Ridiculous! Who in their right mind wants to win by only a hair’s breadth?
Most of us look forward to massive wins that leave our competitors in the dust.
I get it, but if you would give me a moment, I’ll explain how tiny margins can become those colossal wins we all seek.
Let me set the stage and go back a few years. I looked myself in the mirror one morning and despised what I saw. Sick and tired of my weight, I started to limit my daily calorie intake. The thought of missing out on my favorite foods made me nervous. But I’ve had enough of seeing myself this way. So I did it. Day in, day out.
Within 4 weeks, I noticed my clothes were looser. Not much. Nobody even noticed, but I did. Soon, I was down 20lbs! That may not be much to you, but after years of trying, it was everything to me.
I realized then, that all it took was one action, everyday. It was small on many levels. A hair’s breadth… but over time, it became 20lbs. This was a huge revelation. I decided it was time to apply it to my business.
This is a bit more challenging. You can’t boil down everything in your business down to a simple “do this everyday” action.
To solve that, I first wrote down the major pieces in a project. Then, I listed all the tasks that needed done for each of those pieces. From there, I broke down those tasks even more, where possible. The goal here — build a list of tasks that can be completed in one day or less.
This became my master project checklist. With this list, working it became simple. Do one of these everyday. Day in, and day out.
Sometimes, these things are so small that it seems insignificant. Nobody notices. You won’t feel like you’ve accomplished anything. If you don’t do it today, your business won’t go bust tomorrow. It’s only a tiny difference.
Invisible to us — these little tasks are compounding. Ever so small, but gaining strength and momentum. Like a trickle of water upstream becoming a deep, raging river downstream.
Lynette Chandler
There is a Malay proverb, that when translated says, “Little by little, soon you’ll get a mountain”.
A lot of truth there, but it misses out on one ingredient. That ingredient is – everyday.
One thing. A hair’s breadth. Everyday.
That’s how you slay dragons, and win BIG.
