happen. Other people say they have easy ways to lose weight. But, easy does not always mean simple, and simple does not always mean easy. It’s simple if somebody tells you to quit eating, but it’s not easy.
Pointers
In this type of quest, you should deal with some of the pointers you have picked up over the years about little things that you can do- habits that you can develop that will gradually help you achieve your weight goals. We are not dealing with a huge life-changing, overnight, rip-snortin' diet. We are doing with little bits and pieces of things that you can do to change your weight. Pick one or two and start there. Add them to your daily routine. Let them settle in if they will. Then add another one or two. Build on it. That’s what I call (friendly) incrementalism, and you can use that process on anything you want to accomplish.
All small pointers and tips are all good. They’re all successful, and they all work. Pick the ones that interest you most in the beginning. Start using the ones that you like and/or find interesting. Keep with it. After about 2 or 3 weeks, this practice will become a habit. Add habits to your habits. Slowly. As you compiled these tips and searched them out, you might lose 10 pounds just making your list. Don’t make a concerted effort. If something sounds good or practical, just add that activity to your list almost subconsciously.
Incrementalism
Incrementalism is a process. It changes your state of being. The change is usually so slow, you don’t realize anything is changing at all. Most of the time it is associated with deferred maintenance, but it can be about other stuff, like the broken window syndrome in a neighborhood. It’s like when you live in your house for several years and you step over something that’s broken. After you step over it several times, it gets easier until you don’t even notice it’s broken.
You step over two or three broken items a number of times until you don’t notice them, and before long, you are living in a full-fledged dump. Somebody coming to visit you may wonder to themselves how a person could live this way.
How do you eat an elephant?
One bite at a time, of course.
That is the way incrementalism is a foe. If you’re lazy like me, it makes it easy to survive in an environment that would kill a more proper person. But it can be a friend, too. A person can take some positive change they want to make in their life and break down the change process into small pieces. You can add on those small, easy pieces a few at a time so you’re not trying to swallow the elephant. But after a while, the change is made.
And according to the three-week rule, in twenty-one days, it is permanent! Bingo!
All of these tips are self-explanatory and don’t require any deep analysis. They can usually be used right out of the box without even reading the instructions, the way we like it.
You can often find Don hanging out at his websites about real estate or writing.
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