I’m going to need to pick up the pace if I ever want to get 1,000 ideas out there in 3 years. Which with the current pace is about what I am looking at. Today’s a pretty simple one though. TNS. Tiny. Next. Step.
Many of our ideas fail because we have false starts. We put a LOT of weight on our starts, then expect a big pay out right away. We’re a nation of humans that expect immediate gratification right out of the gates. We have technology and access to information at our finger tips to blame for that. Or, we scare the stuffing out of ourselves as we look at our first step being this huge undertaking. It kind of makes us shrink back from the goal.
The idea of TNS, the tiny next step, is writing down one little thing you could do as the goal to get started. It doesn’t have to be this HUGE step, just a small one. It might seem like you’re not all in, but you are. Giving change gradually time to adjust and show up is okay. It’s not fast, but if you could make a 1% improvement each day, making that day better by 1% each day as you continue your week, you’d be 7% better by the end of Sunday night. That’s the idea of a TNS strategy. Here’s an example.
You want to lose 20 lbs. The big step is a complete diet overhaul and some intentional activity that will help you slim down. Instead of taking a huge change with a big step, a tiny next step would be starting a grocery list of healthier food you’d like, buying two items to try from your next grocery list, making it at home for a week, so gradually you get used to a new dietary change. Not starving yourself by cutting your calories in half with a big diet change. Maybe this way a 5-10% change in calories over time, gets you used to cutting it in half by a set date.
For activity, instead of going out to buy a gym membership choosing a super aggressive HIIT regiment, you try a YouTube or Fitness+ video guided activity. Experiment using the TNS strategy to find the activity that works for you, for free. Then gradually taking it from a 5-10 minute activity after a week to a fuller work out of 30+ minutes. Once you find your favorite class, order that Paleton. Find the joy in smaller bites, then go eat the à la carte.
At work you want to wake up to have an earlier start to your productivity drive. Instead of going completely into a 3 hour earlier wake up with your alarm, maybe set it for 15 minutes earlier as a wake up alarm for a week or two. Let your body adjust to the earlier times, then steadily increase it until you get the work time you want.
The problem we face a lot, we want immediate change, and we go hard or all in. Only to get discouraged when we don’t see immediate benefits. Not soon after, guilty, feeling like crud, we quit. With a TNS strategy and some self-awareness, you get the benefit of gradual change. Less disappointment. You stick with the program a little longer. You find out what works or doesn’t sooner. Even at 1% better each day, that adds up at the end of the week. You’re moving closer to your goal. What if you did that for 31 days? Each day 1% better then the next slightly pushing yourself? You’d be 31% better than the person who just quit after a week because they burned themselves out!
Love to hear in the comments your thoughts, maybe even some ideas you’ve used in a TNS strategy that our readers might find they could use. Good luck!
✌🏻 Shawn
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