There’s one sure-fired way to build a better future for your company and the people you care about: make a habit of doing small things better.
James Clear wrote about the value of taking small actions aimed at developing what he calls, “Atomic Habits”. Here’s a link to an introduction to his book, “Atomic Habits”.
With a little effort, you can do small things better on both the personal and business sides of your life.
For the moment, we will set the focus on making improvements to work activities.
To begin – what sorts of problems are nagging you at work:
- People problems?
- Process problems?
- Troubling situations?
Pick one of those areas and think of small actions you can perform remove or reduce your problems and troubles. Communication improvements will have positive impact in all three of these areas so improving communication could be a great way to get started.
Ideas for doing “3 small things” better to improve communication:
- Commit, for one week, to drop everything else and listen intently when colleagues are speaking with you
- Commit, for one week, to write more concisely and clearly
- Commit, for one week, to send 5 customized thank you notes to people who have helped you
Keep track of what you have done and make notes about the small positive changes you notice. You will see your attitude and your colleagues’ attitudes about problems improve as you persist with talking small steps forward in 2023.
Do this for several weeks, making changes to the “small things” each week…testing what works best for you and others. Know that positive forward steps are energizing on a stand-alone basis. Action, regardless of size, has the potential to generate energy. Also, small positive actions compound to create significant improvements.