No room for incremental change

Incremental change is nice. It’s typically the way we think about solving problems, right?

“I need a better ________.”

I don’t what your blank is. Maybe it’s your job or car or way of handling disagreements with your spouse. Maybe you need a better morning routine or tool to help you manage your busy schedule.

The thing is, we want dramatic improvements, but we are only willing to make incremental changes. If you need a new job, you should start by asking what you really want out of a job? If it’s significantly more money, a new job might not be the best solution. Maybe you need a side hustle instead.

If you are running behind all day long, a morning routine and better scheduling tool aren’t going to fix that problem. Maybe you need to pull off the band-aid and cancel everything on your calendar for the next two weeks - regardless of how important those items seem.

We tend to romanticize change. We look for ways that we can make change as comfortable as possible, which is why we continually make small improvements and hope for massive gains. If you really want to make significant changes to you life, you also have to accept the fact that it’s going to be unsettling.

If you aren’t willing to make an uncomfortable change, then get used to things as they are.

Is there a time for incremental change? Of course. But if you need major improvements in your life, you have no room for incremental.