Episode 888 Small Changes in Time is Big Change
[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: [00:00:00] Thanks for joining me on episode 888 of the inspired stewardship podcast.
[00:00:08] Gina Johnson: [00:00:08] I'm Gina Johnson from synergy mindset coaching. I encourage you to find your own journey from surviving to thriving. And one way to be inspired to do that is by listening to this, the inspired stewardship podcast with my friend, Scott Maderer.
[00:00:23]Scott Maderer: [00:00:23] but just start small, start with five minutes, maybe five minutes in the morning, five minutes in the evening. What are you going to spend those five minutes on that helps make your day better? How do you spend those five minutes today? And how do you spend them tomorrow? Welcome, and thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship podcast.
[00:00:51] If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time. Your talent and your treasures [00:01:00] for your true calling in the inspired stewardship podcast, who will learn to invest in yourself, invest in others and develop your influence so that you can impact the world.
[00:01:12]In today's episode about developing your influence by stewarding your time. I talk with you about how the compound effect works with your time. I talk about why big goals can sometimes be counter to big progress. And I also share why concentrating on the small can lead to big change. As we talk about stewarding your time.
[00:01:35] Wouldn't it be great. If you could support this podcast and do it without just taking too long, it turns out you can. All you have to do is use inspired stewardship.com/amazon. When you're ready to make a purchase via Amazon and a small commission, we'll come back to support the show. Just that quick. If you enjoy the show, when you are ready to buy from Amazon, just use inspired [00:02:00] stewardship.com/amazon.
[00:02:02] Most of us at one time or another, have these moments where we decide that the way that we're handling our life, the way we're spending our time, what we're doing is just not working. And we have to make a dramatic change. Maybe it's that we spend way too much time scrolling through Facebook, or maybe it's that we're wasting time bingeing on Netflix, or maybe it's that we're not spending enough time with our family or our friends, or we're working too much.
[00:02:30] Whatever it is, you set your ideas behind it and you set some big audacious goals with firm deadlines. Maybe even you set them up as smart goals or smarter goals. You download an app, you start tracking your time. You buy the gear that will help you do it, whatever it is, you spend a lot of time and effort and energy.
[00:02:53] And you begin to make improvement. You get that telltale rush that feels like this time. I've got it this [00:03:00] time, I'm going to stop wasting so much time doing whatever it was that I've been doing. You feel focused, but then along comes a day where. You're just not quite there. Maybe you're not feeling good.
[00:03:16] Maybe something happened at work. Maybe you've had a fight with someone or there's something else that's just taken your energy away and you just don't feel like doing it. You feel exhausted and it's okay to skip this day. And then you skip the next pretty soon you fallen back into your. Old habits. And what's worse.
[00:03:41] You feel even worse than you did before, because now you feel frustrated that yet again, you try to change your life and you failed. It must mean that you're a failure. It must mean that you're just not able to do it. And one of two [00:04:00] things happens. You either give up or. Even more often because our memories don't work all that well a few months or weeks or years go by and you try it again.
[00:04:12] And the exact same pattern repeats itself time. After time, there are better ways to make change then that kind of
[00:04:20] roller
[00:04:20] Scott Maderer: [00:04:20] coaster, you can see those roller coasters in health. You can see them in wealth. You can see them in productivity. But what happens in a lot of times is we focus on the big goal.
[00:04:32] We set such a huge goal that we think we've got to not just get a little better, but we've got to be in the top 1%. We've got to be the top performer. And that fear comes into Platt factor then of, but what if I don't succeed? What if I don't do it? When your brain encounters fear, it begins to shut down.
[00:04:53] It begins to say, ah, I'm not even going to try. And big goals can actually [00:05:00] sometimes be counter to big process, to big progress, to big improvement. We often also think that somehow or another, if we can just find the right tool, the right system, the right technique, the right, whatever, then everything will get all better.
[00:05:19] The problem with that is you spend all of your time looking for that right. Technique, that right system, that right time, that app, whatever it is that will fix it this time. And it even more insidiously, it actually feels like you're making progress. Because you think that, if I'm looking for this goal, if I'm looking for this tool, if I'm looking for this app that I must be making progress because I was spending my time looking for it and that's enough, it actually derails you even more or you begin to make progress and then you step back and stop making [00:06:00] progress. Because you stop doing the things that were actually working after all. Instead, what I would suggest is you need to spend your time focused on small and simple actions to start. You need to just get a little better each and every day, there's this idea of continuous improvement.
[00:06:24] It came about. In the business world. And it was something that was invented in the U S and then went to Japan and then came back to the U S ironically. But that trip, that idea is the idea of you already know what you need to do. Just begin to do it, and then improve a little bit each and every day, instead of looking for the big changes, the one and done the thing that fixes it forever.
[00:06:51] Just recognize that you've got to constantly put in small effort over time, start small. [00:07:00] If you're looking to improve your time, if you're looking to improve your productivity, what is one small action that you can take today that would make your life a little better? What's the tiny thing that you can do today that makes your life just a little bit better today.
[00:07:21] With productivity, maybe you want to start a routine. You're trying to start an audacious morning routine and evening routine, but just start small, start with five minutes, maybe five minutes in the morning, five minutes in the evening. What are you going to spend those five minutes on that helps make your day better?
[00:07:43] How do you spend those five minutes today? And how do you spend them tomorrow? And then when you begin to do that over time, maybe add three more minutes to that and maybe add two more minutes [00:08:00] later. And pretty soon you've got a dialed in routine for your morning, for your evening for your work start-up for your work.
[00:08:08] Shut down. You've got all of these behaviors before too long. If you want to stop checking email, just work on, not checking it. For the next 15 minutes, just close the app for 15 minutes, even set a timer and you're allowed to reopen it at the end of the 15 minutes. If you want to stop checking Facebook, go put your phone or whatever device you use to check Facebook.
[00:08:31] Block it for 15 minutes from being able to do Facebook. Look for short and small and little tiny actions. That you can do. And then as you begin to do them, just tweak them each day to add a little bit more and recognize sure. You're going to have difficulties. You're going to have challenges. You're going to have things that sets you back, but just step back up and do again, the small improvement, because [00:09:00] it doesn't feel like as big of a failure, you often will keep going in those cases when you would have quit.
[00:09:08] When it was one of those big, hairy, audacious goals. This is the idea of continuous small changes in how you use your time to create big change in your life. Thanks for listening.
[00:09:24]Thanks so much for listening to the inspired stewardship podcast. As a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you like this episode on the stewardship of time, be sure to sign up for our stewardship of time tips series by going to inspired stewardship.
[00:09:52] Dot com slash time or texting four, four, two, two, two [00:10:00] time tips. And that'll get you our best tips on stewarding your time until next time, invest your time, your talent and your treasures. Develop your influence and impact the world. .