Ikigai Thought for Today: Dream Big, Start Small
The key to accomplishing anything.
Audio narration by David Marlow
It’s that time of the year…
"Out on the roads, there is fitness and self-discovery and the persons we were destined to be."
George Sheehan
The start of a new year prompts many people to start new things or quit old things.
Start exercising
Quit smoking
Lose weight
Take up a hobby
All great things.
A new year or any obvious starting point is actually an excellent time to make changes.
Attempting to make those changes by creating a resolution typically fails.1 One reason resolutions fail is they aren't specific enough.
Another reason is people start too big.
Running examples are excellent for demonstrating the power of small steps, but not everyone is a runner.
Everyone has teeth. Let’s use an example of flossing.
Flossing Forever!
Years ago, my dentist gave me ‘the talk’ about taking better care of my teeth.
My big-picture outcome is to remain healthy in all areas of my life, which includes running and mundane things like taking care of my teeth.
His command was to start flossing daily, switch to an electric toothbrush, and schedule two cleanings a year.
Yikes!
I hated the thought of flossing every tooth each night before bed…forever!
Enter Kaizen
Like Ikigai, Kaizen is a Japanese combination word.
Kai meaning change, and Zen meaning better
The principle of Kaizen is making small incremental changes for the better.
The personal kaizen approach reduces fear, apprehension, and feeling deprived.
For me, the fear came from the thought of doing a dreaded activity (flossing) for the rest of my life.
Smallest possible thing
When facing a fear like this, ask yourself, what is the smallest possible thing I can commit to doing?
To start with, I committed only to buying floss and setting it on the counter where I would see it daily. This may seem silly but stick with me.
The next day I asked again…what is the smallest possible thing I can commit to doing?
One tooth. I could commit to doing one tooth.
After flossing one tooth for three days, it no longer seemed like a big deal getting the floss out and using it. I then decided I could commit to doing three teeth.
A few days of that and doing all my teeth didn’t seem like that big a deal.
I’ve been flossing now for over 20 years without fail.
Thinking about flossing every day for 20 years seems overwhelming.
Committing to only small things led to making the change permanent.
One more story to encourage this approach. My wife wanted to start reading again. She gave herself permission to start small with fun and easy-to-read books and no ‘goal’ on how many. The first year, she read five.
Several years have passed, and this year, she read 50 books!
And then, the Western "all or nothing" mindset will convince these people it's "not enough" and they'll just stop doing it.
Us distance runners have an advantage...
The flossing and reading are great examples, though~! Small steps are THE WAY ✨
After thinking about this post today, I was surprised to get one of those text reminders that I have my biannual dental appointment in 7 days! Yikes indeed when I envisioned my dental hygienist NOT laughing at my attempt at humor that..."I don't want to brag but, I have been inconsistently flossing for 43 years!" :) I then gave myself the gentle reminder that I have also been consistently brushing (broke down and got that electric toothbrush several visits ago) 2x/day for 43 years. Maybe it is time to take the next small step and give the flossing another go. Better yet, my dentist will thank you for the nudge with some (dance) flossing David!