High performers; small habits, big rewards
I was reading a medium article exploring the habits of high performers when I remembered a quote I came across some months back that said something to the effect of:
“Isn't it funny how everyday nothing changes but when you look back, it's all different”
It fascinated me for a while that my brain simply jolted through memories to that quote, making a connection to what I was reading.
As to be expected of any article talking about high performers, sometimes referred to as high achievers, the medium article mostly talked about daily habits, of which majority appear to be small habits like opening the blinds and making the bed.
But, it becomes clear just how not-so-small these habits are when you look at the impacts they have on a person's day.
When seemingly small habits grow addictive, the impacts compound. To the average person, a morning run can seem like a waste of time, but when presented with the opportunity or when privileged enough to have these runs, most will discover how what seemed like a waste of time can make a largely positive impact.
The problem lies in how we view actions and rewards. A lot of people tend to box them up, believing that small actions generally equals small results or rewards, whereas this is never really the case.
We can easily explore this from the angle of non-action, which is also action in the broader sense.
For instance, an individual wakes up in the morning and chooses not to clean his space, what happens the next day when the same thing is done?
The space becomes twice as dirty!
This shows that an action can have results or rewards that are not equal to it because what's consistent is the compounding effects of it all.
But the average human mind does not really acknowledge this reality without careful thought and here's a fun fact, the room isn't the only thing that gets affected by that action, the individual also psychologically gets affected by it.
A messy space sends constant visual reminders of disorganization and unfinished tasks, which can increase mental fatigue and stress.
A cluttered mind is an exhausted mind and such is no high performer because cognitive overload directly prevents actions of positive-yielding results.
Now if the case is reversed, that is, said individual has the habit of cleaning his space upon waking up, we see how this changes everything about their day.
A part of the previously mentioned medium article had the statement: “If it takes less than 2 minutes, do it immediately.”
While cleaning generally will take more than 2 minutes, the statement still applies because the cost of doing it later is much higher. In essence, it's about comparing the costs across the board and leaning on what's cheaper.
Going back to the quote I initially talked about, the idea that everyday seems the same is a trick of the mind because we mostly focus on what's happening and little or never on what's happening because of what's happened. Although, on reflection, we see how things are different overtime, but most times never really understood how so.
It all boils down to our small habits. The reason why it seems like everyday nothing changes but when we look back, it's all different is that what we do daily and what we get for doing what we do daily, grow at a different pace.
In fact, what we do most times can always be the same (essentially zero growth or changes) but what we get for doing them grows (compound), so if that is positive or negative, depends completely on the nature of our habits.
The habits may be static, but the rewards grow, at a compounding rate. High performers capitalize on small habits because they make a big difference, overtime.