Excited for an upcoming vacation you book your flight and hotel, pack your bags and set up an itinerary of excursions. This vacation has been a long time coming and you just can’t wait to get to your destination. You have decided to go on an all-inclusive trip to Hawaii. You can picture it now, laying on the beach, the sun shining warmly on your body, reading an intriguing book and relaxing with your toes in the sand.
The day has come to board the flight. In just 10 hours from now you will be landing on the big island. What you don’t know is in the cockpit the pilot has made one very small minor mistake. In setting the automatic pilot he accidentally was one degree off. You get comfortable, watch a movie, enjoy a meal and fall asleep to awake as the plane is landing. But when you look out the window to your surprise you are not in Hawaii at all! You have landed in Seattle, so far off from your destination.
The one very small change in navigation over time, took that flight to an entirely different spot in the country. In the book The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy, he discusses how a small change done consistently over time will lead you to big results. They can have either a positive or negative impact.
I loved the example Sue gave us in the Thinner Winner kickoff when she described what would happen if you added one big glass of orange juice to your diet over a year and changed absolutely nothing else about your lifestyle. You would actually gain approximately 20 pounds! The same applies for the opposite. If you happen to be someone who drank sugary drinks and eliminated them, think how much weight you could lose! Small changes really add up!
Imagine if you continued working out 3 x a week after Thinner Winner or if you began to go out for a walk after dinner each night rather than succumbing to the T.V. Little changes in your health each day will not only positively affect your current health but will alter your future by investing in yourself now.
I encourage you to look at some small things you can either add or delete from your lifestyle. Take small steps that are achievable, sustainable and measurable. Imagine that you are that airplane, and you can choose your destination.
Where would you like to land?